Was “Jesus” a common name in biblical times. Has there ever been a mention of any other individuals named “Jesus” in any documents from the biblical period who were not considered “Christ”?
“Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” (more closely spelled “Yeshua,” or “Yehoshua.”) The New Testament was written in Greek, which accounts for the Hellenization of the name.
So, to your question. No, there weren’t any other “Jesuses,” but the Hebrew form was used before. (I think in Hebrew, the name translates to something like “God is salvation.”) But IANAHE.
Jesus (Hebrew Yesua) is just a variation of Joshua (Hebrew Yehosua). Another famous Jesus was the author of Ecclesiasticus, Jesus ben Sirach.
I was thinking I was crazy a couple of minutes ago thinking there were other Jesus’s mention, but I realized I wasn’t. I did some research and there were!
An ancestor of Jesus Christ, evidently in his mother’s line. (Lu 3:29) Some ancient manuscripts
here read “Jose(s).
A Christian, evidently Jewish, and fellow worker of Paul. He was also called Justus.—Col
4:11.
Mike
There’s also Jesus Alou, who batted a lifetime .280 in a 15-year career, playing for the Giants, the Astros…
Wait a minute, I reached for my Baseball Encyclopedia instead of my Bible.
Sorry.
I’ll never forget the time David pitched against them. Beaned this one guy right in the head.
If Jesus was Jewish, how come he had a Mexican name?
And if the Mexicans are so Christian, how come they keep invoking pagan Greek gods - “Hey, Zeus”?
As was pointed out earlier, Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name which is usually rendered in English as Joshua. In fact, in Hebrews 4:8, the King James version renders the name as Jesus, when the context makes clear that they are really talking about the old-testament Joshua, as all the recent versions render the verse.
Also, I once heard (sorry, I don’t have a cite) that Barabbas, who Pilate released instead of Jesus, had the first name Jesus. That is not mentioned in the Bible, so I don’t know where the information might have come from. Perhaps it is just an urban legend. If true, that is an interesting coincidence(?), since Barabbas means “son of the father”. Jesus, son of the father, released instead of Jesus, Son of the Father.
From Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew:
Well, if he takes away the part of the quote that says “with a name like Jesus”, he’s got it right. It was a pretty common name at that point, because, by then, a lot of Jews either took Greek names, or took Greek versions of Hebrew names. Part of that whole Hellenization thing…