Sometimes we are asked if there is a prophecy in the Torah that the name of the Messiah is Yeshua. There are dozens of references to the name as the word for salvation, Yeshuah. For example:
YHVH… has become for me Yeshuah (salvation) (Exodus 15:1-2).
The orthodox Jewish prayer for the coming of Messiah contains Yeshuah three times. There were even some accusations that this was secretly “planted” in the prayer book by first century Messianic Jews.
A specific prophecy regarding the name Yeshua is found in Zechariah and Ezra. The prophecy contains the word “branch”, an accepted symbolic name for the Messiah in both Judaism and Christianity.
Yehoshua son of Yehotsadak, the High Priest, you and your companions are … men of example, for I will bring My servant the Branch (Zechariah 3:8).
The High Priest is a symbol of the Messiah. In the time of the rebuilding of the Second Temple, the High Priest was named Yehoshua. He is pictured as a symbol, or example, of the coming Messiah.
Behold the man whose name is Branch (Zechariah 6:12).
His actual name was not “branch” but “Yehoshua”. The meaning of the verse is that this man, Yehoshua, has the same name that the Messiah, the Branch, will have. The name of the Branch is Yehoshua.
Thus “Yehoshua” is prophesied to be the name of the Messiah. – But what about Yeshua? Yeshua is a shortened form of Yehoshua. [Compare the following verse with Zechariah 3:8.]
… and Yeshua son of Yotsadak began to build the house of God (Ezra 5:2).
In the lifetime of Yehoshua the High Priest, the people of Israel began to shorten names with the root Yehovah. Yehotsadak became Yotsadak; and Yehoshua became Yeshua. This is the name Yeshua to the exact vowel points.
To summarize:
1. Zechariah 3:8 – High Priest Yehoshua is a symbol of Messiah
2. Zechariah 6:12 – Yehoshua has same name as Messiah
3. Ezra 5:2 – Yehoshua’s name is shortened to Yeshua.
Thus the name of the Messiah is prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures to be Yeshua.
