My Salvation: yeshua’ti and yish’i (from Strong’s 3468)
Root: ישע
Sounds like: y’shoo-ah’tee and yeesh’tee
Here’s a question that occasionally surfaces: why write Yeshua instead of Jesus?
Truth be told (and to my surprise), I rarely get asked this question, but when I do, here’s my response:
HebrewWordLessons is primarily a teaching blog. It does its best to put you in a Biblical Hebrew frame of mind. For this reason I use the Hebrew pronunciation of Yeshua and I substitute the Hebrew rendering of Messiah in place of the Greek translation of Christ. Since both Christ and Messiah mean the very same thing (just in two different languages), I opt to use the Hebrew expression.
I have no concerns about anyone using the modern translated name of “Jesus” or the Greek rendering of Messiah as “Christ”. God reads our hearts, and as long as we call on Him with sincerity and reverence, our prayers will be welcomed. YHWH isn’t concerned with what specific words we call Him, as long as we do, indeed, call on Him.
We’ve taken a look at the Hebrew word yeshua, which means Salvation, but today I’d like to look specifically at a specific rendering of that word: yeshua’ti, meaning “My Salvation”. This phrase was used quite a lot throughout the Hebrew Bible.
My Salvation is from YHWH
In the Tanakh (Old Testament) many people recognized that the only one who could really save them was YHWH:
Isaiah 12:2-4
“Behold, God is my salvation [yeshua’ti], I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH YHWH is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation/saviour [li li-y’shuah].”
Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation [ha-y’shuah]. and on that day you will say,
“Give thanks to YHWH, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; make them remember that His name is exalted.”
King David often referred to YHWH as “my salvation”:
Psalm 62:1-2
[David:] My soul waits in silence for God alone; from Him comes my salvation [yeshua’ti].
He alone is my rock and my salvation [wi-y’shua’ti], my stronghold; I will not be greatly shaken.
Psalm 18:1-3, 46
[David:] “I love You, YHWH, my strength.”
YHWH is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation [yish’i], my stronghold.
I call upon YHWH, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies…
…YHWH lives, and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation [yish’i].
Psalm 25:4-5
[David:] Make me know Your ways, YHWH; teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation [yish’i]; for You I wait all the day.
Even when David was struggling, he remembered that salvation was part of God’s plan:
Psalm 27:7-9
[David:] Hear, YHWH, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O YHWH, I shall seek .”
Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, God of my Salvation [Elohey Yish’i]!
That feeling of abandonment wasn’t felt by David alone. Job also felt like he was abandoned by God and thought his chance for salvation had vanished from his grasp:
Job 30:15-19
[Job:] “Sudden terrors are turned upon me; they chase away my dignity like the wind, and my prosperity salvation: [yeshua’ti] has passed away like a cloud.
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of misery have seized me. At night it pierces my bones within me, and my gnawing pains do not rest.
By a great force my garment is distorted; it ties me up like the collar of my coat. He has thrown me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.”
Although it must have felt like truth at the time, YHWH had not abandoned Job. Job would, indeed, be saved. The God of his Salvation was very present, and willing, and able to save, but Job needed to go through the fire to find his God. He needed to cry out and get angry in order to see that God had always been there, patient and waiting to save him.
YHWH Speaks about His Salvation
Salvation was actually one of the things that God spoke about frequently in the Hebrew Bible. Let’s take a look at the few times where YHWH spoke about “My Salvation” through the poets:
Psalm 91:14-16
[YHWH:] “Because he has loved Me, I will save him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him.
I will satisfy him with a long life, and show him My salvation [bi-y’shua’ti].”
It was pretty simple, if you love YHWH, He will save you. But He doesn’t just save and walk away… no, He answers our questions; He satisfies our needs; He honours us! That’s the kind of love that goes above and beyond! That’s the kind of God we have!
Ethan the Ezrahite shared YHWH’s words about His feelings for David and David’s love for Him in return:
Psalm 89:20, 26-29
[YHWH:] “I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed him…
…He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation [w-tsur yeshua’ti].’
I will also make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. I will maintain My favour for him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
So I will establish his descendants forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.”
YHWH saw that David understood who He was… the Salvation bringer. And YHWH rewarded David’s discernment by making a covenant with him… there would be an eternal throne, and it would come from David’s line. David would have a part in God’s Salvation plan!
The prophet Isaiah expressed God’s words and he emphasised that that the salvation YHWH was offering was eternal:
Isaiah 51:4-8
[YHWH:] “Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for a law will go out from Me, and I will bring My justice as a light of the peoples.
My righteousness is near, My salvation [yish’i] has gone forth, and My arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands will wait for Me, and they will wait expectantly for My arm.
Raise your eyes to the sky, then look to the earth beneath; for the sky will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants will die in the same way.
But My salvation [wi-y’shua’ti] will be forever, and My righteousness will not fail.
Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart is My Law; do not fear the taunting of people, nor be terrified of their abuses.
For the moth will eat them like a garment; yes, the moth will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation [wi-y’shua’ti] to all generations.”
Later Isaiah expressed YHWH’s announcement the His Salvation would be arriving soon:
Isaiah 56:1-2a
This is what YHWH says:
“Guard justice and do righteousness, for My salvation [Yeshua’ti] is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is a man who does this, and a son of man who takes hold of it…”
Yeshua: My Salvation
The Jewish people had been waiting all their lives for God’s Messiah to come and rescue them. They knew each passage that pointed to God’s Anointed Messiah to come. One of the more curious passages can be found in Isaiah 49. Here we read a conversation that God had from the perspective of God’s Anointed One, whom YHWH called “His Servant”:
Isaiah 49:5-7
And now says YHWH, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honoured in the sight of YHWH, and My God is My strength), He says,
“It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation [Yeshua’ti] may reach to the end of the earth.”
This is what YHWH, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, says to the despised One, to the One abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and arise, princes will also bow down, because of YHWH who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
The long-awaited Messiah did come, just as YHWH had promised. And He chose the most unlikely vessel to deliver His Son, His Messiah… a young virgin woman named Mary. It should come to no surprise that when she received the news of her pregnancy she was told to name the baby Salvation (Yeshua).
Luke 1:31-33
[Gabriel to Mary:] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus [Salvation]. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
As we are all aware, Yeshua went to the cross to bear our sins as an ultimate form of love and forgiveness. He paved the way for us to return to YHWH’s heavenly Kingdom, purified by Yeshua’s sacrifice.
While He suffered on the cross, Yeshua quoted the Tanakh:
Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Far from my helpsalvation [mi-y’shua’ti] are the words of my groaning.”
Yeshua was the Salvation of the whole world, but while He was on the cross, under the weight of the world’s transgressions, He felt as far from salvation as possible. He gave up His life to save ours… His death was the cost of our freedom… and He gave it willingly.
What are you saving?
What does it mean to “save” today? When I looked up this word in pixabay.com (a free photo directory) every image was related to money. We save our money. We collect it and protect it. We’re not about saving people, we’re about saving dimes… that’s what we’ve turned this verb into. We are saviours of cash.
Yeshua’ti is not a verb, it’s a noun… a word denoting a person, place or thing. Literally, it’s my “one who saves”. This isn’t about a distant God, way up there; He is reachable to each and every one of us! YHWH is family. He is ours and we are His:
Ezekiel 34:31
‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord YHWH.
Thankfully this God-sent “one who saves” is much more interested in saving people than saving man-made wealth, because we are far more valuable than diamonds; far more valuable than gold! And while it is fine to save for a rainy day, what we really ought to be saving is people… God’s image bearers. They are the real treasure!
Really it is not up to us to saves others, only YHWH can save. But what we can do is show others how much they are treasured by God… and we can do that by sharing His overwhelming generous love with every. single. human. on this planet.
YHWH is my Salvation!
Yeshua is (literally) my Salvation!
Is He yours?
Micah 7:7-8
But as for me, I will be on the watch for YHWH; I will wait for the God of my Salvation [yish’i].
My God will hear me.
Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine. Though I fall I will rise; though I live in darkness, YHWH is a light for me.
Next week: EXILE
