nazarene Summary and Overview

This epithet (Gr. Nazaraios) is applied to Christ only once (Matt. 2:23). In all other cases the word is rendered "of Nazareth" (Mark 1:24; 10:47; 14:67, etc.). When this Greek designation was at first applied to our Lord, it was meant simply to denote the place of his residence. In course of time the word became a term of reproach. Thus the word "Nazarene" carries with it an allusion to those prophecies which speak of Christ as "despised of men" (Isa. 53:3). Some, however, think that in this name there is an allusion to the Hebrew "netser", which signifies a branch or sprout. It is so applied to the Messiah (Isa. 11:1), i.e., he whom the prophets called the "Netse", the "Branch." The followers of Christ were called "the sect of Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5). All over Israel and Syria this name is still given to Christians. (See NAZARETH T0002676.)

an inhabitant of Nazareth. This appellative is applied to,Jesus in many passages in the New Testament. This name, made striking in so many ways, and which, if first given in scorn, was adopted and gloried in by the disciples, we are told in #Mt 2:23| possesses a prophetic significance. Its application to Jesus, in consequence of the providential arrangements by which his Parents were led to take up their abode in Nazareth, was the filling out of the predictions in which the promised Messiah is described as a netser i.e. a shoot, sprout, of Jesse, a humble and despised descendant of the decayed royal family. Once, #Ac 24:5| the term Nazarenes is applied to the followers of Jesus by way of contempt. The name still exists in Arabic as the ordinary designation of Christians.

NAZ'ARENE' . Matt 2:23. This term is used of Jesus in this passage as a fulfilment of prophecy. It is also used of him (though translated "of Nazareth") by Bartimeus, Mark 10:47, in the inscription on the cross, John 19:19, by Peter, Acts 2:22, by Paul, Acts 26:9, by our Lord himself. Acts 22:8, etc. The followers of Christ are also denominated "Nazarenes," Acts 24:5, by enemies. The expression has been derived from the Hebrew word Netzar, translated "Branch." Isa 11:1. It has also been taken in a general sense to refer to the humiliation of our Lord, Nazareth being at this time under a stigma. John 1:46. In this case no specific prophecy can be found answering literally to the description, but many in a general way which refer to the humiliation of the Messiah.

Matthew, Matthew 2:23, writes "Jesus came and dwelt in Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene"; not "by the prophet," but "by the prophets," meaning no particular quotation but the general description of Messiah in them as abject and despised (Isaiah 53:2-3). The Nazarene people were proverbially so. "Called," as in Isaiah 9:6, expresses what He should be in His earthly manifestation; not that the prophets gave Him the literal name, though His contemporaries did. Matthew plays on similar sounds, as Micah on Achzib (Micah 1:14) and Ekron (Micah 2:4). The "Nazarene dweller" (Natsri) was, as all the prophets foretold, a "pain sufferer" (natsari from the Aramaic tsear, "pain"); the Aramaeans pronounced the Hebrew "a" as "o," from whence arose the Greek form Nazoraios. (Biesenthal, Jewish Intelligence, December, 1874). The nickname "Nazarene" agreed with His foretold character as: (1) despised in man's eyes, (2) really glorious. Men in applying the name unconsciously and in spite of themselves shed glory on Him; for Nazarene is related to neetser, a "branch," Messiah's distinctive title, indicating His descent from royal David yet His lowly state (Isaiah 11:1); the same thought and image appear in the term tsemach (Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12). Also Naziraios, applied to a Nazarite by vow in Old Testament (from the Hebrew root nezer "dedication," "the high priest's mitre," and "sovereignty"), indirectly refers to Christ under His New Testament distinct designation "Nazarene" and Nazoraios, i.e. belonging to Nazarene. Samson the Nazarite, "separated" or "dedicated unto God," typically foreshadowed Him (Judges 13:5; Judges 16:30), separated as holy unto God, and separated as an "alien" outcast by men (Psalm 69:8). Though the reverse of a Nazarite in its outward rules (Matthew 11:18), He antitypically fulfilled the spirit of the Nazarite vow and ritual. Had the prophets expressly foretold He should be of Nazareth, it would not have been so despised; nor would the Pharisees, who were able from Micah 5 to tell Herod where Messiah's birthplace was -Bethlehem (Matthew 2) -have been so ignorant of the prophecy of His connection with Nazareth as to say, "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John 7:52). (See NAZARITE; NAZARETH.)