Why should YHWH be pronounced correctly and not Yeshua?
Question:
I have just read your web page: Understanding the Tetragrammaton: Pronouncing YHWH.
If your conclusion is accurate, then we should not be using the name Jesus, correct? To apply your conclusion or principle to YHWH, consistency, and accuracy being paramount with me, means that the use of Jesus it wrong too. We should be using Yeshua or Yahshua.
Isn’t the name Jehovah and Jesus the English translation of earlier languages?
Why is it that we have the correct vowel sounds for Yeshua or Yahshua but not for YHWH?
What are your thoughts on the word “stauros” when referring to the crucifixion?
Answer:
At the end of brother Longhenry's article, you will find that the last paragraph acknowledges that Jehovah has become one of the English names for God. While the word entered our language through misunderstanding and mispronunciation, it is not wrong to use the word because its meaning is a reference to the Hebrew word יחוח.
We use Jesus because that is the English transliteration of the Greek spelling of his name. The New Testament was recorded in Greek, not Hebrew. Now, if you wanted to make an argument that we needed to pronounce the name as they did in Greek, you might be making a point for consistency, but you're not. And we would go back to the same point made earlier, the name Jesus is an English word referring to the Greek word Ιησουν.
The Greek words referring to what Jesus hung upon are stauros and xulon.
"In secular Greek stauros denotes a "pole," or a "pile," such as is used in foundations. The term is also used of a "fence, stake," or a "tent peg"; however, it also refers to a "cross" upon which criminals were executed (cf. Liddell-Scott). This is its use in the New Testament.
"Execution by means of crucifixion was employed in Greece, but the practice did not originate there. In all likelihood the Persians invented this means of torture and execution. Later, Alexander the Great, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians used this method of punishment. The Romans adopted it from the Carthaginians; however, except in rare cases they seldom executed Roman citizens by crucifixion. Usually only slaves and the most serious criminals, e.g. traitors, perjurers, etc. were crucified." [The Complete Biblical Library, Greek-English Dictionary].
"Classical Greek uses xulon to denote a "tree," a "piece of wood," "timber," etc. As a single piece of wood xulon may represent a variety of forms: "beam, post, or log" (Liddell-Scott). Moreover, xulon can refer to anything made of wood, including objects of punishment, such as "stocks, clubs, gallows, stakes," etc. ... A distinctive New Testament use of xulon is its reference to "cross." In each instance where this occurs it is used exclusively of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified." [The Complete Biblical Library, Greek-English Dictionary].
The words, independent of context, does not tell us exactly what is being referred to. Stauros only means we are referring to wooden poles, or logs, or something constructed of wooden poles. Xulon only means we are referring to something made of wood. The fact that it was used in the context of the execution method employed by the Romans in that era that tells us to which object we are referring to. Other historical documents, written in Greek, also use stauros to refer to a cross for crucifixion, so we find no contradiction.
