Anyone else in history named Jesus?

[Beanbag]

An odd thought just occurred to me, and I thought I'd float this question:

Does anyone know of any other people named Jesus from the period when Jesus was supposed to have lived?

Names tend to be in common useage in a given population (Mohammed, William, Sarah, Octavius, Claudius, Drusis, etc., just to name few examples from across random periods of time). I find it a little funny that there is no mention of "other" Jesuses in the holy lands. Doing a search on "Jesus" yields only a buttload of links to The One True Son Of God (tm).

I would find it a bit peculiar if only ONE person happened to be named Jesus at that time.

Just a thought.

Regards;
Beanbag

[Aussie Thinker]

Jesus was not his name.

Jesus came from the Greek Yesus which was their version of the Hebrew Yeshua or Joshua.

Jesus’ real name was Joshua which I am sure was a pretty common name then.. the Bible even has plenty of other Joshua's.. they were ALL converted back when the translation from Greek to English was made.. Jesus was left like that to that so it would remain “special�

[kuroyume0161]

Besides the New Testament references, there are no direct
contemporary mentions of anyone with that name in reference to Christianity (or otherwise since it would provide fuel for Christian apologists).

Some mention a 'Christus', but Christ, derived from the Greek "Christos" is a generic term for "anointed", not a name. So, Jesus the Christ is Jesus the Anointed. Any mention of Christos could be related to Christianity, well, or to any one of the Greek cults of the time with similar beliefs (dying god-man, messianic, and mystery).

Flavius Josephus, in his "Testimonium Flavianum" and "Antiquities of the Jews" does mention him by name, but many suspect that references to Christianity in his work are a later insertion by Christian apologists seeking historical backing by whatever means necessary.

Jesus must not have been a common name (or one associated with anyone noteworthy) since the name doesn't appear to be very common at the time. The few references conspicuously associated with Christianity are from later times (70 C.E. and on).

Still, here are some worth mentioning:

Elymas bar-Jesus
Jesus Justus
Jesus ben-Ananias
Jesus ben-Sapphiah
Jesus bar-Abbas (most notable: see ahead)

The notable part of the latter is the 'bar-Abbas'. If you remember your Sunday School ;), Barabbas was the prisoner that Pilate freed instead of Jesus. Interesting intersection there, huh?

I wholeheartedly endorse the reading of "Deconstructing Jesus" by Robert M. Price for an interesting study of who or what this legendary figure might have been.

And, yes, that is an excellent point about the name. Jesus is the Greek form. Yeshua/Joshua is the Hebrew form.

Robert

[Dragonrock]

I went to school in south Texas with a Jesus Gonzalez, but I don't know if he's done anything to put himself in the history books.

[Stitch]

Jesus Jones (http://www.jesusjones.com/)

[Beanbag]

Originally posted by kuroyume0161
Besides the New Testament references, there are no direct
contemporary mentions of anyone with that name in reference to Christianity (or otherwise since it would provide fuel for Christian apologists).

-- SNIP--

And, yes, that is an excellent point about the name. Jesus is the Greek form. Yeshua/Joshua is the Hebrew form.

Robert

Thnk you for the information. I'd suspected as much. A story that passes through several tellers and shifted from one language to others through many others quite often ends up as something else than what it started out.

I started wondering about how common the name was when it was announced that somebody had found the ossuary box for Jesus' brother James. Not being a linguist (except maybe for silicon-based logic entities), it struck me that I could go to a cemetary and quite reasonably expect to find an inscription about somebody being married to or related to , oh, let's say "William."

Not that I don't take your word, but is there any documentation or reference for the Jesus/Joshua transliteration equivalency? Or is it one of those things that is taken as a given among linguists?

Regards;
Beanbag

[Brown]

Originally posted by kuroyume0161
Still, here are some worth mentioning:

Elymas bar-Jesus
Jesus Justus
Jesus ben-Ananias
Jesus ben-Sapphiah
Jesus bar-Abbas (most notable: see ahead)

The notable part of the latter is the 'bar-Abbas'. If you remember your Sunday School ..., Barabbas was the prisoner that Pilate freed instead of Jesus. Interesting intersection there, huh?I was going to make this point also. Matt. 27:17 suggests (but does not conclusively show) that Barabbas may have been known as Jesus. Pilate is quoted as (perhaps) asking the mob for clarification as to who would be released: "Pilate said unto them, 'Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?'" It is possible that Pilate had two Jesuses: one of them was known as Barabbas ("son of the father") and the other was called the Christ. Both men had challenged the authority of the government (although the book of John disagrees, saying Barabbas was a thief), and both had the same name. One of them was called "son of the father" and the other was called "son of man."

It may also be worth noting that Jesus had a brother named Joses (e.g., Matt. 13:35, Mark 6:3).

[c4ts]

I know Jesus. He cooks omlettes every morning in the caffeteria. I think his last name is "Fernandez" or something.

[Piscivore]

Originally posted by Beanbag
I started wondering about how common the name was when it was announced that somebody had found the ossuary box for Jesus' brother James.

This doesn't alter your point at all (a very good one, may I add), but the inscription on that box is most likely fraudulent (http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Official_Report.htm):
The inscription has been translated as “Jacob son of Joseph brother of Joshua.�

Part one (Jacob son of Joseph) is written in a carefully executed and expertly-spaced *inscriptional* cursive... Part two, Brother of Yeshua, could not be more different. The script is a poorly-executed, mostly *commercial* cursive without any sign of wedges.

[RamblingOnwards]

Originally posted by Aussie Thinker
Jesus was not his name.

I'm not sure I agree with that, but I am freely admitting no scholastic basis for this...

Jesus's mom might have pronounced it 'Eshoo', but that doesn't make 'Jesus' a fake anglicisation of a non-romanized word with 'Joshua' the real anglicisation. Both are approximations, one tranlating through Hebrew, the other through Greek.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Wasn't there someone in the Bible named Sweet Jesus on a Pogostick? Or am I confusing him with Sweet Jesus in a Minivan?

~~ Paul

[TeaBag420]

Don't forget the Fightin' Jesus.

There an infinite number of Jesii.

[Beanbag]

Originally posted by Piscivore
This doesn't alter your point at all (a very good one, may I add), but the inscription on that box is most likely fraudulent (http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Official_Report.htm):

I'd pretty much written off the ossuary box as a fraud when I first heard of it. I was willing to be shown that it might be genuine, but there have been too many religious counterfeits in the past for me to take the statement at face value.

I --DID-- wonder what the likelihood was that there could have been someone else named James who might have had a brother named Jesus. I mean, it's been, what, 2004 years since one of them was reported to have died. What are the odds that somebody named Bob would have a brother named Mike?

Regards;
Beanbag

[Beanbag]

Then again, there's the injured Jesus.

You know: the one on a crutch?

Regards;
Beanbag

[chance]

Not history but contemporary –

Jesus lizard – so named because it can sprint across water.

Jesus nut – No not a fanatical follower, but the big nut that holds on a helicopter’s rotor blades. So named because that's what you would say if the nut comes undone in flight. Wocka wocka wocka wocka wocka ‘twang’ JESUS!

[shemp]

The most important thing Jesus did was to open a grocery store: Jesus Grocery (http://yellowpages.superpages.com/supermaps/mapinit.jsp?SRC=portals&T=Nashua&S=NH&PP=N&STYPE=S&CID=00000517784&LID=0000790419&map.x=212&map.y=125&level=8&lat=042765106&lng=-071464512&POI1lat=042765106&POI1lng=-071464512&POI1name=Jesus+Grocery&streetaddress=15+Orange+Street&city=Nashua&state=NH&zip=03064)

[Abdul Alhazred]

There was Jesus ben Sirach (also really Yeshua), the alleged author of Wisdom, an apocryphal Old Testament book circa 200 BCE.

There's probably a famous Hispanic Jesus in more recent times.

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by shemp
The most important thing Jesus did was to open a grocery store:

When I lived in Georgia there was a local company called "Heart of Jesus Auto Body Shop" with a very eye-catching mural. I never needed to use their services, but frequently wondered how they'd answer the phone. "Yeah, Heart of Jesus here. Yeah, we need to replace your side panel."

[Jellby]

Originally posted by Abdul Alhazred
There was Jesus ben Sirach (also really Yeshua), the alleged author of Wisdom, an apocryphal Old Testament book circa 200 BCE.

There's probably a famous Hispanic Jesus in more recent times.

It may be apocryphal, but it's in the Gutenberg Bible (http://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/homepage.html), there's also an "Oratio Iesu filii Sirach").

... and yes, Jesús is a fairly common name in Spain (and most Latin American countries, I guess), but right now I cannot think of a famous one.

[Brown]

There's also the Jesus Bus. (http://www.theiowachannel.com/family/3822531/detail.html)

[Yahweh]

I think it should be noted that there were dozens of Messianic pretenders at the time of Christ. It is an accepted historical fact that there were others who claimed to be the Messiah, in fact one was crucified several weeks after Jesus. I seem to remember one in particular known as Messiah Ben David (his existance is accepted by the rabinicle at least).

[Abdul Alhazred]

Originally posted by Jellby
It may be apocryphal, but it's in the Gutenberg Bible (http://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/homepage.html), there's also an "Oratio Iesu filii Sirach").


Yeah I know, but not in the King James.

Before 1611, there wasn't so much of a distinction.

Though the Roman Catholic Church pronounced it "deuterocanonical", that is OK but not quite scripture.

[Jim Bowen]

I think that Jesus was a popular name in the Abyssinian royal family for a time. Could be wrong, though.

Jim Bowen

[Gulliamo]

Originally posted by Brown
There's also the Jesus Bus. (http://www.theiowachannel.com/family/3822531/detail.html) There are nine homeless people in Des Moines? Maybe they each get three beds?
The owner had nine beds inside to give shelter to homeless people.So that's what GW meant when he said "Jebus."

[CSSMariner]

Originally posted by c4ts
I know Jesus. He cooks omlettes every morning in the caffeteria. I think his last name is "Fernandez" or something.

Hmmm, he must have left there and moved south. He took care of our lawn in Florida. Funny, I always thought he did a "righteous" job with the grass and shrubbery. :D

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by Beanbag
An odd thought just occurred to me, and I thought I'd float this question:

Does anyone know of any other people named Jesus from the period when Jesus was supposed to have lived?
I did a quick search and came across this from Easton's Bible Dictionary (http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/choice/1098049059-8367.html):
Bar-jesus

son of Joshua, the patronymic of Elymas the sorcerer ( Act 13:6), who met Paul and Barnabas at Paphos. Elymas is a word of Arabic origin meaning "wise."
Acts 13 reads:
4 The two of them , sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. [b]There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."
12 Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
So in fact there was another character who called himself Bar-Jesus, and of all things he was a sorceror and false prophet.