This teaching explores the profound distinctions between the Greek New Testament book of Matthew and the presentation of the Messiah’s name and the Hebrew context preserved in the Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew. The Hebrew book of Matthew called the Shem Tov contains many distinctions that can only be understood with a Hebrew context and understanding of a Hebraic mindset. We will examine the angelic announcement, the etymology and wordplay of the name Yeshua, the theological implications from a first-century Hebrew perspective, and the broader redemptive plan for all Israel—including the restoration of the northern tribes. Every point raised is included and developed here, forming a cohesive, in-depth study rooted in the Hebrew mindset of first-century Judea. All new emphases on the temple, the unchanging instructions, Jeroboam’s motives, the parallels to the trinity, Christianity as the continuation of the northern kingdom’s covenantal heresies, the change of Shabbat to Sunday, and the full list of parallels including emphasizing the inheritance of lies from forefathers as stated in the book of Jeremiah.
1. The Angelic Announcement: Greek Version vs. Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew
The foundational passage reveals layers of meaning lost in translation. In the standard Greek Matthew and English (1:21), the angel ( understood in context as the messenger to Joseph, involving Miriam/Mary) declares:
“She will bear a Son and call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.”
In contrast, the Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew preserves:
“She is pregnant by the holy spirit and you will call his name yeshua for he will save his people from their sins.”
This basic reading in the Greek is unable to bring forth the deep meaning of this passage and is a Hebrew marker that the context of the 1st century Jews spoke Hebrew with some Aramaisms in the first century Judea. The shift from “Jesus” (a Greek transliteration) to the original Hebrew Yeshua immediately opens the door to wordplay, covenant theology, and the identity of the one true Savior—truths only fully accessible in the Hebrew original.
2. The Name Yeshua: Its Hebrew Roots and Second Temple Significance
The name Yeshua is a second temple period truncated or shorter version of Yehoshua (Joshua) which literally means Yehovah saves. This shortening was common in the Second Temple era, yet it retains the full power of the divine name embedded within it. Yehoshua / Yeshua is not a generic name; it is a declaration: Yehovah is the one who saves.
In the Hebrew Matthew, the angel’s words carry this exact force: You will call his name yeshua for Yoshia. Here, Yeshua means Yehovah saves and Yoshia is the same root letter to save, which means he will save. The sentence reads: You will call his name Yeshua (Yehovah saves) for yoshia (He will save). This is not accidental. The Hebrew root y-sh-‘ (to save, deliver, bring salvation) links the name directly to the action. The name itself prophesies the mission, and the mission points back to the Name of the Father.
3. The Sole Savior: Yehovah Alone, Through His Vessel
From a Hebrew perspective it is Yehovah who alone is the savior, “there is no other savior but me” (Isaiah). Isaiah 43:11 declares unmistakably: “I, even I, am Yehovah, and apart from Me there is no savior.” The Hebrew wordplay in the Shem Tov Matthew reinforces this: the one who “will save” (yoshia) is tied inseparably to the name that means “Yehovah saves.” Therefore, the statement can only be speaking of Yehovah.
To those who have returned to the Torah and the one true God the father, Yeshua the son becomes the means or vessel by which Yehovah will save and redeem his people. Yeshua does not replace the Father; He reveals, explains, and points to the Father’s salvation. In this context the provision by which Yehovah saves his people is speaking of all Israel first to the Jewish people who must first reject him, because of blindness and the 10 northern tribes of Israel represented by Ephraim, would be redeemed and given a way back to fellowship with the father, with Yeshua being the way back to Yehovah.”I am the way the truth and the life; no man comes to the father except through me”.
4. The Northern Kingdom (Ephraim/Israel): Idolatry, Divorce, and Scattering — with Emphasis on the Unchanging Temple and Instructions
The northern Kingdom was divided from the southern kingdom of Judah and went immediately into idolatry, by worshipping the representative sacrifices as gods. Even the representatives that point to Yehovah could not be changed from the instructions, and the appointed place Jerusalem; nor could the temple where Yehovah placed his name forever be altered or replaced. The temple in Jerusalem was the one place Yehovah chose to put His name (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11; 1 Kings 9:3), and the instructions for worship, pilgrimage, and sacrifice were fixed forever by Yehovah Himself. Jeroboam the northern King did not want them making their way back to Jerusalem lest their hearts be turned back to the true worship and the true God. This broke the very first commandment to not have gods in my face whether they are divine elohim or not, to have a substitute for Yehovah was treachery and the northern kingdom based a new religion under the first northern king named Jeroboam. Jeroboam established golden calves at Bethel and Dan, declared “behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt,” reminisce back to the wilderness when they made the golden calf and sinned, but instituted a rival priesthood and festival calendar (1 Kings 12). The people began treating the sacrificial system and its representatives as objects of worship rather than pointers to Yehovah. The phrase “these are your gods” is a direct reminiscence of the trinity concept—treating multiple representations or persons as the object of worship instead of the one true Yehovah alone.
Eventually they were kicked out of the land and divorced and sent packing from the land, and were scattered amongst the nations (see Hosea 1–2; Jeremiah 3). They completely forgot who they were and the true God Yehovah. The ten tribes (collectively called Israel or Ephraim) lost their identity, their Torah, their land, and their covenant relationship. Yet Yehovah promised to regather them in the last days.
5. Yeshua’s Mission: Restoration, Grace, Torah, and the Sabbath Sign
Yeshua was sent by Yehovah to bring them back first into fellowship and grace and second they were to return to his Torah instructions and once again keep and guard the sabbath, nothing of the Torah changed nor the sabbath sign of the covenant. Yeshua functions as the bridge: first reconciling the scattered tribes to the Father through grace and forgiveness, then leading them back to obedient covenant life—guarding the Sabbath as the eternal sign between Yehovah and His people (Exodus 31:13–17; Ezekiel 20:12, 20)As he becomes the example of our own walk of obedience and offering ourselves as a spiritual sacrifice to Yehovah. This is not a new religion but the renewal of the ancient covenant but with better and added promises the old covenant did not yet have but pointed to the better.
6. The Parallel Warning to Christianity — Full Parallels to Jeroboam’s Northern Kingdom Heresy
Christianity did the same thing by changing what the covenant meant, by keeping the very religion and abominations that got them removed from the Holy land. Christianity is the original religion of the heretical northern kingdom and has done the same thing outside the land always differing from making pilgrimage back to the place of his name. Just as the northern kingdom substituted idolatrous forms for pure worship of Yehovah, many streams of Christianity altered the covenant signs, Sabbaths, festivals, His calandar, and instructions, adopting practices that echoed the very abominations that led to Israel’s exile.
All these parallels to Jeroboam and Christianity are clear and unmistakable:
- Jeroboam set up golden calves and said “these are your gods” — Christianity developed the trinity doctrine, presenting multiple persons/representations as the object of worship instead of Yehovah alone.
- Jeroboam changed the appointed feasts and priesthood so the people would not pilgramage to Jerusalem — Christianity changed the biblical calendar, festivals, and priesthood structure,to compromise with pagan practices keeping people from any pilgrimage mindset back to the place where Yehovah placed His name forever.
- Jeroboam feared that if the people went up to Jerusalem their hearts would turn back — Christianity teaches that the true worship is now “in spirit and truth” and forgets we are in exile, differing to the temporal gatherings by the spirit, discouraging any return to the original temple instructions or the land where Yehovah’s name dwells forever.
- Jeroboam created substitute worship sites outside the chosen place — Christianity built its centers of worship far from Jerusalem, always outside the land, never requiring pilgrimage to the place of the name.
- Jeroboam broke the first commandment by making representatives into gods — Christianity elevated representations and persons in place of the singular Yehovah, treating substitutes as co-equal objects of worship.
The most blatant perversion and change is that the Shabbat to Sunday worship under the Catholic Church has been done exactly like Jeroboam’s northern kingdom. Just as Jeroboam changed the day and the calendar to keep people from the true temple and the true instructions,his appointed times, the Hebrew concept of pilgrimage feasts refer to a cyclical pattern of returning, the Catholic Church officially transferred the Sabbath to Sunday, creating a new worship day that directly mirrors Jeroboam’s rebellion against the eternal sign of the covenant. This single change alone perpetuates the same spirit of substitution and separation from Yehovah’s chosen place and chosen instructions.
The call remains the same: repent from the lies they inherited from their forefathers, as Jeremiah declares in Jeremiah 16:19: “O Yehovah, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of tribulation, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, ‘Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no lasting benefit at all.’” This is a direct reference to Jeremiah’s emphasis on generational iniquity and the need to return to the Torah (Jeremiah 16:10–13; 31:31–34 in its full context of renewed covenant obedience).
7. Conclusion: Returning to Yehovah Through Yeshua in the Last Days
The Hebrew name Yeshua, understood in its native context, shouts the central truth: Yehovah saves—and He does so through His appointed vessel, the Son. The Greek “Jesus” obscures the divine name embedded in the original Hebrew, flattening the rich theological pun and the exclusive claim of Yehovah as Savior. The Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew restores that clarity, reminding us that the first-century Jewish mindset was steeped in Torah, covenant, and the hope of regathering all Israel.
To those returning to the one true God the Father and His Torah, Yeshua is the way back to Yehovah—first for the Jewish people, then for the scattered house of Ephraim/Israel. The mission is restoration: grace leading to obedience, forgiveness leading to Sabbath-keeping and full covenant life. In the last days, the exiles return through repentance from inherited sins, rejection of substitutes, and renewed allegiance to Yehovah alone—who saves through His Son named Yeshua.
This is the deep meaning hidden in plain sight within the Hebrew text. May it stir hearts to return to the Father, guard His covenant, and proclaim the name that declares Yehovah saves.
