) and of the title 'Christ' ( 
) in the pre-Christian era. The use of the name
'Jesus' (
) and of the title 'Christ' ( ) in the pre-Christian era.
Most of the relevant material is to be found in the Septuagint - a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating from the 3rd century BC.
Occurrences of in the Septuagint
): Exodus 17:13, 24:13; Numbers
14:6,38; title of book of Joshua = 
= Jesus (son) of Naue; frequent
references throughout 'Joshua', eg Joshua 1:10 et passim.
): Numbers 13:17; Haggai 1:1,
etc.
): 1Kings ( = 3Kings in
Septuagint) 16:34; Zechariah 6:11.In the Apocrypha, the Prologue to
Ecclesiasticus attributes the sayings in the work (dated c.132
BC) to Jesus ben Sirach - the name 
appearing in Ecclesiasticus 50:27.
Occurrences of in the Septuagint
): 1Samuel ( = 1Kings) 12:5,
16:6, 24:7; Lamentations 4:20.
): 2Samuel ( = 2Kings) 23:1.
): 1Samuel 2:10; Psalm 2:2.
): 2Samuel 22:51; Isaiah 45:1.This is not an exhaustive list, but enough to show that the title --- and the name --- were widely known and used among the Greek-speaking Jews in the pre-Christian era. Identical forms of both are found in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament.
The author is indebted to Mr. Alan Hill (Senior Lecturer at the University of Glamorgan) for compiling this information.