Chapter 8 Hebrew for Christians

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So maybe Hebrew for Christians is not the right title for this chapter for anyone can read the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Maybe “New Testament relevant Hebrew would be better.

So for the Obvious here is Jesus and of course Jesus is an Anglicization of the Greek word word Jesus. The original name was Yehoshua יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎‎ (Joshua) meaning “the Lord will rescue or the Lord is salvation” . The original root is “shua” which means to cry out in desperation and so then comes to verb yasha which means “to rescue”. This name Yehoshua is not believed to be how Jesus was known and the general consensus is the name Yeshua ישוע which means “to be rescued or simply salvation. The reason I emphasize the word rescue in the sense of being delivered from an adverse situation is that the word salvation actually came from the Greek word satzos which meant “healing”. So the Hebrew Yeshua best translates as to be rescued ,but in modern English being rescued and saved are the same.

So was Jesus actually known as Yeshua ? A lot of people do think so but Yeshua is a Hebrew name and we know that Jesus spoke Galilean Aramaic. A common Aramaic for Jesus is Yeishu but this is more from the Babylonian dialect. Some suggest that Jesus may have been known as Isho ,and just to make the point all three names are spelled the same. Here is the consonantal spelling : ישוע.

In Hebrew this is pronounced Yeshua but in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic they do not pronounce the gutturals and the last patach or A vowel is under a ayin letter which is a guttural. In this case the A vowel is dropped and it is now a two syllable word which then strengthens the E vowel in the beginning. So Yeshua becomes Yeishu ,does that make sense. The Galilean dialect is from the western Syriac dialect and not the eastern style that is the Babylonian Aramaic. Some scholars say that in this dialect that as well as the A vowel at the end being dropped that the yod in the beginning is an I vowel. So hence; Isho as opposed to Yeishu. The name Isho for Jesus is still used in Syriac Christian Churches to this day actually. However it is still not known though if Jesus was ever called Isho in his time in the Galilee where he was from. Yeshua is most likely how Jesus was still known based on the knowledge we have today.

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So the next obvious would be Christ and this is from the Greek Kristos which meant anointed or anointed one. This come from the Hebrew word mashiach משיח meaning anointed or anointed one also, the English word Messiah comes from this also. This comes from the word mashach משח which meant to rub with oil because in Israel all Kings and Priests were anointed with oil. So the word mashiach was from the belief that the savior would come and restore the Kingdom of Israel and he (the King inn the line of David) would be anointed with oil.

Now for Paul; Now Paul was known first as Saul which is in Hebrew Shaul שאול which means asked for or to ask. There are a number of ideas on how the name change happened .Some say Saul chose Paul because they sounded alike ,but there is a problem ,both Saul and Paul are modern English names only. Saul was Shaul and in the Greek Paul was Paulos (which meant small) and Shaul does not sound like Paulos, and some suggest that he may have been called Paulos by Greeks because he was short or small or sickly. Some scholars think Paul chose his new after his conversion to attract Greek converts which is a common theory. Other people argue that Paul was indeed a Roman citizen of the Syrian city Tarsus (now modern Turkey). It was common for Jewish Roman citizens to have their Jewish birth name along with a Latin or Greek name depending on the province they lived and Tarsus was Greek speaking not Latin. So Paul may have always had two names and I offer here no opinion on which theory is correct.

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So what about other common New Testament names that would have been Hebrew or Aramaic speakers.

Matthew is Matityahu מתתיהו meaning “gift of God”

Mark was also known as John but called Mark to avoid to Gospels called John.

Luke was a Syrian gentile that might have had a Jewish Father but his Hebrew name is unknown.

John Yochanon יוחנן meaning “the Lord is gracious”.

Peter which is Greek for rock or stone and was also known in Aramaic as Keifa כיפא which meant also rock or stone in Aramaic. Peters birth name was Shimon שמעון (Simon in English) which means “has heard or listened”.

Thomas comes from this Aramaic word Toma תאומא meaning twin.

Mary is from the Hebrew Miryam or Miriam מרים and this is most likely a Egyptian loan word meaning “beloved” (remember Miryam was Aarons wife and born in Egypt) .In Hebrew though Miriam or Miryam means bitter water or bitter seas.

James is Greek from the Hebrew name Jacob/Yaakov יעקב which meant “on the heel”.

Judas Iscariot is in Hebrew Yehudah ish Kriot יהודה איש קריות meaning Yehudah (Judah in English) man of Kriot . Kriot may have been a tiny village in the Bible in southern Judea. A kriot is also a name for a small village even smaller than a Kriah which is a village or small town .You could translate Kriot as a Hamlet ,the smallest settlement in the English language.

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Here is Revelation 7 and 144 Thousand

7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the land, on the sea or on any tree. ² I saw another angel coming up from the east with a seal from the living God, and he shouted to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea, ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!” ⁴ I heard how many were sealed — 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Isra’el:

Yehudah/Judah יהודה which means “praised”

Ruvein/Reuben ראובן “look a son”

Gad גד “fortune or luck”

Asher אשר “blessed or happy”

Naftali נפתלי “twisted or struggle”

M’nasheh/Menaseh מנשה “to forget”

Shimon/Simon שמעון ” was heard or listened”

Leivi לוי “joined”

Yisaskhar/Issaschar יששכר “reward”

Z’vulun/Zebbulun זבולון “dwelling”

Yoseif/Joseph יוסף “added or increased”

Binyamin/Benjamin בנימין “son of the right hand or the south”

(Dan is cast out but Dan דן means judgement or discernment)

Some have suggested that each of the 12 disciples represent one of the 12 tribes. Here is a theory on that based on some evidence (I do not formally endorse this as fact but it is just for thought). Take this with a grain of salt.

Peter/Shimon Ruvein/Reuben

Andrew-Naftali

James Z’vulun/Zebulun

John- Yisaskhar/Issachar

Philip-Asher

Bar Talmai/Bartholomew  Gad

Matthew Efrayim

Yaakov (James) ben Alpheas-Binyamin/Benjamin

Yehudah/Judas-Shimon/Simon

Shimon the Zealot -Leivi

Yehudah ish Kriot (Judas Iscariot (the traitor) Yehudah/Judah

(Just for thought and I do not know the logic that this Messianic Jewish Rabbi compiled this)

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So Acts 2

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

This was the Jewish Holiday Shavuot שָׁבוּעוֹת and Shavuot means weeks and this falls 50 days after Passover or Pesach פסח on the 6th of the Jewish month Sivan. The 50 days after Passover is why it is also called Pentecost meaning 50th. In Jewish tradition the count the omer עוֹמֶר each of the 49 days from the end of Passover to Shavuot. Omer means sheafs of grain because this holiday relates to the grain harvest of wheat. This holiday also celebrates the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai.

So who were the Pharisees and Sadducees?

The Pharisees were the P’rushim פְּרוּשִׁים which meant most literally separated ones or pious ones more abstractly. They were the main teachers of Jewish law in the second Temple period. They emerged after the Maccabean Revolt in the mid second century bce as scribes and teachers of Torah and the oral traditions that would later become the Talmud also. Their school of though would eventually evolve into the Rabbinical Judaism of today. There were two main schools of P’rushim: There was Beit Hillel בית הלל who were known as the good Pharisees and Beit Shammai בית שמאי who were known as the Pharisees that Jesus was always quarrelling with. Both schools were of the Zugot period of teachers and the House of Hillel were known for being more into the spiritual and the House of Shammai were known for very very strict views on Jewish living and law.

Who were the Sadducees? They were the Tz’dukim צְדוּקִים which means just or righteous ones. The name likely comes from the High Priest in the time of Solomons Temple named Tzadok. It is not totally clear if the Tz’ukim were of the physical descendants of Priest Tzadok or if they were just followers of the school of thought.

The aggadic work Avot of Rabbi Natan tells the story of the two disciples of Antigonus of Sokho (3rd century BCE), Zadok and Boethus. Antigonus having taught the maxim, “Be not like the servants who serve their masters for the sake of the wages, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving wages”,^[5] his students repeated this maxim to their students. Eventually, either the two teachers or their pupils understood this to express the belief that there was neither an afterlife nor a resurrection of the dead, and founded the Sadducee and Boethusian sects. The Tz’dukim were different from the Pharisees in that they rejected the oral traditions, resurrection of the dead and after life and put more emphasis on Torah only point of view. They are somewhat similar to the modern Kara’ite Jews but it is unclear if they related in some way.

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One thing many people ask is was the new Testament originally written in Hebrew? The simple answer is that there is no evidence of this, although Messianic Jewish Rabbi Michael Rood argues that it was written in Hebrew and the the Catholic Church secretly has those original Hebrew copies in a secret vault in the Vatican City. This is not substantiated by any evidence of any type. I do personally believe that the original proto versions of the Gospels were written in Galilean Aramaic or maybe Hebrew even ,although it’s most likely that Jesus and his 12 spoke Galilean Aramaic. This is my thought on the matter and I do not have evidence on this.

I think that within the first 5-10 years after crucifixion of Jesus that the first Gospel was written and I think it was in Aramaic and the Galilean subdialect (there are 16 different dialects of Aramaic). People who knew Jesus started putting there accounts on paper around 35-40 ce or thereabouts. Modern historians place the earliest Gospel at about 65 ce.

Mark 65 ce

Matthew 70-75 ce

Luke 80 ce

John 95-115 ce

These were all in Koine Greek no question but there is evidence they were based on proto-Gospels .The word Gospel was Old English for good news (godspell) ,which came from the Greek word Euangelion which also meant tiddings or good news. There is what historians call the Q theory ,which was a proto Gospel that inspired the three synoptic Gospels; Matthew ,Mark and Luke.

The Q source (also called the Sayings Gospel, Q Gospel, Q document(s), or Q; from German: Quelle, meaning “source”) is a hypothesized written collection of primarily Jesus‘ sayings (λόγια, logia). Q is part of the common material found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke but not in the Gospel of Mark. According to this hypothesis, this material was drawn from the early Church’s oral gospel traditions.

Q had been hypothesized by 1900 alongside Marcan priority. Some scholars have postulated that Q is actually a plurality of sources, some written and some oral. Others have attempted to determine the stages in which Q was composed. Despite the two-source hypothesis enjoying wide support, Q’s existence has been increasingly questioned by alternative theories such as the Farrer and Matthean Posteriority hypotheses.

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Whether the Q source is real I do not know but it is evidence of a proto Gospel or Gospels and that Matthew ,Mark and Luke were polished versions thereof. So it is possible that early accounts of the life of Jesus may have inspired the Gospels we know now. Perhaps Matthew who’s name was Levi gave his account and Mark John gave his account along with Luke the Syrian who also wrote “Acts of the Apostles” . They may originally have been in Galilean Aramaic and then put into Greek after the Apostle Paul gained so many Greek speaking converts. The Greek versions survived because Greek was the language of the region and the Aramaic versions stopped being copied at some point. Some suggest that the Peshitta which is a Syriac Aramaic Bible popular in eastern Churches was the original New Testament. This is not true and actually the earliest known copy of the Pershitta goes only the fifth century and was copied from Greek manuscripts that already existed.

I do think that there were Hebrew and Aramaic witness accounts of the life of Jesus that led the Gospels that we know but there is no known copy of any New Testament manuscript in anything but Greek.

So what about some important New Testament places.

Nazareth/Natzrat נצרת is a city in the north of Israel a bit west of the Sea of Galilee. This name most likely comes from the word neitzer נֵצֶר meaning branch ,twig or shoot. Messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11:1: “from (Jesse’s) roots a Branch [neitzer] will bear fruit”. Others have suggested a root in the word natzar meaning “to watch or guard” .

Galilee/Galil גָּלִיל and the word means district or circle.

Jerusalem/Yerushalayim ירושליים and this means foundation of peace.

Bethlehem/Beit Lechem (two words in Hebrew) בֵּית לֶחֶם “House of Bread”.

Bethany/ Beit Anyah בית עניה ,this could mean either, house of figs or poor house. I would disagree with the house of figs theory because the spelling does not match. It would look like this בית התאנים however the pronunciation would be similar. This is the town where Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead and today it is an Arabic speaking town called in Arabic Al-Eizariya meaning the Town of Elazar ( which is the Hebrew for Lazarus).

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Golgatha/Gulgolet גולגולת “skull”.

Jordan/Yardein ירדן “go down or descend”.

Capernaum/K’fer Nachum כפר נחום “Nachum’s village”.

Gennesaret/Kineret כִּנֶּרֶת “village of the harp or violin or lyre”.

Bethsaida/בֵּית צַידָה “hunting lodge”.

A few terms that you may not understand.

Mammon ממון ,it means money, capital or financing .It does not mean evil ,Jesus was simply saying you cannot love money more than God.

Baptism ,which means to sink or dunk in Greek. The closest Hebrew word would be mikveh מקוה which is a Jewish ritual purity bath.

Amen אמן: Truly, verily, or “so be it”. This is from the same root as words like emunah meaning faith and emet meaning true. This is pronounced “ah mein” in Hebrew.

Talita kumi טליתא קומי: Aramaic for “Little girl, arise” (Mark 5:41).

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani  אלי אלי למה שבקתני: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me” (Matthew 27:46).

Hosanna/Hoshana הושענא: Save us.

Satan שָׂטָן: Literally accuser but also means adversary, enemy or opposer. This relates to the word sitnah meaning accusation.

Grace is a very important Christian concept however there is not a Hebrew word that perfectly translates to Grace as English knows it but here are some appropriate words.

Chesed חסד loving kindness ,this word originally referred to clan loyalty.

Chein/Chanah (Hannah) חן”חנה , this means favor but also means grace and attractiveness. In ancient times this meant to find shelter ,pitch a tent or make camp.

Compassion or to have pity on rachamim רַחֲמִים .This also has a nuturing aspect because it is related to the word rechem meaning womb.