Book Review: Hebrew Yeshua vs. Greek Jesus

I decided to read “Hebrew Yeshua vs. Greek Jesus” after I read another of Nehemia Gordon’s books, “A Prayer to Our Father” (read my book review here).  “Hebrew Yeshua” has a very similar format as “A Prayer” in that he draws out meanings to verses that are at times different when translated from Greek than from Hebrew.

The author is a Karaite Jew, a scriptualist, and an expert on reading the Dead Sea Scrolls.  He has numerous references on each page for you to verify his conclusions.

This book takes some time giving you a high-level crash course into the Pharisee way of thinking, which Gordon formerly was.  He also describes customs and traditions that some of those in the Jewish faith practice.

Gordon discusses the fact that the Pharisee’s believe in two torahs; the written Torah that Moses received from God (Yehovah) on Mt. Sinai and an “Oral Torah”, one that evolves over time based on Rabbinical interpretations.  In actuality, even though God wrote down the written Torah, the Rabbi’s authority and interpretation (the Oral Torah) supersedes what God has explicitly told us; their manners and customs.  If the Rabbi says that your left hand is actually your right hand, you must obey what he has to say even though Scripturally it may say the opposite. Jesus (Yeshua) had a bit of difficulty with Pharisee’s regarding this (Oral Torah) and in reality Jesus had to be killed for not obeying the Oral Torah.  It is a rabbinical law.

Gordon uses Matthew 23:2-3 as the basis of this book.  In this verse, Jesus said:

“²Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  ³All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

This verse sounds likes Jesus is saying that you must observe everything that the Pharisee’s are saying because they sit in Moses’ seat.  He goes step by step, explains Moses’ seat, brings in Hebrew translation, and you’ll see that as the original meaning unfolds, Jesus it is pretty much saying the opposite.  It really is amazing.

Overall, I think this is a good book and I enjoyed it.  I was a little confused with the title, but maybe it was with my expectations.  I had expected more comparisons between what the Hebrew translation describes Yeshua to what  the Greek translation describes Jesus.

One option that you can do, is to watch the video on the book (see below).  It is 2 hours long, but covers the same material as in the book.