“Y’honatan assassinated the governor of the P’lishtim in Geva.“-1 Samuel 13:3
Before we go any further in our text study of 1st Samuel, I need to clear up some confusion between the two names of GEVA and GIVEAH.
GEVA was where Jonathan assassinated the governor of the Philistines.
However, many translators and scholars assume GEVA and GIVEAH are one and the same.
They are not.
The confusion arises because the Hebrew spelling of both words is identical as follows:
גב
We’ve got the letters gimel, vet, and ayin.
However, since ancient Hebrew does not have written vowel sounds, there are a number of Hebrew words that are written the same but pronounced differently resulting in different meanings.
In English, we may say GIBEAH, but the Hebrews pronounce it as “Gee-bah”.
And GEVA (where Jonathan killed the governor) is pronounced as “Geh-bah”.
GEVA with the nikud (Hebrew vowel indicators) would be rendered as follows:
גֶּבַע
So this is something to keep in mind when going back to the original Hebrew in your Bible studies.
Two words may be spelled the same, but if they’re pronounced differently, the meaning is different.
Let’s take a quick look at a Hebrew word you all should recognize.
ישוע
That’s the Messiah’s name, and it means “salvation”.
Depending on who you speak to, it could be pronounced “Yeshua”, “Yahusha”, or “Y’Hoshua”.
When anti-Messianic Israelis want to use the word in a derogatory manner, they’ll say “Yeshu”.
So what is the correct pronunciation of the Messiah’s name?
The answer is nobody knows.
Look, since we don’t have an ancient iPhone recording dating back thousands of years that captured ancient Israelites saying his name, we’ve got no idea homies.
So, I’d say all versions are legit as long you include the syllables of Yod, Shin, and Ayin.
To close, one Biblical pattern I find particularly exciting is that in Hebrew the name of Joshua who led the Israelites into the Promised Land is also spelled the same as the Messiah’s name.
Yeshua (ישוע; with vowel pointing Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, romanized: Yēšūaʿ) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua (Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, romanized: Yəhōšūaʿ, lit. ‘Joshua’) in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period.
So here’s the spine-tingling pattern.
While the first “Joshua” succeeded in bringing the Israelites into Canaan, he failed to conquer it.
When the second “Joshua” returns, he will pick up where the first “Joshua” left off and completely expel all of Israel’s gentile enemies from the land…a land that also includes the territory of Lebanon by the way.
I’ll leave you with these inspiring verses from the prophet Zechariah:
“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.”-Zechariah 14:3-4
See you all next time.
Thanks Rich
Welcome.