The Name that is Above Every Name
By Mildred Garner
What is the name that is above every name? “Jesus,” most anyone would answer. But did the angel of Yahweh tell Joseph, the husband of Mary the mother of our Savior, to call his name Jesus as the scriptures seem to teach? “And she shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (lit. Savior - see center ref) ; for he shall save his people from their sins ,” Matthew 1:21.
The word Jesus begins with a “J.” There was not a J in any language until after the 16th century A.D. I have searched for the meaning of the Greek word Iesous (Jesus), for I am aware there is no J in the Greek language, but I have found none. This creates a problem for the thinkers.
The name given to Joseph by the angel obviously has a meaning. “For he shall save his people .” The name was to mean save. The Greek word for save is “soter,” If, as some say, the Bible was first given to a Greek speaking people, then we should be calling our Savior a Greek word meaning save or savior ; therefore, we would call him “Soter . ”
The Greek spelling for Jesus is not soter ; it is Iesous. What does it mean? The only reference the Strong’s Concordance refers us to is in the Hebrew dictionary. It comes from #2424 in the Greek dictionary, but refers us to #3467 and #3068 in the Hebrew. These two words combined means Yah Saves , or Savior. The one thing we are sure of is the name the angel gave for the Savior was not Jesus , nor was it Soter . The book of Matthew was first written in Hebrew; therefore, the name of the Savior was a Hebrew word, Yasha (meaning save, or savior).
Some insist on the name Yahshua , but does the word “shua” mean save? In 1 Chronicles 2:3, “ . . . these three were born to him from the daughter of Shua, the Canaanite.”Shua comes from #1340 and means “daughter of wealth . ” It is also a name for a Canaanite woman in First Chronicles 7:32, and does not mean save.Shua seems to be a Canaanite word used by the Hebrews when they adopted the language of the Canaanites.
Number 7769 – shuwa (shoo-ah), in the Strong’s Hebrew dictionary, came from #7768; to be free ; but used only causative, and reflexive to halloo (for help, i.e. freedom from trouble). Number 7770, shuwa is the same as #7769. Shua is a Canaanite woman and is a feminine word. In Genesis 25:2, Abraham married the daughter of a Canaanite and she bore their son, Shuah ; from #7744, meaning dell, to sink .
Is our Savior a woman? Is he a Canaanite? Does he need to holler (halloo) for help? It is evident that shua does not mean savior in Hebrew. Shua and shuah are both Canaanite words and do not come from the Hebrew language.
In order to find the true name of our Savior we should look up these three Hebrew words: save, savior, and salvation.
Save in Deuteronomy 20:4, “For Yahweh your God is he who is going before you, to fight for you with your enemies to save you.” The word here for save is #3467 Yasha . “The Angel of the Lord said, Call his name Save (or Savior) because he will save his people.”
Notice #3468, # 3469, and #3470 are all from #3467, Yasha (yaw-sha). You will find that Savior in Isaiah 43:3 (“For I am Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . ,”) and verse 11, ( “I, even I, am Yahweh and there is no Savior besides me.”) and Hosea 13:4 ( “Yet I am Yahweh, your God, from the land of Egypt; and you shall know no other gods than Me, for there is no Savior besides Me .”) are all from #3467: Yasha , the Hebrew word for Savior .
The name Isaiah (#3470), before it was corrupted by translators, was spelled YashaYah, meaning “Yah has saved . ” Many of the names of the prophets and patriarchs in the Bible contain the name of the Father or Savior, but nowhere does it refer you to numbers #7769, shuwa or #7770, shua , or #7744, shuah. They are of Canaanite or Chaldean origin, not Hebrew.
The Hebrew word for Savior (#3467) reads as follows: Yasha ; a primitive root; properly, to be open, wide or free , i.e. (by implication) to be safe ; causatively, to free or succor : avenging, defend, deliver (-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save (-iour), get victory.
“Joshua” is the Canaanite corruption and English misspelling of Hoshea . The root of each of these words is #3467. In no way does shua,shuah , or shuwa mean savior or salvation . The Savior’s name is pronounced YAH -sha . His Father’s name is YAH and the Savior came in his Father’s name.
I have called on the Savior many times by the name “Jesus” and in no way would we suggest that he does not hear and answer prayer made to him in that name. But I feel this is the time of restoration. It is time to bring the Church out of the Babylonian system and unite her in the truth. Since the time of the dark ages, the Church has struggled to free herself completely from the cords that entangled her and dimmed her light. The Spirit is once again calling for another step toward restoration. There will be those that will hear the voice of the Spirit that is crying, “Be not partakers of her sins...,” Revelations 18:4.
For every truth that has been revealed and accepted since the days of Martin Luther, there has been a great resistance and persecution. But restitution must come and with every wave of glory will come more persecution. Fear not, the fire is turned up to finish the refining process. The names Yahweh and Yasha have been rejected for years even by his people.
The removal of the names of the Father and his Son must be considered evil and a dishonor. It is one of the wrongs that must be set right just as the biblical feast and the Sabbath. And those who choose to participate will suffer for their stand. Listen to the words of Yasha,
“Then they will deliver you up to be afflicted, and will kill you; and you will be hated by all the nations for my name’s sake ,” Matthew 24:9.
“And you will be hated by all on account of my name. . . ,” Mark 13:13.
“I have come in the name of My Father you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive that one ,” John 5:43.
“And you will be hated by all on account of My name ,” Luke 21:17.
In Acts 26:14-15, the Savior spoke to Paul in the Hebrew tongue, saying, “And all of us falling to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me, saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul (Paul), Saul, Why do you persecute me? Is it hard for you to kick against the prods? And I said, Who are you, Sir? And He said, I am Jesus whom you persecute.”
Since the name Jesus could not have existed at that time, what name do you suppose Yasha used to introduce himself to Paul? And how was Paul able to connect the name to the Galilean that he so detested. Did he use the Greek “Soter” , the English “Jesus,” or a Canaanite name? Could He have said, “I am Yasha whom you persecute?” Acts 26:14-15.
Most Christians accept the Greek name for the Savior because they have been persuaded that the Greek language was the language of the Jews at the time of Christ. This theory is disputed by a number of historians, including Josephus who was a Hebrew of that time. He said (42 A.D.), “I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language; although I have so accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For our nation does not encourage that they learn the language of many nations. On this account, as there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet hardly been two or three that have succeeded herein, who were immediately rewarded for their pains,” Antiquities XX, X1 2.
Josephus also spoke of his desire to have his original Hebrew books translated into the Greek and other languages for the benefit of the Israelites who were in Egypt.
Some have been persuaded that our Lord spoke Greek and read from the Greek Septuagint, but the early historians do not substantiate this theory. The truth is that the Greek Septuagint was condemned by the Jewish authorities and they so despised the defected version that they proclaimed a period of national mourning because of its publication. The quotations Yasha made from the Old Testament do not agree with the Greek version, but they do agree with the original Hebrew and Aramaic, which is further proof that the original New Testament text was written in Hebrew and the Messyah’s name was of Hebrew origin.
We all have the prerogative to be the kind of Christian that we choose to be, but let us pray that we never become a Christian who persecutes Christians, especially for Yahweh's name’s sake. There are many of them, and we could, without the guidance of the Spirit, join their swelling ranks.
NAME (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary): A label or designation that sets one person apart from another.
“But in the Bible a name is much more than an identifier as it tends to be in our culture. Personal names (and even place names) were formed from words that had their own meaning. Thus, the people of the Bible were very conscious of the meaning of names. They believed there was a vital connection between the name and the person it identified. A name somehow represented the nature of the person.
“This means that the naming of a baby was very important in the Bible times. In choosing a name, the parents could reflect the circumstances of the child's birth, their own feelings, their gratitude to Yahweh, their hopes and prayers for the child, and their commitment of the child to God. The name Isaac reflected the “laughter” of his mother at his birth <Gen. 21:6>. Esau was named “hairy” because of his appearance. Jacob was named “supplanter” because he grasped his brother’s, Esau’s, heel <Gen. 25:25-26>. Moses received his name because he was “drawn out” of the water <Ex. 2:10>.
“A popular custom of Bible times was to compose names by using the shortened forms of the divine name El or Ya (Je) as the beginning or ending syllable. Examples of this practice are Elisha, which means “Yah is salvation;” Daniel, “Yah is my judge;” Jehoiakim, “the Lord has established;” and Isaiah, “the Lord is salvation.”
“The change of a name can also be of great importance in the Bible. Abram's name was changed to Abraham in connection with his new calling to be “a father of many nations” <Gen. 17:5>. God gave Jacob the new name Israel (“God strives”) because he struggled with God and with men, and prevailed <Gen. 32:28; 35:10>.
“The New Testament writers also emphasized the importance of names and the close relationship between names and their meanings. A striking illustration of this is <Acts 4:12>: “For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” In this instance the name is again practically interchangeable with the reality which it represents.
http://christthecreativeword.org/Miscellaneous/Messages/the_name_that_is_above_every_nam.htm