What was Jesus’ real name?
For some Christian traditions, January 1st is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. But if you think the Holy name is Jesus, stop what you're doing and read this because you're probably saying it wrong. And it matters to get the name of the Son of God right because it describes what He came to do by drawing upon who in Israel's history has already done it.
It’s Joshua
English speakers got the name "Jesus" through a 4th-century Latin translation that the western Church, based in Rome, privileged throughout the middle ages. Saint Jerome transliterated the Greek Ἰησοῦς into Iesus, and then the I eventually got switched with a J. The thing is, Ἰησοῦς already had a Latin form, Iosue. It is the name of the sixth book of the Bible. The formal Hebraic name Mary was instructed to give her baby was Yehoshua, Joshua. Here’s a video that might help;
The first five books of the Bible are attributed to Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and through forty years in the desert wilderness before dying at the end of the last book, Deuteronomy. The next book follows his “minister/aide" (Ex.24:13, KJV/NIV) in a military campaign to conquer and distribute the fabled Promised Land. He is known as Joshua but was born Hoshea, meaning Salvation.
In Numbers 13:16, Moses renames the Son of Nun by adding the theonym Yah, becoming Yehoshua, meaning God is Salvation. He is given the tremendous burden and responsibility of leading the Israelites through battle after battle over seven chapters of the book that bears his name, Joshua.
Who is your Daddy...
There are a lot of Joshuas in the Hebrew Bible; it's not exactly a rare name. For example, one Joshua provided land to rest the Ark of the Covenant after being returned by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 6:16 & 18. Another Joshua was governor of Jerusalem under king Josiah, who gave his name to a gate of the city in 2 Kings 23:8. But only three Joshuas stand out for the overt use of patronyms, "son of," or ben in Hebrew.
The military Joshua is well-known as the Son of Nun, Yehoshua ben Nun. The other Joshua is the Son of Jehozadak, Yehoshua ben Yehozadak. This Joshua was the first High Priest after the Babylonian exile who oversaw the building of the Second Temple. In Zechariah 6:11, the prophet is told to "make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak" (Zech. 6:11), making him the only ruler-priest in the Hebrew Bible. In Ezra 3, this ministry Joshua is called Jeshua son of Jozadak, Yeshua ben Yosadaq (Ezra 3), because the 'ho' sound gets dropped in shortening the name, like Robert to Bob or Elizabeth to Liz. Yeshua is also how Yehoshua becomes Iesus (yay-soo) in Latin. He is called Yeshua because "he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)
The messiah Joshua was well-known as an illegitimate child, so people who knew him fumbled for a patronym. Jesus is never outright referred to as the son of Joseph, ben Yosep. Luke goes so far as to say, "being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph." (3:23) But in Mark 6:3, folks from his own hometown call him "the son of Mary" because that's all they knew. The name of the Son of God matters because it identifies what "Jesus" will do on his Father's behalf. It also articulates the ancient Israelite political role that he will fulfill.
And what does He do?
The shortened name, Yeshua, is also the passive participle of the Hebrew root verb yasa, meaning to save. In other words, Jesus' real name is literally Salvation. The Son of God comes to save people from bondage, a function reserved for those who serve as Judges in Israel.
After the Son of Nun leads the people in receiving and distributing the land promised to them by YHWH, no successor is named. The High Priest is essential, but not someone with political power, per se. Instead of kings, "the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them." (Judges 2:16). The Son of Mary represented a restoration of Israel's ad-hoc political system. As Judge, he was the commander-in-chief of the saba Yehovah, the army of God, the same as his martial predecessor, the son of Nun. But Jesus was also the fulfillment of the High Priest, like the son of J[eh]ozadak.
In fact, Joshua's Temple stood in Jerusalem for hundreds of years until "Herod took away the old foundations" shortly before Jesus was born. (Josephus, Antiquities VX, 11-3) Talk about good timing; a new Joshua was about to come along to wage spiritual warfare in the land of sin by building in his person an everlasting Temple. Joshua, Son of Mary, is the complete embodiment of Israel as its military leader and minister supreme. He is not just the Judge of the whole world but also the Priestly sacrificer and slaughtered goat.
