Who is Yahweh to the Israelites and why did they change his name to Jesus?

Answer 1

No name change was made by anyone, the words are transliterations to English of completely different words from different languages:

• Yahweh (and Jehovah) are transliterations of the Hebrew name of God "YHWH" using different guesses (probably both wrong) for the unspecified vowels. No Jew would try to say this name.
• Jesus is a transliteration of the Greek name "Iesous" a translation of the Hebrew name "Yeshua" (meaning "YHWH is salvation"), which is in the Old Testament transliterated to English as Joshua. This name was one of the most common given boy's names in Judea at the time.

As to the theological question of the connection between the Hebrew God YHWH and the Christian Trinitarian God (father, son, spirit) and the transition within the one sect of Judaism taught by Jesus following his death in their concept of God, I leave that to those more educated than I in such matters.

Answer 2

Yahweh (also transliterated as Jehovah) is the name for the god of the Jews (formerly the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah) and the Christians. To the Jews, Jesus has nothing to do with Yahweh. But, to Christians, he is the Messiah, Son of God, and God (Yahweh) in human flesh.

Answer 3

Your question contains multiple mistakes. 1) "Yahweh" is not a pronunciation used by Israelites (or their descendants, the Jews).

2) Israelites never changed any of God's names.

3) Jesus is part of Christian belief, not Israelite (Jewish) belief. (See: more about that.)

Answer 4

First part of the question:
That word is often used by English speakers to denote the name of the Creator,
derived from the 4-letter Hebrew name as it appears in the Torah. The word is
most likely NOT the name, since, for one thing, the Torah is written without vowels,
so the literal verbal pronunciation of any word can't be definitely known. But just
in case, the name as it appears in the Torah, and any word in any language that
purports to reproduce the Hebrew pronunciation, are never spoken by observant Jews.

Second part of the question:
Give me a break. Please. "The Israelites" had neither the power nor any reason to
do anything to the name of Jesus. Firstly, as I understand it, Jesus never claimed
to be the Creator, only maybe a close relative, so the name in the first part of the
question would never have been applied to him. Secondly, as I understand it,
most of the Israelites of his time were unaware of him. During his lifetime, he
was NOT leading a nationwide popular groundswell of mass enlightenment and
devotion. He was one individual, of possibly several, who advocated new ideas,
many of them contrary to Judaism, in speeches to small groups around the temple
and in the countryside. His name was the one his parents gave him at birth. Just
as any Jewish parents might do today, they chose for their firstborn son the name
of a great Biblical figure in the history of the nation ... Joshua, the successor to Moses
and the leader of the nation during and after their arrival in the promised land.

Answer 5

To the Israelites and the Jews, Yahweh (YHWH) was God the Father. The Jews do not recognise Jesus as divine, but Christians regard him as God the Son, therefore son of Yahweh.