Messiah's Name Revisited Again

breytonhartge SG

We interrupt this broadcast, I mean teaching, in order to insert one more visit to the 'sacred name' issue. I begin by reiterating something that I clearly implied in the last teaching on this issue (see Yeshua revisited). This silly debate is taking valuable time and energy away from the imperative issues of our mission. I have covered this enough that I am very tired of addressing this divisive and absurd question. However, once again it has popped up it's ugly head, so I would like to put this thing to rest so we can all get on with reaching out to our dark and dismal culture with the Savior and His precious life sustaining words.

breytonhartge SG

I have been asked why I use the name Yahshua instead of Yeshua, Y'shua or even Jesus for that matter. I also use the word Yeshua, so I am equally asked why I use that spelling instead of Yahshua. There has been an ongoing debate concerning the proper way to write or pronounce the Messiah's name, in the same way that many have wasted their time arguing the precise way to pronounce the tetragrammaton (YHVH). The proponents of the so-called 'sacred name' movement have presented their concrete evidence to prove that the proper pronunciation of the Messiah's name has to have the letters Y A H in it. They have used shades of inductive and deductive reasoning, compiled primarily from the gospel of Yochanan, to show that His name would have to have contained all or portions of His Father's name. The other side of this issue has countered with a grammatical response that asserts that the Messiah's real name couldn't have been Yahshua, but was indeed Yeshua. I can completely relate to the need for a syntactical response to some of the bad Hebrew grammar used by those who feel they have cornered the market on His name. (P. S. - I do not have a corner on this market, either.) We all know the story. There are several groups of well-motivated teachers out there who insist that they know His proper name, and if you do not pronounce and spell it THEIR way, well, then you will just have to perish in ignorance. Quite frankly, it is many of the leaders of this 'movement' that are always stirring up the pot. The ordinary sheep are not causing the controversy. It is usually a broadcast from some teaching somewhere that gets the subject going. Sometimes, leading teachers in Hebraic roots are like the news media. Many times we find ourselves fretting over whatever is put out there for us to fret over. In other words, what is deemed an important issue is many times forced to be an important issue. I have also seen many responses to an erroneous teaching, employing the same conclusions they are arguing against, to prove their own point of view.

breytonhartge SG

I believed that I had adequately taught on the silliness of this debate in a previous eight part teaching in the archive section. But there are a few more details that I would like to add. I have taught this language for over twenty years. Does that mean that I know everything? A resounding no. But I do have my two cents to add to this never ending debate, so I would like to mention a few facts. It is difficult to teach on this subject in a written format. Sometimes it is a struggle to try to write how a word is articulated. While it is true that the word that we vocalize as Yeshua does mean ‘salvation’, it is not true that personal names are always spelled the same as what they mean. The verbal root of salvation is yeshu’a, which means ‘he saves or delivers’. The ‘e’ here is a tsere,which is pronounced as the ‘e’ in thEY. In order for the word to mean ‘salvation’ the tsere would be replaced by a shewa. This is an audible half vowel, that is spoken very quickly. But this word is in the feminine gender. The word ‘salvation’ is feminine. Besides all this, the scriptures do not record the Messiah’s name as meaning salvation. The closest implication we have for his name is in Mattityahu 2:21. Here we are told that his name shall be called Jesus, because HE WILL SAVE the people from their sins. Now if that is His name, then we would now be pronouncing His name as yosha’There are rules of Hebrew grammar. These rules are imperative to understand when trying to translate words or phrases. The detailed rules of inflection, syntax, and morphology in Hebrew are very critical and the slightest vowel changes can dramatically shift meaning to another cognate, place a word into another tense, or send it into a construct state. Changing or adding vowels at will can change a word from an imperfect tense to a perfect tense. The rules of Hebrew grammar help to sustain the proper meaning of words, especially theological terms.

breytonhartge SG

The meaning of a word is important. However, personal or proper names are not spelled the same as their meanings. The parents of Hebrew children named their children after meaningful events and significant terms. A person's name came from an event or an action and not the other way around. For example, one of the names of the twelve children of Ya'akov was Dan. This name is spelled with a dalet, a qamats and a nun. As you can see I do not have Hebrew fonts. This man's name means 'judge', but the word 'judge' is spelled with a dalet, a hirek, a yod, and a nun. The person's name only MEANS judge, it does not mean that it is necessarily spelled that way. David's name means 'beloved'. This refers to the root meaning of David which, in Hebrew, is only three letters, a dalet, a holem vav, and another dalet. But yet Davids' name has a dalet, a qamats, a vav, a hirek, and a dalet. This word is used in Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) to speak of the Messiah (Shir HaShirim 6:3). Finally, the book of Shoftim (Judges) introduces us to Gideon. This name is spelled with a gimel, a hirek, a dalet, a shewa, an ayin, a holem and a nun. This name means 'tree feller'. This meaning comes from it's root which is spelled with a gimel, a qamats, a dalet, a patah, and an ayin. Because Messiah's name means salvation does not mean that it is spelled the same way. The rules concerning vowels that are followed today are taken from the vocalizations of the Masorites circa 600-900 a.d. In other words they are modern rules, relatively speaking. There is no certainty as to the precise articulation of peoples names during the time of Messiah. We have to be careful not to use dogmatic proclamations to disprove dogmatic proclamations.

breytonhartge SG

Another fact about this beautiful language is that the actual word 'salvation' does not appear in the text. This word does not stand by itself in the Hebrew text. It is always, like most words are, in an inflected state. i.e. prefixes, suffixes etc. When you see 'salvation' in the Hebrew text it is always in a verse with other words. I do not mean to sound silly here, I am trying to make a point about this whole stupid argument. You will see either, your salvation, the salvation, my salvation, his salvation, wrought salvation, working salvation, for salvation, to salvation and a host of other occurrances. As a matter of fact, more times than not, this word is in the feminine gender. The Hebrew word for the stand alone word, salvation, would be pronounced as Yayshu'a, (yay as in hay). The last consonant, ayin, is a guttural. It is not a silent letter. It is pronounced with a hard glottal stop formed at the back of the throat. How many sacred name characters do you find pronouncing the ayin at the end of the word? Bathsheba's name is written 3 different ways. Zechariah is written several different ways. This is not unique to Hebrew either. Paul's name in Greek is Paulos, sometimes. Other times it is spelled with an omega instead of an omicron. Sometimes his name ends in an 'on' rather than an 'os'. There are other times when it is simply written as Paulo. It depends on the structure of the sentence. Except for the addition of an 's' for possession, a person's name does not change in English when the sentence structure changes, but it does in Hebrew and many other languages. So are we pronouncing His name imcorrectly when we fail to add Hebrew prefixes and suffixes when using 'the Name'?

breytonhartge SG

Personal names do not have to follow the spelling of their root meanings. This is common sense and can be seen by reading the Hebrew text. The point is that no one really knows exactly how His name is articulated, any more than we know how YHVH is pronounced. The consonantal characters have been preserved and that is why I focus on these linguistic symbols. The preservation of the tetragrammaton (yod-hey-vav-hey) is not trivial nor is it coincidence. We all know the basic history of the pointed text. It was added by the Massorites between 600 a.d. and 900 a.d. The articulation of the vowel points have even been debated in the past because several vocalization systems were devised by these Massorites. The current vowel articulation is called the Tiberian system. To argue that one knows the exact articulation of the Messiah's name is absurd. Modern Jewish language scholars do not all agree on this subject. It is my opinion that the controversy is fueled by the interpretation of texts in the Tenakh that give explicit warnings concerning the 'name' of God, particularly YHVH. This strikes fear in many people who read these warnings and in their zeal to please their Father, set out to find out how to accurately and precisely pronounce 'the name'. I have covered this subject in several other places on this web site, Yeshua Revisited -1, Yeshua Revisited -2, Yeshua Revisited -3, Yeshua Revisited -4, Yeshua Revisited -5, Yeshua Revisited -6, Yeshua Revisited -7, Yeshua Revisited -8, including the word of the week WOTW - NAME.

breytonhartge SG

I have heard it asked, “Do you not believe that God is capable of preserving His name?” My answer is that if God meant for our blessings or even our salvation to hinge on a precise vocalization of His name, then indeed He would have preserved it exactly as it was. But if the meaning of ‘hashem’ is not how you say it but rather WHO your ultimate source of authority is, then I am not surprised that YHVH’s Torah is still with us today and the precise vocalization of His name is questionable.

breytonhartge SG

It is commonly known that many Rabbis’ from differing sects in the last 1700 years have refused to attempt to pronounce the ‘name’ of the Creator because of a lack of agreement on how Hashem is pronounced. This alone is evidence that many of those closest to the Hebrew lanaguage consider His name in doubt. On the other end of this subject are those who are absolutely sure that they know His name and carry that belief to the extent that those who are not saying it their way are in danger of withdrawn blessings at best and hellfire at worst. Although these views are at opposite ends of the spectrum, so to speak, the bottom line behind their conclusions is the same. Either not saying it correctly places your standing with God in jeopardy or your standing with God is dependent upon not saying it at all. Either way one’s salvation or blessings are forfeited.

breytonhartge SG

There are several logical conclusions to be drawn from even a cursory knowledge of Hebrew. The first is that the classical Hebrew manuscripts that are extant are not pointed (i.e. no vowels). Until someone produces a recording of the unpointed proto-Hebrew script being articulated, we must rely upon the various vocalization systems of the Massorites from a much later period. Secondly, the spelling of personal names in the scriptures, in the Talmud or anywhere else for that matter, do not have to be the same as their meaning. Thirdly, our Messiah's name could be Yahshu'a, Yeshu'a, Y'shu'a, Yishu'a, Yeshuah, Yeshua or Yashu'a. I pronounce His name more like Yuhshua, with the accent on the second syllable and write it as Yahshua. I personally believe that the first vowel was a qamats. I only write it that way to differentiate the Yah sound from the Yay sound, for the 'yay' sound places His name in the perfect tense. I personally believe that His name is in the imperfect tense. i.e. he is saving. It is wrong to insert a 'hey' into the word, I only insert it for pronunciation purposes. If someone wants to teach that Messiah had His Father's name embedded in His name on a sod level, then who am I to argue. It cannot be done using Hebrew grammar however. Lastly, I feel it is wrong for any side of this issue to claim exclusive rights to the precise name of God or the Messiah based upon Hebrew grammar. I feel it is time that we all get back to the teaching of hope for the lost, Torah for the Torahless, food for the hungry, healing for the sick, comfort for the afflicted, strength for the weak, shelter for the homeless and a loving unified family for the lonely. I believe that if Rav Sha'ul were around today, and I hear that some have actually seen him, that he would add one more verse to 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen. "... and if you pronounce His name correctly and articulate all vowels with precise clarity, but have not love then you have truly become a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal."

Shalom Alecheim!

Brad Scott