The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction

LOY, Series Information

The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction attempts to follow the stages of Gospel transmission backward to the earliest form of the stories about Jesus that originated in the conjectured Hebrew Life of Yeshua.

David N. Bivin, General Editor

Joshua N. Tilton, Researcher and Writer

Lauren S. Asperschlager, Copy Editor

Updated: 20 September 2024

Under the direction of David Bivin, Jerusalem Perspective (JP) has launched an attempt to reconstruct the account of Jesus’ life which, according to church tradition, was written in Hebrew by Jesus’ disciple Matthew. Although this ancient eyewitness account is no longer extant, we believe that significant portions of this source have been preserved in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. If this theory is correct, then the first three canonical Gospels are the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of that conjectured Hebrew biography, which we refer to as the Hebrew Life of Yeshua (LOY).

An attempt also has been made to reconstruct the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Life of Yeshua, a more immediate ancestor of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Reconstructing the Hebrew Life of Yeshua is possible because the traditions preserved in the Synoptic Gospels show signs of literary development that occurred as these traditions passed through various stages before reaching their present form.

These stages include:

  1. Translation from a written Hebrew biography to Greek;
  2. A stage in which the highly literal and, consequently, unidiomatic Greek translation passed into improved Greek versions;
  3. The stages of development that took place as the traditions passed from the earliest Synoptic Gospel to the second Gospel, and from the second to the third.
The two videos above offer an introductory explanation of how Robert Lindsey’s solution to the Synoptic Problem works and what his theory is able to explain.

The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction is an attempt to follow those stages backward to reach the earliest form of the Gospel traditions that originated in the Hebrew Life of Yeshua.

A commentary accompanying each segment of the reconstruction explains the reasons for the decisions we made and discusses new insights that are gained from reconstructing Jesus’ words in their original language and in their original contexts.


Subscribers to JP’s Premium Content already have full access to the LOY Commentary (make sure you’re logged in). Although JP membership gives the best value for your dollar, non-subscribers who prefer to do so may purchase access to just the LOY Commentary. Click here to learn how.

LOY Tools & Introductory Materials

______________________________________________________

Video: Navigating LOY (How to Use LOY)

LOY Reconstruction Segments with Commentary

Yohanan the Immerser and Yeshua the Son of God

A Voice Crying

Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance

Yohanan the Immerser’s Exhortations

Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse

Yohanan the Immerser’s Execution

Yeshua’s Immersion

Yeshua’s Testing

Yeshua, the Galilean Miracle-Worker

Return to the Galil

Teaching in Kefar Nahum

Healing Shimon’s Mother-in-law

Possessed Man in Girgashite Territory

“Torah and the Kingdom of Heaven” complex

Teaching and Healing in Yehudah

Widow’s Son in Nain

“Banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven” complex (Recently Published Segment!)

“Showing Proper Humility” complex

Calling and Training Disciples

Narrow Gate

“Yeshua’s Selectivity in Accepting Disciples” complex

“Cost of Entering the Kingdom of Heaven” complex

“Yeshua and Levi the Toll Collector” complex

“Yohanan the Immerser and the Kingdom of Heaven” complex

“How to Pray” complex

“Four Types of Hearers” complex

“Mission of the Twelve” complex

“Success of the Twelve” complex

“Power of Faith” complex

Last Journey to Yerushalayim

“Choose Repentance or Destruction” complex

Darnel Among the Wheat Parable

Yeshua in Yerushalayim

“Destruction and Redemption” complex

Passover

Preparations for Eating the Passover Lamb

Post-resurrection Training of Yeshua’s Disciples

Completion

Faithful or Faithless Slave (Coming Soon!)

Unexpected Thief (Newly Published!)

Commentary on Pericopae External to LOY[1]

Jesus and a Canaanite Woman

Spontaneous Growth parable

Withered Fig Tree

Be Ready for the Son of Man (Newly Published!)

LOY Excursus


Click here to return to the top of the The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction main page. _______________________________________________________
  • [1] By “external to LOY” we simply mean that we believe a given pericope did not originate in the Hebrew Life of Yeshua, but was derived from another written or oral source, possibly even from eye-witness testimony. The designation “external to LOY” refers exclusively to our source-critical analysis, and implies nothing about the historical, religious or theological value of a given pericope, or our opinion of its inspiration or canonicity.
  • JP Staff Writer

    JP Staff Writer

    Articles that are designated as authored by “JP Staff Writer” were written by Jerusalem Perspective’s editorial staff.
    [Read more about author]

  • JP Content

  • Suggested Reading

  • Hospitality Heritage of the ChurchPetros Petra WordplayHistorical Jesus a Tanna FIDeliver Us From Evil6 Stone Water JarsEnemies of the HarvestWere Women Segregated?Luke 9-51-56—A Hebrew FragmentUnlocking the Synoptic ProblemNew Portrait of SalomeInsulting God's High PriestLoving BothMedieval JargonBeating the (Thorny) Bushes title 2Gergesa, Gerasa, or GadaraPG‘Everything Written…in the Psalms About Me’ (Luke 24-44)And OR In Order To RemarryAnti-Jewish TendenciesScribal ErrorsAllegro to ZeitlinTwena With All Due RespectTorah in the Sermon on the MountBethsaida 002Flusser Times of the GentilesIf Your Eye Be Single cover imageIntro to SynopticThe Names of Jerusalem in the Synoptic Gospels and ActsStewards of God's KeysBy the Finger of GodPower of ParablesTrees of LifeBest Long-TermFlusser Parables of Ill ReputeNew International JesusReich Design and MaintenanceSafrai Synagogue CenturionNun GergesaThe Social Jesus-Beyond and Individualist ReadingSabbath BreakersNeot KedumimWealth of Herod the GreatGood Morning, ElijahMiraculous CatchSalted With FireJewish Laws of Purity in Jesus' DayMidrash in the New TestamentAesop's Fables and the Parables of the SagesJesus’ Temptation and Its Jewish BackgroundOstracon From Qumran FlusserOrigins of Jesus' Dominical TitleDid Jesus Make Food Clean?Evidence of Pro-Roman Leanings in the Gospel of MatthewA Body, Vultures & SoMBinding and Loosingספר פתרון תורהPilgrimage in the Time of Jesus coverThe Appearance of Jesus-Hairstyles and BeardsA Farewell to the Emmaus RoadDid Jesus Wear a KippahDid Jesus Save the Life of an Adultress?Tangled Up in TecheletThey Know Not What They DoCenturion and the SynagogueWhat Is the Leaven of the PhariseesDoes God Play Scrabble?Role of Women in the TempleAre Christians Supposed to Tithe? Title ImageNotley The Man Who Would Be King Title ImageLet Him Who Is Without SinTreasure in HeavenSafrai Zechariah's TaskApostolic Decree