His Name is Y'shuaThe Bible says that our Rebbe's name means "Yah's Salvation" (Matthew 1:21). This is what the name Y'shua (Yeshua) means. The name "Jesus" does not mean this. This fact alone should be enough to settle this matter.
Attempts to justify the name change have lead to many interesting discussions that we wont get into in this study. It is worth mentioning however that the Book of Matthew was written in Hebrew and it calls him Y'shua (despite the Greek versions that replaced the original work). Most biblical scholars agree with this. In Hebrew his name is Y'shua. Later Latin and Greek attempts to turn our Rebbe into the blond haired, blue eyed Caucasian depicted in Nicene artwork notwithstanding, Rebbe Y'shua is Jewish. The Church's attempts at Replacement theology do not change this reality. The 'name given under the heavens whereby humans must be saved' (Acts 4:12) is Y'shua.
KJV: Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name _____ for he shall "save his people from their sins".We should call his name as did the angel and his mother: Y'shua.
"The Nazarene" or "Of Nazareth?"
Rebbe Y'shua is often identified with the word Nazarene. He is referred to as both Y'shua of Nazareth and Y'shua the Nazarene.
This confusion is based in part on the following verse:
KJV: Matthew 2:23 And he [i.e. Y'shua] came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.The origins of the word translated as Nazareth and Nazarene are debated by scholars.
Netser: The village of Nazareth
The Essene followers of Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) mention a place they frequented named Nasirutha but little if anything is known about the place. It is generally assumed that Nasirutha is Nazareth.
According to Luke's account of Y'shua's life Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth. Mary was in Nazareth when the Angle Gabriel told her of Y'shua's coming birth (Luke 1:26).
According to Matthew, after the family fled their home in Bethlehem for Egypt and later returned to Judea, they settled in Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-23).
The apparent contradiction between the Luke and Matthew accounts can be easily resolved if one is so inclined. It is quite possible for instance that Joseph and/or Mary lived in both Nazareth and Bethlehem before fleeing to Egypt, then returned to Nazareth where Y'shua grew up.
It is commonly accepted by scholars like James Strange that the area was underpopulated, with perhaps as few as 400 people living in Nasirutha at the time of Y'shua. This could also explain the lack of clarity on this point. While we don't have much independent confirmation of the town's existence until the Third Century C.E., in 2009 Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre excavated the remains of a house in Nazareth that he believes dates to the time of Y'shua. Alexandre told reporters, "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth."
There is no historic, textual nor archeological reason to doubt the essential accounts in the B'rit Hadashah texts (New Testament) regarding Nazareth and Y'shua's childhood presence there.
Today the city of Nazareth (al-Nāṣira) is a major one for Israeli Arabs and is honored as a pilgrimage site by followers of Rebbe Y'shua. It is therefore quite likely that the small settlement in Northern Israel once named Nasirutha is correctly referenced in the title Y'shua of Nazareth.
Consider however that this is only one possible understanding and is, in some ways, the least significant.
Netser and Natsar
Both the words Nazareth and Nazarene can be traced to one of two terms:
na·tsar: נָצַר, meaning "to watch,"
And
ne·tser, נֵ֫צֶר, meaning branch.Many researchers have focused on determining which of these is most likely the root word.
The Essenes and Mandeans
Scholars have debated which is being referenced for well over a hundred years. I suggest both are correct.
As mentioned above, the followers of Yochanan the Immerser -- known as the Mandeans -- referenced the town of Nazareth as Nasirutha. Ancient linguistics supports that both "Nazareth" and "Nazarene" would more accurately have been pronounced with an "s" rather than a "z" sound at that time.
The surviving Mandeans (living mostly in Iraq now) do not accept Y'shua as the Moshiach. These disciples of Yochanan (as a group) never became "Nazarenes" (Messianic Jews) nor "Nicean Christians" -- although many of Yochanan's followers did.
According to the Gospel accounts, Yochanan affirmed Y'shua to be "the lamb of God" (John 1:29) however at least some of his talmidim (students) rejected this (and claim Yochanan never said it at all). They continue to exist independent of both the Messianic and Nicene Christian Movements. The Mandeans hold to an essentially Gnostic belief system -- as their title is from manda or madda: an infinitive of yəda meaning "to know") implies -- however their ties to Yochanan and the Essenes is accepted as certain.
Considering the Parush (Pharisee) origins of the Essene Brotherhood and their initial rejection of the P'rushim as being too liberal in terms of their Torah observance, it seems all but certain that the Gnostic views held by the Mandeans, while based on Yochanan's Essene beliefs, are not consistent with them in terms of Gnosticism. Gnosticism also infiltrated the early Messianic Movement of Rebbe Y'shua but was largely defeated by the rise of the equally heretical Nicolaitan beliefs installed by Roman Universalism (i.e. Catholicism).
In any case, as I discuss elsewhere, there is strong evidence suggesting that Yochanan the Immerser left the Essenes of Qumran and established his own Essene community at Bethabara or Bethany-across-the-Jordan (John 1:28) to await the coming of the Moshiach as revealed to him by the Ruach of HaShem. Yochanan probably conceived of Moshiach as the physical manifestation of the Teacher of Righteousness who, according to some sources, existed in a transfigured state only and not bodily -- as some Gnostics claim of Y'shua -- compare II John 1:7).
This scenario leads to the possibility that the village of Nasirutha/Nazareth (na·tsar: Watch) was actually another small Essene enclave where these righteous people "watched" for the coming of the ne·tser (the "branch" of Jesse, i.e the Moshiach). This also possibly answers questions of how the Magi knew that the King of the Jews had been born and arguably even to the seeming difference in Luke and Matthew's account concerning where they lived as discussed above. If Joseph, having been notified of the nature of the child's origin had moved the family to Nasirutha, a covert/separatist Essene compound, they would hardly have advertised the fact.
Rebbe Y'shua was clear that he was not an Essene (Matthew 11:18) however close ties clearly existed between the Essenes, the Mandeans and the Nazarene/Messianic followers of Y'shua prior to 70 C.E. when the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) was destroyed.
According to an important apocryphal tradition preserved by the Eastern (Syrian) Church known as the Protevangelion of James (written by Y'shua's brother James) Yochanan was miraculously brought into the Essene Brotherhood as a child:
Protevangelion 16:3 Elizabeth also, hearing that her son John was about to be searched for, took him and went up into the mountains, and looked around for a place to hide him;
4 and there was no place to be found.
5 Then she groaned within herself, and said, "O mountain of Adonai, receive the mother with the child."
6 For Elizabeth could not climb up.
7 And instantly the mountain was divided and received them.
8 And there appeared to them an angel of Adonai, to preserve them.In my opinion this is an accurate testimony of how Yochanan was called to "the Wilderness" by HaShem as a child, educated by the Essene Brotherhood (who dressed in white like the angels) and then returned to civilization in due course under direction of the Essene Teacher of Righteousness to proclaim the establishment of the literal, earthly Kingdom of HaShem and its Moshiach. The leaders of Israel rejected the Kingdom however. Being so lead Yochanan began his ministry at Bethabara proclaiming that the Kingdom was then at hand, if only the elders and people of Israel would repent. In time he was led to immerse and anoint Y'shua of Nazareth as the Nazarene (Moshiach).
ne·tser: The Branch: Moshiach
Rebbe Y'shua of Nazareth was the long awaited Netser or Branch, HaMoshiach. This terminology is based on the following Messianic prophecy:
Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch [netser] shall grow out of his roots:
11:2 And the spirit of HaShem shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of HaShem;
11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of HaShem: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.The Greek New Testament uses the term "Nazarene" six times and "Nazorean" or "Nazaraean" 13 times. In the Book of Acts Luke refers to the talmidim of Y'shua as the "Nazorean" (the Nazarenes):
Acts 24:5 For we have found this man [i.e. Paul] a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes [Nazoraios]...These "Nazarenes" were the Hebrew and Goyim converts to Messianic Judaism. They existed as Messianic Jews and allowed no Pagan influences in their movement. They viewed the growing Gnostic and Nicolaitan sects as heretical and dangerous. In time of course the Nicolaitan Nicene sect gained the authority of Rome and the Vatican declared war on their movement. As Epiphanius of Salamis wrote:
... But these sectarians... did not call themselves Christians -- but "Nazarenes," ... However they are simply complete Jews. They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do... They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion -- except for their belief in Messiah, if you please! For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things, and declare that God is one, and that his son is Yeshua the Messiah. They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the Prophets, and the... Writings... are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by the Jews. They are different from the Jews, and different from Christians, only in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Messiah; but since they are still fettered by the Law -- circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest -- they are not in accord with Christians.... they are nothing but Jews.... They have the Goodnews according to Matthew in its entirety in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew alphabet. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the
Hebrew alphabet, as it was originally written.
(Epiphanius; Panarion 29)So then we conclude that both "Y'shua The Nazarene and Y'shua Of Nazareth are both correct.
Rebbe Y'shua spent much of his childhood in the village of Nazareth and he is the Nazarene.
The Word of HaShem confirms both.
Shalom in the name of Y'shua the Nazarene from Nazareth!
JewToo.org JewToo Blog Yeshiva Beth HaShem Temple Beth HaShem Yochanan's YouTube Yochanan's Facebook Contact Yochanan
