The Name “Jesus” in the Old Testament (Especially the Psalter): Christianization and the Shadow of “Salvation” in the Vulgate Text

Abstract This article explores usage of the name “Jesus” in the Old Testament to consider what impact (if any) such interpretive glossing could or did have. After briefly considering named “Jesus” figures in the Old Testament, and the question of a Joshua-Jesus typology, which some early Christian theologians based in part on the name(s) involved, the main focus of the article is on the use of “Jesus” as a translation for “salvation” in the Vulgate. This occurs five times in the Psalter, as well as once in Hab 3. The data are rehearsed, and then the lack of any significant trace of this phenomenon in modern-era interpretation is considered. The article thus offers one small-scale case study in wider canonical considerations about Christian reception of the Old Testament, delivering the perhaps counterintuitive finding that this particular example of “Christianization” was found to be dispensable and has apparently been forgotten.