ADDRESSING ISSUES
CONCERNING OUR SAVIOR'S
SACRED NAME
WHY are there "different names" in Scripture
that are akin to our Savior's Kodesh Name...?
"Chance"...."accident"...
intentional...?
Religious people---and even more so unconverted jews---tend to
"set things in stone" very quickly. Such people love
the comfort of standarization.
We should see to it that it doesn't happen to us.
If we did that,
we would be trying to make Elohim human like we are,
whereas He is trying to make us Elohim like He is.
"set things in stone" very quickly. Such people love
the comfort of standarization.
We should see to it that it doesn't happen to us.
If we did that,
we would be trying to make Elohim human like we are,
whereas He is trying to make us Elohim like He is.
Shalom dearly beloved in Mashiach, greetings to all in Yahwshua's powerful name wherever you are located in this dispersion in the world, and may Yahweh's mercy and favor be always upon you!
As many of you should be aware of by now, there seem to be many variations and inconsistencies when addressing the issue of which is our Savior's correct KODESH name, and which aren't.
I just want to point out some facts and inconsistencies real quickly---AND I WILL TRY NOT TO TAKE FOREVER---and mention that there are some people "in and around" the modern-day Assembly or Kehilah of Yisrael, that do not want the truth to come out. That is, aside from the unconverted jews and "rabbis" that clearly and openly oppose to the use of the Holy Names. For whatever reasons or hidden agendas they might have, they do not want to decontaminate. In this aspect, they want to "cling to the old"---even if it's "pagan."
Brethren, "there is nothing new under the sun." Such people have existed all along, ever since our Savior and King came to this earth.
Today, many in the Assembly of the called-out sheep of Yisrael have become too "settled in," comfortable and consequently, lukewarm. Beloved, I am of course referring to Torah-observing brethren and groups/assemblies. They go by what their leaders think and desire to teach, which can vary widely when equated to what pertains to as being led by the Spirit.
Many of them know the correct kodesh/holy names, but DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE... and get rid of the old and welcome the new. They do not want to stop calling Yahweh "God" or "Jehovah" or "Lord." They do not want to stop calling the names "Yahweh" and "Yahshua" blasphemous (sin which many of them commit). Come to mind some of Herbert Armstrong's splinter groups/churches, most of which have incorporated the religious entities they represent and preside, under various corporate names and most of which include the word "God."
Brethren, with those names of "the holy mixed with the profane" for their assemblies or churches is how they have become known for decades; and to this very day, they continue to print, issue and publicize the varios aspects of the truth they have been given, under pagan names such as "God." They have hundreds of booklets, books, cd's, dvd's, and online messages featuring the name "God."
Realistically speaking, it does cost a lot of money to officially change a corporate name and image, my friends; because it implies getting rid of all that tainted material and correcting and re-doing every single work of it. Just imagine for a second the "Jehovah's Witnesses" changing over to "Yahweh's Witnesses"! If their love for money is greater than their love for Truth, they will NEVER change, even if they knew "Jehovah" was pagan!---which by know they probably do.
But WE do want to purge. We want to know our Father's true kodesh name, and His Son's as well, and make it available to His Saints. (Only Yahweh knows how many messages published in the internet and printed on paper I have had to change over the years!)
Our Father's KODESH name, when transliterated from hebrew form יהוה to our english language, comes as "YHWH." Just those four letters together.
Seems difficult to pronounce, doesn't it? Yes...with our western and untrained minds and tongues it certainly is.
Brethren, if you know at least basic hebrew, then you know that most of the letters in their alphabet are consonants and have consonant-sounds, and that they use the few vowels/vowel-sounds that they have very sparingly in their writing. The very same thing happens in the also semitic, arabic language.
There is only one vowel-sound in the written word יהוה---the tetragrammaton "YHWH"---and it's the hebrew letter "uau" o "waw" (now presently know as "vav") which corresponds to our english letter "w," which in either langue most people do not even consider to be a vowel. But it is, even if it's catalogued as a consonant, the "w" has a vowel-sound!----in both hebrew and english. In the hebrew word YHWH, it sounds like a "oo" or like the "w" in "what."
So there you have it. At least we know what one of those four letters sounds like! But we know the other three too, because the first hebrew letter in the Father's holy name is yod, much like the english "y" in "young." We only have one more letter to go, dear brethren, because the second and fourth letters are the same letter. It's the hebrew letter "het" or "hey" and the english letter "h" as in the word "happy" is an excellent equivalent.
Now, one thing is to transliterate a word, and another is to pronounce it right. And this is especially true in the hebrew language, because most of the letters in their words are consonants!
Try to pronounce "Y H W H."
Difficult, huh? Yes, still difficult indeed! Without any other reference or previous knowledge, we could only be certain that the last two letters when spoken together sound something like "wooh," except the "oo" sound there is very very short. I only made it seem "long" so that you know that the "w" is a "oo" sound. But its a short "oo" sound like in "what." We do not pronounce "what," "wooh-at" do we? Certainly not.
The last letter is one of those hebrew "hets." (Remember, the "h" sound there is like in "happy"). But what do the first two letters sound like?
"Y" and "H" together? How do you pronounce that?
Brethren, blessedly scholars, linguists, jews and romans alike, strangely enough but rarely coincide all at the same time, but in this case they all agree that "YH" sounds as "YAH"! Blessedly also, the same two first letters in our Abba's Holy Name have been included and preserved in the names of many prophets and servants of Yahweh mentioned in the Scriptures, and in the word "Halleluyah" itself!
That makes the first two letters of the tetragrammaton sound like "YAH." Not "YA," but "YAH"---for the "h" sound there is ike the h in "happy"!
So...YHWH sounds somewhat like YAH-WH. With the "W" sound a very short one. But how do we get "Yahweh"? Linguistics. Common use, that's all. Try saying "Yahwh" many times very very fast, and you will see that you will tend to say either "Yahweh" or "Yahwah" or rather, something in-between those two.
Do not be inclined to put a defined "e" or an "a" there where it doesnt belong. No, there is no defined "e" or "a" sound there at all. (If there was, then the hebrews would have included the vowel "aleph" in "YHWH," but it just isn't there. So, don't "add" it. Just let nature follow its course and your lip and tongue movements do the best they can. However be aware that implied and undefined vowel sounds naturally occur between consonants, and that sometimes we need to decipher those sounds when writing hebrew words pfonetically in our languages. Otherwise we would not know how to pronouce them.
Such variations are common in any language. Take the word "pecans" in english. Some people say "peh-CANS," and others pronouce it as "PEEH-cans." Take the word "dentist." Some pronounce it as "dent-ist," while others say "dennist." Other pronounce "Caribbean" something very similar to "care-BEEN" while others say "CarEE-bee-ann" and other still "Caree-BEE-ann." And to each, his own pronunciation is right.
To exemplify this even further, the rapid pronunciation of certain words in sequence affects the purity of their phonetics. And this happens in every language of the world. Beloved, there is indeed an almost unavoidable degree of carelessness involved in the "gimnastics" of synchronized throat, mouth, tongue and lip movements when uttering words rather quickly. Take, for instance, the phrase "I want to go!," and "Hey you guys, let's get things rolling!"
Many will just say, "I wanna go" and "Hey-u-guys let's get things rollin!" Also this tendency in all languages is exactly the reason why contractions exist in all, and why its okay to say "don't," "won't," "let's," "isn't," "wasn't," and so forth. And this is true and applicable even considering that english words contain a letter for every sound that in them.
People do change some sounds, and skip others, when speaking words that are written accurately....and this is aside form any speech impediment they may have. And people go as far as writing them down just as they prounouce them! Now imagine how hebrew words that do not have all their vowel sounds spelled-out, can suffer from this!
Further, over the years, the spelling of words changes, even though those words may still be pronounced very much the same. In english, "center" used to be "centre," "colors" used to be "colours," "catalog" used to be "catalogue," "theater" used to be "theatre," and just 30 years ago "donuts" used to be "doughnuts," etc.
Pronunciation within the same language also changes from region to region.
Now, ADD all these occurences so far mentioned, together, and we come up with the reality that very slight variations in the sounds of the hebrew letters when spoken together as words, would have to be considered as "normal" and within the acceptable.
Therefore, implied vowel sounds between consonants in hebrew words are not "written in stone" in our language or theirs. And should never be written textually into hebrew words, using vowel-points. The last two letters of the tetragrammaton "YHWH" are not pronounced neither "WEH" nor "WAH"...nor "WOOH" for that matter. Just force your mouth to say "WH" because that is all you have and all you need. You get something something in between a "WEH" and a "WAH," which "WUH" would describe okay.
But---as can be expected---SOME PEOPLE were not satisfied with the way Yahweh spelled His Own name in the Sacred Scriptures, my beloved brethren...
As if Scriture and the Holy Names weren't sacred enough, they "forced in" alternate pronunciations into them by using vowel-points....resulting in distorted and blasphemous names with disctinct vowel sounds where there shouldn't be any.
"Vowel-points" did not originally exist. People invented vowel points. Own hebrew and jewish people made them up! Vowel points ADD definite and usually grossly inaccurate "vowel sounds" between consonants in hebrew words. By using those so-called vowel-points people can entirely change the pronunciation of names like Yahweh into things like Yehowah or Yehovah. And that's what they did.
Now look at the following picture or chart. This is the ancient, or paleo-hebrew, spelling of "Yahweh" and "Yahwshua."
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At the top of this picture we see the original ancient Hebrew letters for the Name “YAHUEH” or "YAHWEH," and below it, the Name of “YAHUSHA” or "YAHWSHA."
Reading the words from right-to-left, we immediately recognize the first 3 letters in both words to be the same (YOD-HAY-UAU), whose equivalent in english would be “YAHU” or "YAHW."
Due to vowel-point manipulation during the 6th through 11th centuries by the sect called the “Masoretes” (traditionalists), the form “YAHU” was altered to become “YEHO.” That is where the name "Jehovah" in King James bibles came from. And that's how the "Jehovah's Witnesses" came to be. They got their oroginal doctrine and the name from the old KJV of the bible. (Of course, nowadays they print their own translation of the Scriptures, which I should add is saturated with errors.)
That was not all they did to the language, my dear friends. People today are still using vowel-pointing arbitrarily to steer people into their own versions of the Name in Latin letters.
The greek language text in greek manuscripts serves to confirm one clear thing about the true Kodesh Name of our Mashiak: Acts 7 and Hebrews 4 both point to the fact that the Son's Name is spelled yod-hay-uau-shin-ayin. This is simply because both greek versions of the name, "JESUS" and "JOSHUA," have the underlying letters, I E S O U S. Brethren, those greek letters are exact equivalents to the hebrew letters just mentioned! The EVIL Talmud teachers would like us to believe that Our Savior's Holy Name is spelled "JESCHU," based on "YESHU," the acronym for the blasphemous hebrew phrase, "yemach shmo u'zikro," which means "may his name be blotted out"!
So don't be fooled by jewish scholars and rabbis into saying "Yeshu" because Yahwshua called them LIERS. They have in agenda to hide and substitute the original Holy Name, and that's not because they want to do it, but because Yahweh cursed them into doing it. (We have studied these propehcies at length before in other messages, so we won't be going into them here).
My friends and called-out sheep of Yahusha, there is an awakening taking place to prepare our hearts for Yahusha’s first-fruits to be sealed against the coming widespread deception. This is not to divide us, but to restore unity in His Name:
“And I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.
Set-apart Father, guard them in Your Name which You have given Me, so that they might be one, as We are.” Yahkhanan / John 17:11
Now brethren, take a very close look at the following chart. You see three different words in the hebrew language on the left side, and three words in english on the right side. The english letters are supposed to correspond to the hebrew letters of each word. This is to say, they are supposed to be correct transliterations. (We will get at this in more detail below). Those words are the different ways in which names aklin to our Savior's appear in different places in the Scriptures. Look closely at the hebrew spelling of each of those words:
Take a quick look at the first letter in each of those three hebrew words above. It is the same in all, is it not? It is a hebrew letter "yod." That's also the same letter in the tetragrammaton, or four letters of our Holy Father's name "YHWH" which when pronounced very closely sounds like "YAHWEH."
The first of those hebrew words consists of four letters (yod, shin, uau and ayin) which in english would correspond to "Y-SH-U-A." That word is #3442 in Strong's Concordance. Note that there is no literal nor implied "e" word nor "e" sound between the yod and the shin. Yet, why is it translated as "Yeshua" and not as anything else?
The answer is, someone who was doing the translation to english---an english translator centuries ago, obviously did it---and decided for an "e," probably wrongly inspired and deceived by the jewish tendency (caused by the curse that sadly befell on them) to turn into "Yeh" everything that might resemble the Holy Name, even including their very own tribal name "Yahudim" (!!), and by the old yet altered manuscripts which had added the hideous "vowel points" to those words.
Brethren, there are many many things to take into account regarding the letter yod and the vowel sound that should accompany it naturally, that many people actually totally overlook.
First and foremost, yod is the tenth letter of MANY semitic alphabets, including the aramaic, phoenician, syriac, hebrew and arabic. Its sound-value is "Y" in all languages. We just want to get the facts straight, and not take anything for granted.
Yod, being the smallest letter of the hebrew alphabet, was often overlooked by scribes because of its size and position. How very interesting! But perhaps most importantly...
Yod is generally regarded to have originated with a pictograph of a hand, ultimately deriving from the "Proto-Semitic" "YAD"! It was not called "yOd," my beloved sheep of Yahushua, it was originally called "yAd"! Perhaps more surprisingly even is the fact that in arabic, the "yod" is still to this very day called "YA"!
Brethren, this means that if any implied vowel-sound should accompany this letter, or any vowel-points should be added to it to clarify its pronunciation---which may I say IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY---then by all means it should be an "A"!
Now, with all this valuable insight in mind, let's continue with our exposition of the truth.
Take a second look at the chart above and see how many times the first spelling appears used in the books of the Tanak, and how many times the second word appears used. The first one appears 2 times---and, by the way, in none of those cases it directly refers to our Savior's Name.
The second spelling, the more common and accurate spelling "Yahusha," appears no less than 216 times! Now, beloved, let's briefly go back to our Father's Kodesh name, because that is the base of our Savior's name also. (Be certain that if we can't understand the Father's Kodesh Name, we won't get right the Son's Kodesh Name either!)
About the tetragrammaton normally seen as YHWH: Yod Hay Uau Hay, the 4 letters (tetragrammaton means "four letters" in greek) of the Holy/Kodesh Name of our Abba. For purists, perhaps slightly more correctly rendered in our latin letters: YHUH. But YHWH has become the more popular rendition, and it is not at all inaccurate.
Clement of Alexandria and the jewish historian Josefus both transliterated it in greek as "IAOUE." That's probably the best anyone could do using letters from the greek alphabet. But, how is it best pronounced (and transliterated)?
Well, my beloved, obviously there have to be limits to our imagination, for in the first place Our Husband's original Kodesh Name is not Greek at all but Hebrew!
Therefore, my brethren, when you take everything into consideration---and do not overlook the fact that together they appear 218 times in the Tanakj---YAHUSHA and YAHUSHUA ARE BOTH CORRECT TRANSLITERATIONS.
In addition, the one incidence at Nekhemyah 8:17 is acceptable as an abbreviated form. That sums up to 219 times.
Indeed, THE MESSIAH'S NAME, or early forementions of what it would be, IS FOUND NO MORE AND NO LESS THAN 219 TIMES IN THE TANAK!
In 216 of these cases, the spelling is: yod-hay-uau-shin-ayin: YAHUSHA.
So...there are a lot more facts as you will see when you read further on, but up until here, two questions would immediately arise--- even in the head of anyone who would not have all the facts:
1) Why would anyone favor a jewish rendition of the name of Our Savior that they manipulated by adding vowel-points to read "Ye" instead of "Ya," or "Yeh" instead of "Yah"?
2) And why would anyone apply more value to something that is mentioned 28 times in Scripture, over something that is mentioned 216 times?
But, don't be so quick to discard anything just yet...
Brethren, what we see from Scripture, is that Yahweh is continuously revealing His Son's Name pace by pace, by slowly evolving it, rather than by giving it all at once. YAHWEH obviously did not want to make it outright known from the first prophecy given!
The son of Nun (a leader of the tribe of Ephraim) that we find in the concordance, started out with a four-lettered name, then Mosheh changed it by adding one letter (a "YOD") to the beginning of his name:
Strong's #1954: HAY-UAU-SHIN-AYIN (HUSHA), rendered in the KJV as “HOSHEA” (Deut. 32:44), and as “OSHEA” (Num 13:16).
Strong's #3091: YOD-HAY-UAU-SHIN-AYIN (YAHUSHA = Y+HUSHA!)
Brethren, this spelling is found nonetheless 216 times, eeroneusly rendered in the KJV as “JOSHUA.” In another two instances in all of Scripture it is spelled YOD- HAY- UAU- SHIN- UAU- AYIN, or “YAHUSHUA” (Deut. 2:31 and Judges 2:7). This appears to be the "ultimate" spelling!
And did you know that hebrew letters have numerical values and meanings as well?
IN ONE PLACE, IT IS FOUND SPELLED YOD-SHIN-UAU-AYIN (NEHEMYAH 8:17). Brethren, what was going on at the time of Nehemyah? Why would any letters be "missing" from the name that would become Our Savior's? Was Yahweh trying to tell His people then, and us today, something?
Zechariah (ZekarYah) chapter 3, plainly shows the Name of our High Priest: Yahusha.
The Name of our Mashiak is provided by the greek transliteration, but only because it points to the fact that Mosheh's successor and our Mashiak's Name use the same letters in greek.
Was Yisrael always called "Yisrael"? In many bibles there remain instances that prove the name had Yisrael an alternate spelling. It has been translated and transliterated as "Jesreel." Have you noticed? (In some spanish bibles too).
Hebrews 4 and Acts 7 contain the evidence of this. Our Mashiak was named Yahusha, and the "Yasharalite" leader that brought the children of "Yasharal" (יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל, Israel) into the Promied Land was also named Yahusha. Both mens' names are rendered as IESOUS in the greek translations, so all we have to do is look up the original and real hebrew spelling for the man that english translators have called "Joshua" all along, and we've found the precious treasure we've been seeking! We don't need to investigate the fine points of the greek letters HETA and EPSILON --- these things are rendered irrelevant.
Yahusha's Name is hebrew, so that's where we need to start looking. It means Yah - is our - Deliverer, or similarly, Yah - is our - Savior. IESOUS has no meaning whatsoever in hebrew, unless "horse" were part of its meaning (for "SOOS" is the hebrew word for "horse"). But if that weren't enough, "SUS" is latin word for PIG! Zus/Zeus may have some meaning to the greeks, but not to Yasharal.
At Ezra 2:2, the name Y'shua appears among a list of many other names. In fact, this is found about 28 times in the Tanak, and in one of these cases (Nehemyah 8:17) it is used to refer to none other than the son of Nun whose name was "Yahusha" and that translators called "Joshua"!---so at least in ONE CASE there is ample evidence in Scripture that the Name of Our Mashiak is associated with that specific spelling, yod-shin-uau-ayin.
My brethren, Yahweh doesn't do things unintentionally. Many times He reveals things to us by association. And this is what He is doing with His Son's Name.
Another name used in Scripture is "Shua." Again, there's nothing to become agitated over with that either. The name Y'shua and Shua both share the common root, "yasha," meaning deliver, rescue, save, or help.
The definition of "SHUA," word #7770 in Strong's Concordance, is given as being "a cry for HELP" (aid, deliver, rescue, save); and this is from a ROOT, the word YASHA, spelled yod-shin-ayin as Strong's entry #3467.
So, upon closer scrutiny it is simple to understand when the connection to the root is properly applied to it. Often a primary root is overlooked, but in this case the root YASHA gives the component "SHA" its meaning, to deliver, to save, to rescue, to aid. "SHA" is a component in the Name YAHUSHA (or YAHUSHUA). Strongs admits it!
But Strong's overlooked or assumed one thing, and then built-on that assumption ...that "SHUA" is necessairly "a cry" of some sort. The word can also be "a clamour" and "a proclaim"!
Actually, "SHA" and "SHUA" become virtually synonymous in intention, and therefore in the meaning that both words are trying to convey. The other thing to consider regarding this, is that the word "SHUA"---or likewise the component "SHUA" in the word "YAHUSHUA"---is not in the reflexive like Strong's seems to have overlooked and some people take for granted or suggest, by saying its meaning is "a cry for HELP," when rather its meaning is "a cry TO HELP" or "TO AID" or "TO SAVE"!
Or "TO DELIVER"!
Brethren, as its stands described in Strong's---in the reflexive mode---some of the other words that they themselves give as definitions of "SHUA" could not apply!
"A cry for DELIVER"? "A cry for SAVE"? No, by no means! It makes no sense at all!
To make those other accepted definitions of "SHUA" have real sense in this context, one would have to turn those words into "DELIVERY" and into "SAVING," which then would automatically exclude them from applying to a reflexive expression! The one "crying for saving" is the one offering the saving to others, not requesting it for himself!
Beloved, this difference becomes even more dramatic when "clamour" and "proclaim"---synonymous of "cry out"---are inserted: "A clamour to deliver!" "A proclaim to save!" The difference in meanings can be abysmal!
That is exactly what Yahushua, Yahshua or Yahusha is doing!
And that, my dear brethren, is what Yahweh, according to Scripture, sent His Son to do! Let's read from Lukke 4:18-19 (echoing Isaiah 61:2):
"For He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives (...) to set at liberty them that are bruised (...) to proclaim the year of Yahweh's Favor."
Most all seminary-trained folks are still cruising down the road explaining things in terms of what they refer to as the "New Testament Language" (greek). So, they are blocking the vital source by which all Truth was given, the hebrew language; and until they can break with this self-imposed mental block, they will remain a prisoner, and "a student of the New Testament Language." What is the language of Yasharal?
No matter how you look at it, Yahw'h, Yahueh or Yahweh is not greek, and neither is Yahusha nor Yahushua nor Yahshua. His Kodesh Name and His Kodesh original language to humans is hebrew. The Jesuits approach the issue of the Name from only the greek, carefully dissecting the fine points of the greek letters, exactly as most all seminary-trained folks have been programmed to do....and totally overlooking the hebrew texts!
My beloved Sheep of Yahwshua, may Our Abba Kodesh Yahweh bless giving you wisdom and insight, in the measure that you strive to honor and obey Him!
In Yahwshua's wonderful name,
your servant,
Rafael
No matter how you look at it, Yahw'h, Yahueh or Yahweh is not greek, and neither is Yahusha nor Yahushua nor Yahshua. His Kodesh Name and His Kodesh original language to humans is hebrew. The Jesuits approach the issue of the Name from only the greek, carefully dissecting the fine points of the greek letters, exactly as most all seminary-trained folks have been programmed to do....and totally overlooking the hebrew texts!
My beloved Sheep of Yahwshua, may Our Abba Kodesh Yahweh bless giving you wisdom and insight, in the measure that you strive to honor and obey Him!
In Yahwshua's wonderful name,
your servant,
Rafael