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Bible Dictionaries
Jesus (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or JESUS (the name).—It is strange that even this name has not yet been explained with certainty. Ἰησοῦς (gen., dat., voc. Ἰησοῦ; acc. Matthew 1:1; Matthew 8:34, Mark 1:24, Matthew 1:21 [on Ἰησοῖ as gen. and dat. see Winer-Schmiedel, § 10, note 6]) is the Greek form of the Hebrew יִשׁוּעַ or יְהוֹשׁ֖עַ. Aquila has for the latter (Deuteronomy 1:38) Ἰησουά; in some passages Ἰησοῦε is found (1 Chronicles 7:27, 2 Esdras 2:6; 2 Esdras 2:40); see Redpath’s .
No satisfactory explanation has yet been offered of the varying forms יִהוֹשְׁעַ and יִשׁוּעַ. The high priest, for instance, who led the Jews back from Babylon with Zerubbabel, is constantly called יִהוֹשְׁעַ in the prophetical books of Haggai and Zechariah ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 Joshua,’ not ‘Jehoshua, as in the name of his father ‘Jehozadak’), and with equal constancy יִשׁוּעַ in the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah (where also the name of his father is written in the abbreviated form ‘Jozadak’). Were, then, both forms used at the same time? Or is this a hint that the difference is due to later recensions, and that the form ‘Jeshua’ is later than the time of the Exile? Again, how did ‘Jehoshua’ become ‘Jeshua’? The question is the more difficult as nowhere is the intermediate form ‘Joshua’ found, as in the other names formed with ‘Jeho-,’ e.g. וֹאְתְז side by side with יִהוֹאְחָנ, etc. The nearest parallel seems to be the name of the king of Moab, who is called ‘Meshaʽ’ (מִישִׁע) in the Massoretic Text of 2 Kings 3:4, but Μωσά in the LXX Septuagint; or the name ‘Moah,’ which is explained as if = mç’ab in Genesis 19:37. The reason for the vowel change has been sought in the analogy of names beginning with el. or merely on phocetical principles (differentiation, as rishôn from rösh, etc.) (For quite a different explanation, which will hardly stand examination, see Fr. Pratorius in ZDMG [Note: DMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.] lix. 342) The difficulty is increased by the fact that the name is spelt יהושוע (with וּ) but twice (Deuteronomy 3:21, Judges 2:7); and יהושע may therefore have been originally ‘Jehoshaʽ,’ like אֵלִישָע alongside of אֵלִישׁוּעַ.
Hitherto it has generally been presupposed that the name was formed from the root ישׁע ‘to save’ (or rather ‘to be safe’), like הוֹשֵׁעִ, which, according to Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16 and Deuteronomy 32:44, was the earlier name of ‘Joshua’; cf. the name הושע on a Palestinian jarhandle combined by Macalister with the name ישעי 1 Chronicles 4:20 (PEFSt, 1905, p. 330). But the dropping of the first letter is not easily explained on this theory. And the analogy of the names בֵּתֽשוּעַ, אֲלִישוּעִ, שׁוּעִ side by side with בֵּתֽשֶׁוּעַ, אֲלִישוּעִ, שׁוּעִ, points to the possibility that יְהוֹשׁ֖עַ is related to יְהוֹשֶבַע, as שׁוּעִ is to שֶׁבַע As to the meaning of these names nothing is certain. That to popular sentiment the name recalled the idea of salvation is proved for the OT by Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16, and for the NT by Matthew 1:21 ‘Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.’ Perhaps also in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 Ἰησοῦν τὸν ῥνόμενον ἠμᾶς, we have an allusion to this etymology. Greek Christians were reminded by the name of the root ἰάομαι, ‘to heal’; cf. Sib. Or. i. 351 καἱ τότε δὴ νοσεροὺς ἰήσεται; Clem. Al. Paedag. i. 7. 61 τοιοῦτον ἠμῖν ὄνομα σωτηρίου προφητεύει παιδαγωγοῦ … ἴνʼ οὐς ὁ λόγος ὁ πειθήνιος οὐκ ἰᾶται, ἀπειλὴ ἰάσεται, κ.τ.λ., ib. iii. 12. 98 ὁ ἰώμενος ἡμῶν καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν, τὸν ἀΐδιον ἄνθρωπον, Ἰησοῦς; Cyril of Jerusalem, Cateches. x. p. 88 Ἰησοῦς τοίνυν ἐστὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἐλλάδα γλῶσσαν ὁ ἰώμενος. Ἐπειδάν ἰατρός ἐστι ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων, καὶ θεραπευτὴς πνευμάτων, τυφλῶν μὲν αἰσθητῶν θεραπευτὴς … χωλῶν φαινομένων ἰατρός; Epiphanius, Haer. 29, Nazar. § 4 Ἱησοῦς γὰρ κατὰ τἠν Εβραἰκὴν διάλεκτον θεραπευτὴς καλεῖται, ἤτοι ἰατρὸς καὶ σωτήρ. Epiphanius betrays in these last words also a knowledge of the Hebrew root; and the same is the case with Chrysostom, who expressly states (Hom. 2 in Matth. p. 23), τὸ γἀρ Ἰησοῦς τοῦτο ὄνομα οὐκ ἔστιν Ἐλληνικόν, ἀλλὰ τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ οὔτω λέγεται ἰησοῦς· ὅ ἐστιν εἱς τήν Ἐλλάδα γλῶτταν ἐρμηνευόμενον, σετήρ· σωτὴρ δέ, ἀπὸ τοῦ σωσαι τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ. To the same effect is the statement of Eusebius (Dem. Ev. iv. 17, p. 199), who compares Christ with the high priest of the Return, and writes on their names, § 23, Εἰκότως οὖν τῆς εἱκόνος ἕνεκα καὶ οὖτος τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος προσηγορίας ἠξιοῦτο … ἐπειδὴ σωτήριον θεοῦ εἰς τἡν Ἐλλάδα φωνὴν τὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μεταληφθὲν ὄνομα σημαίνει· Ἰσουὰ μὲν γὰρ Ἐβραίοις σωτηρία, νιός δὲ Ναυῆ παρά τοῖς αὑτοῖς Ἰωσουὲ ὀνομάζεται· Ἰωσουὲ δέ ἐστιν Ἰάω σωτηρία, τοῦτʼ ἔστι θεοῦ σωτήριον. εἰκότως εἴ που θεοῦ σωτήριον ἐν τοῖς Ἐλληνικοῖς ἁντιγράφοις ὠνόμσται, οὑδʼ ἄλλο τι ἥ τὸν Ἰησοῦν κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραίων φωνὴν πέπεισο δηλοῦσθαι; cf. also Theodoret, ii. 385, on Is 61:10, ἐν τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ τὸ ‘ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου’ ἰμάτιον ἰεσσωὰ κεῖται, τοῦτʼ ἔστι Χριστοῦ. Lagarde (Übersicht, p. 97) concludes from this that ܝܫܘܓ, the Syriac form of the name, had a double š.
Already in the oldest MSS [Note: SS Manuscripts.] of the Gr. Test. the name is written with abbreviations ΙΣ, ΙΥ, ΙΝ; but occasionally in some MSS [Note: SS Manuscripts.] , and regularly in the Codex Bezae, ΙΗΥ is found (in the Codex Sinaiticus ΙΗΥ and ΙΥ in consecutive lines in Revelation 22:20-21). The Epistle of Barnabas seems to have known the abbreviation ΙΗ, because the number 318 (= ΤΙΗ) in Genesis 14:14 is explained there of the cross of Jesus; and the same inference may be drawn for Irenaeus from a comparison of the texts of Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius on the Marcosians (see ExpT [Note: xpT Expository Times.] xvii. [1905] pp. 44, 139).
H. Leclereq, in art. ‘Abréviations’ in Cabrol’s Dict. d’Archéol, Chrétienne, has a special paragraph ‘de l’abréviation ΙΗΥ, ΙΗΣ’ (col. 177–180). The earliest coins exhibiting the symbol IHS are of Justinian ii. (685–695, and 705–711). In the legend IHSVS XPISTVS NICA found on coins of Constantine ii. (780–791), the second letter is pronounced to be the Greek η, despite the C in NICA. On the story that the monogram of Christ was found written on the heart of Ignatius (πεοφορος), when at his martyrdom it was laid bare by the claws of the lions, see A. Bell, The Saints in Christian Art, i. [1901] p. 205.
On the power of the name Ἰησοῦς, which cannot be translated, see Origen, c. Cels. i. 25: like the names Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἰησοῦς, οὖ τὀ ὁνομα μυριους ἡδη ἑναργῶς ἐώραται δαιμονας ἐξελάσαν ψυχαῖν καὶ σωματων, ἑνερηησαν εἰς ἕκενους ἀφ ἑ·ν ἀτηλαθησαν.
We have as yet no explanation of the statement of Irenaeus: ‘Jesus autem nomen secundum propriam Hebraeorum linguam litterarum est duarum ac dimidiae, sicut periti eorum dicunt, significans dominum eum, qui continet caelum et terram, quia Jesus secundum antiquam Hebraicam linguam cœlum est: terra autem iterum sura ussea dicitur’ (= sma uers? ‘heaven and earth’). In another passage Irenaeus writes: ‘Nihilominus autem et unigenitus et maxime autem super omnia nomen, quod dicitur Deus, quod et ipsum hebraice Baruch dicitur, et duas et dimidium habet literas.’
The Jews now write ישו, which is explained by Handler (Lexicon der Abbreviaturen, 1897) מבדנו ימת שמו, by Lagarde (Mittcilungen, ii. 290) י׳ ש׳ויתאבר. ‘may his name (and memory) be wiped out (and perish)’; Jastrow’s Dictionary explains it as an abbreviation of ישוע’; Renchlin and other Christian Hebraists wrote the name יהשוה, as a combination of the tetragrammaton יהוה, with ש. wherein they found deep mysteries.
The first letter of the Greek Ἰησοῦς seems to be treated as a consonant in the hexameter
Ἰσαακ| ἠδ Ἰα| κωβ Ἰη| σους Δανι | ηλ τʼ Ἠλιας, Sib. Or. ii. 247; also in the verse of Theodorus Prodromus: τοῦ δʼ Ἰούδας θανόντος Ἰούσας μένει. On its numerical value (10) and its straight form see speculations in Clement’s Paedag. i. 9. 25 ἡ εὐθεῖα καὶ κατὰ φύσιν, ἤν αἰνίττεται τὸ Ἰῶτα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἠ ἁγαθωσύνη αὐτοῦ, and ii. 43. 3, the psalter of ten strings; in Epiphanius, Haer. l. 3 = the 10th of Nisan, on which the Paschal lamb was chosen; the tithes (δεκάται σωτηρίου ἁρχὴ ὀνόματος Ἰησοῦ) in Apost. Const. ii. 25; in the Opus imperf. in Mt. (Migne, lvi. 618).
On the spelling of the name in the Latin MSS [Note: SS Manuscripts.] of the Bible, Iesus, Ihesus, Hiesus, see Wordsworth-White on Matthew 1:1 and p. 776; H. J. Lawlor, Chapters on the Book of Mulling, p. 76; the letter of Amalarius to Bp. Jonas of Orleans and to Abp. Jeremias of Sens ‘de nomine dni Iesu,’ whether mo or ihs is the correct spelling, whether the middle letter is the Greek η or the Latin h, whether the last letter is Greek or Latin. In the Russian Church there was at one time a violent dispute about this orthographical question. In mediaeval poetry, for instance in Ekkehart iv. of St. Gall, Isus is made to rhyme with visus, etc.:
‘Virgo prior visum cunctis agnoverat Isum …
Sed nec ab his volumus nudetur laudibus Isus.’
Damasus formed the lines:
‘In rebus tantis Trina conjunctio mundI
Erigit humanum sensum laudare venustE,
Sola salus nobis et mundi summa potestaS
Venit peccati nodum dissolvere fructU
Summa salus cunctis nituit per secula terriS.’
The Mohammedan form ʽIsâ was certainly adapted to get an assonance with Mûsa (like Ibrahim with Ismail, Kabil with Habil), and not to identify the name with Esau. This was the more easy because the Nestorians pronounced the name Ishoʽ, not Jeshuʽ’ like the Jacobites. On the proposal to introduce the Mohammedan form ʽIsâ instead of Gisûʽ into the Urdu NT, see Bible House Papers, No. iii. p. 28.
That the name contains 4 vowels and one consonant doubled, and has the numerical value 888 (10+8+200+70+400+200), is shown by Sib. Or. i. 326ff. and by the speculations of the Marcosians (Iren. xv. 2; Hippol. vi. 50).
On the monograms for the name of Jesus see PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] xii. esp. p. 371 f.; Jerome, ‘de monogramma XPI’ in Anecdota Maredsolana, iii. 3 (1903), pp. 195–198; P. Cafaro, l’ebreo nome Gesu, Napoli, 1890, p. 390.
In the Ethiopian Church the name Jesus is avoided as a proper name (ZDMG [Note: DMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.] xxviii. 309); in the Syriac Church it is ‘still very commonly used as a man’s name’ (Maclean, Dict. of the Dialects of Vernacular Syriac, 1901). It would be an interesting task to collect the proper names formed with Jesus as first or second part; they seem especially frequent in the Syriac and Persian Churches.
Eb. Nestle.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Jesus (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/j/jesus-2.html. 1906-1918.
