The Name Above Every Name: Restoring Yehoshua from the Ashes of Jesus.

A message to the Unsaved…

  In the beginning, when the covenant was fresh and the Name was unmuted, the declaration of salvation was not a vague hope or a generic phrase—it was a specific utterance, a sound that carried divine agency. Yehoshua, meaning “YHWH is salvation,” was not merely a label but a living proclamation. It first appears in Exodus 17:9, when Moses instructs Yehoshua ben Nun to lead the battle against Amalek. This was not a random assignment; it was a prophetic signal. Later, in Numbers 13:16, Moses renames Hoshea to Yehoshua, embedding the divine prefix “Yeho-” into the name. This shift was not linguistic convenience—it was covenantal precision. Hoshea meant “salvation,” but Yehoshua meant “YHWH is salvation.” The difference is not cosmetic—it is theological. It is the difference between a generic rescue and a divine deliverance. Yehoshua is the name that carries the weight of heaven’s intention.

Names in Scripture are never incidental. They are declarations, assignments, and often prophetic blueprints. Hoshea, though noble, lacked the covenantal anchor. Yehoshua, by contrast, was a name forged in divine fire. It was the name that led Israel into the Promised Land, the name that stood in the gap, the name that bore the sound of YHWH’s saving power. This name was not just spoken—it was lived. It was the audible embodiment of covenantal favor.

But as history unfolded, the clarity of the Name began to blur. The exile did not just scatter the people—it fractured their language. After the Babylonian captivity, a new name emerged: Yeshua. It appeared only in post-exilic texts like Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7. It was a shortened form of Yehoshua, stripped of the divine prefix. The “Yeho-” was gone. What remained was “shua”—salvation without attribution. This was not a mere abbreviation. It was a linguistic reflection of a spiritual condition. Israel was out of covenant, and the name they used mirrored that rupture. Yeshua retained the root but lost the source. It was a contraction not just of syllables, but of relationship. The divine was no longer named. The sound of salvation had been muted.

This shift is not trivial. It is a theological tremor. Yehoshua declares who saves. Yeshua merely declares that someone saves. The difference is the difference between a signed check and a blank one. One carries authority. The other carries ambiguity. In the post-exilic period, the people no longer felt the intimacy to declare YHWH’s name. So they retained the concept of salvation but dropped the covenantal attribution. The name was shortened because the relationship was strained.

Then, in the fullness of time, the Name returned. Around 3 BCE, Gabriel appeared to Miriam and declared that she would bear a son. The angel’s words, recorded in Luke 1:31, say, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Iesous.” But this is the Greek rendering. Gabriel did not speak Greek. He spoke Hebrew. What Miriam heard was not “Iēsous.” She heard “Yehoshua.” The Name was restored—not in ink, but in sound. The covenantal declaration was reintroduced. The Messiah was not given a generic name. He was given the same name as the one who led Israel into the Promised Land. The name that means “YHWH is salvation.” The name that carries divine agency.

However, when the Gospels were written decades later, they were recorded in Greek. And in Greek, the name Yehoshua was transliterated as Iēsous. This was not a translation. It was a phonetic bridge. The Greek language lacked the letter “J”, the consonantal “Y” sound found in “ye”, and the “sh” sound present in Hebrew. Additionally, Greek masculine names do not end in “a” or “ua”, which meant the original ending of “Yehoshua” had to be reshaped to conform to Greek grammatical norms. As a result, the name Yehoshua was transliterated into Greek as Iēsous, using phonetic approximations and structural adjustments: the Hebrew “Yod” became Greek “Iota”, the “sh” sound was replaced with “s”, and the final “ua” was dropped and replaced with the masculine nominative ending “sous”. This was not a translation but a phonetic and grammatical compromise shaped by the limitations and conventions of the Greek language. This was not a betrayal—it was a necessity. The writers were not inventing a new name. They were following a precedent already established in the Septuagint.

The Septuagint, translated between 285 and 150 BCE, was the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures. It was created for the Jewish diaspora living in Greek-speaking regions who no longer read Hebrew fluently. In the Septuagint, the name Yehoshua was transliterated as Iēsous 218 times, specifically for Joshua son of Nun. This was long before the birth of the Messiah. So when the Gospel writers used Iēsous, they were not introducing a new name. They were leaning on the bridgework laid by the Septuagint. The name Iēsous was already understood to be the Greek form of Yehoshua. It was the image, not the sound. But the people of that era knew the sound. They heard Yehoshua even when they read Iēsous.

This is the missing link. Most modern readers assume that Iēsous was invented around 90 AD when the New Testament was being written. But the truth is, it was inherited from the Septuagint nearly 200 years earlier. The Septuagint is the key. It is the bridge between Hebrew covenantal identity and Greek textual tradition. Without it, the connection between Yehoshua and Iēsous is lost. And when that connection is lost, the Name becomes a shell.

Today, the disconnect is profound. The name “Jesus” is seen as a standalone term. It is culturally normalized but spiritually severed. Modern readers lack the audible memory that preserved the Name. They see “Jesus” and assume it is the original. But it is not a translation. It is not a transliteration. It is not even synonymous. It is a linguistic evolution that has drifted far from its source. The bridgework of the Septuagint is buried under centuries of tradition and translation. The sound of salvation has been replaced by a substitute.

To understand the depth of this rupture, consider the analogy of currency. The dollar sign “$” is a symbol. It represents value. But the sound “DAH-luhr” is what carries the meaning in conversation. If someone sees the symbol but does not know the sound, they cannot transact. The symbol is the image. The sound is the substance. Iēsous is the image. Yehoshua is the sound. The covenant is carried in the utterance, not the icon.

This framework exposes the counterfeit. Yehoshua and Iēsous are the only two kosher iterational utterances of the covenant name. Both are linguistically traceable and theologically anchored. Iēsous is a transliteration of necessity, preserving the image but not the full sound. Yehoshua is the original utterance, preserving both sound and covenantal meaning.

But then comes Iesus. This name emerges in Latin manuscripts, disconnected from both Hebrew and Greek. It is not a translation. It is not a transliteration. It is not synonymous with Yehoshua or Iēsous. It is a linguistic mutation, a transmission error. It lacks etymological integrity and theological precision. It is a name without roots, a construct without covenant.

From Iesus comes Jesus. This is the English evolution. But it is not a translation of Yehoshua. It is not a transliteration of Iēsous. It is not synonymous by definition or sound. It carries no covenantal meaning. It is audibly severed from the original Name. It is culturally normalized but spiritually counterfeit. It literally means nothing in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or English. It is a pure hollow substitute—a name without Name, a shell without substance.

The verdict is clear. Jesus is not the Name given by Gabriel. Jesus is not the Name spoken by Miriam. Jesus is not the Name recorded in the Septuagint. Jesus is not the Name that means “YHWH is salvation.” It is a covenantless construct, born of translational drift. It cannot carry the weight of the Name it replaced.

The restoration must begin with sound, not just with image. Yehoshua is the covenantal original. Iēsous is the transliteration bridge. Jesus is the counterfeit endpoint. Restoration begins with audible fidelity and covenantal clarity. The Name must be heard as it was spoken, not merely seen as it was printed.

And regardless—even if Jesus were a translation, a transliteration, or some invented placeholder—the Word of God strictly declares: Yehoshua is the Name. Yehoshua is the sound. Yehoshua is the declaration of YHWH’s salvation. Period.

This is not a linguistic preference. It is a covenantal imperative. The Name is not negotiable. It is not subject to cultural drift or translational convenience. It is the sound of salvation. It is the utterance of divine agency. It is the Name above every name. And it must be restored—not in theory, but in practice. Not in ink, but in breath. Not in tradition, but in truth. Salvation lies ONLY in the name of Yehoshua, not Jesus.