Yeshua, Joshua, and Jesus:
Have you ever wonder why the Son of God took the name Yeshua? For the Hebrews, names given to their children are very similar to how Native American name their own, they named them after circumstances that was revealed in the physical or spiritual sense at the time of their birth or conception. For example, when Sarah laughed at the idea she would become pregnant, and she then named Isaac which means “laughter”. The name Joshua, means ‘Yah will save” or “LORD (I am who I am) will save” was given to him by Moses (Numbers 13:16). This name became a very popular name for Jews in the New Testament era. The name Yeshua in Hebrew translated into English is pronounced Joshua. The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew of Yeshua into the Greek (which is what the New Testament is written in) became “Iesous”, when we translate “Iesous” into English we get the name of “Jesus”. But Joshua and Jesus are the exact same name. So why did God pick Joshua for the Son of God? It remains a mystery but we can see from scripture that the story of Joshua and Jesus are certainly intertwined. Perhaps Joshua’s earthly battles is a prophecy of the Messiah?
| Joshua | Jesus |
| Joshua leads the Israelites out of the wilderness | Jesus leads his people out of the wilderness of sin |
| Joshua conquers the unconquerable: Jericho | Jesus conquers the unconquerable: Death |
| Joshua’s army and priests walk around Jericho until the appointed time | Jesus’ commissioned his believers to walk the earth and tell all nations until He returns at the appointed time |
| The 7 trumpets and the great cry on the 7th day. Joshua 6 | 7 trumpets of Revelation 8:6-13; 9:1-20; 10:15-19. And the great cry Revelation 19:1 |
| All of Israel stone Achan. Joshua 7:10-26 | Jews stoning the adulterous woman, Jesus the only one who has authority and judgement to stone someone, stops and withholds judgement |
| The Gibeonites. Joshua 9 | Gentiles |
| The Gibeonites would become slaves, wood cutters, and water pourers | Believers become slaves of God (Romans 6:22; Luke 9:23; Matthew 6:24;) |
| Joshua tutored and learned under the prestigious Moses | Jesus came from a wood cutter, a common laborer, yet “No one ever spoke like this man!” John 7:46 |
| The day the sun and moon stood still. Joshua 10 | The sun and moon disappeared for 3 hours of darkness before his death |
Jesus leads his people out of the wilderness of sin and conquers the unconquerable: death. We are high priests together with Jesus (1 Peter 2:9; Rev 5:10), Jesus like the commander of the Lord’s Army at Jericho goes on ahead of us first. We like the 7 priests walking with trumpets and the armed men marching around Jericho, are called to walk in God’s Word around the earth sharing the message of Jesus in anticipation of the last trumpets to be sounded and a great shout, and the walls of this sinfilled earth fall.
מגן השביל 