Bible Prophecy Fulfilled: Matthew 2:23 “He shall be called a Nazarene”

 

 

He Shall be called a Nazarene" Mt 2:23

"Jesus, the despised Holy branch messiah"

Midrashic style            

Prophetic connection

Comment

Phonic wordplay: similar sounding in Hebrew

"Branch" Isa 11:1

The Greek word for "Nazarene" [Naṣrat] sounds like the Hebrew word for "Branch" [nēṣer]. The "branch of David" meant "Son of David" and was the foremost messianic attribute. Not only was Jesus universally called, "Jesus the Nazarene" the crowds often addressed him as "Son of David have mercy on me". Mark 10:48 The word play made “Jesus the branch who lived in branch land”.

Phonic wordplay: similar sounding in Greek

"Nazarite"

Name of Messiah branch is HOLY Isa 4:1-3

LXX substitutes "Holy one of God" for Nazarite in Judg 13:7 and 16:7. Jesus was universally known as the "Holy one of God". As they searched the scriptures, they noticed Isa 4 prophesied the name of the messiah was "HOLY". See also Isaiah 43:3; Luke 4:34; John 6:69

Allusion: Town of Nazareth had a bad reputation. Jn 1:46

Nazareth "Despised, forsaken, worm" Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 22:6

Just as a good man from the inner city of Detroit or Flint Michigan, Las Vegas or anywhere in Califorinication and would be stigmatized in a negative stereotype, so too was Jesus for being from the town of Nazareth. Even Nathaniel, the "Israelite in whom is no guile" commented, "can any good thing come from Nazareth". The holy one of God was born in insignificant Bethlehem and grew up in despised Nazareth.

 

Midrashic messianic prophecy fulfilled "Jesus the Nazarene": Mt 2:23

“Behold, a man whose name is Branch [Hebrew: tsemach], for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. “Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.” (Zechariah 6:12-13)

 

Introduction:

  1. It is clear that Matthew, the professional tax collector, was fluent in Hebrew. For example, when Matthew records, "Jesus came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23)
    1. Atheists, Jews and "Bible trashers" say Matthew got it wrong because no Old Testament prophecy says anything about Jesus being "called a Nazarene".
    2. In fact, when Matthew wrote, "as the prophets prophesied" in Mt 2:23, he was following a Midrashic method and style of connecting many different texts and prophecies in exactly the same way as the Jewish rabbis of his day.
    3. The Jews in Matthew's day would instantly recognize his method of connecting scriptures the way he did in Mt 2:23.
    4. Mirroring the first century Jewish Midrashic style Matthew makes three prophetic connections that the messiah would be called a "Nazarene".
  2. While today we may scratch our heads at first, everyone in the first century knew exactly which Old Testament passages to which Matthew was referring.
    1. Non-Christian Jews today who say "Matthew got it wrong" are being very "un-Jewish" since the interpretation methods of the first century rabbis were identical to Matthew's throughout his entire gospel.
    2. The fact that Matthew does not give specific details of the origin of the prophecy proves that it was common knowledge that had already been widely preached.

 

A. JESUS THE BRANCH: The phonic wordplay between "Nazarene" [Greek: Naṣrat] and "branch" [Hebrew: nēṣer] Isa 11:1

  1. "Aramaic Hebrew" was a consonantal text that had no vowels. When you remove the modern vowels from the words for Nazarene and Branch (netser = nsr) the Hebrew consonants of Naṣrat (Nazareth) and nēṣer are phonetically similar. Bible scoffers go so far as to say Matthew, like the rest of the population obviously had no working knowledge of Hebrew. In fact the opposite is true. Matthew knew the scriptures in Hebrew and could make the phonic connection between Nazarene and branch. Since Matthew wrote in Greek, this argument was directed at the Jerusalem elite who had already made the connection as soon as the general population began announcing the messiah to be Jesus the Nazarene (branch).
    1. The first century expectation of the Messiah was fueled by a whole series of Bible passages that connect him linguistically with the "branch and root of David" using the word: "tsemach" Isa. 4:2; 53:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12. But the central and most significant of these "messiah = branch" prophecies was Isaiah 11:1: "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch [netser] from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him" (Isaiah 11:1)
    2. It was Matthew's intimate knowledge of Hebrew that allowed him to construct a phonic play on words between the sound of the Greek word for Nazareth (Nazaret), Nazarene (Nazōraios) and the sound of the Hebrew word for Branch (netser) in Isa 11. The non-Hebrew speaking Christians would initially be at a loss, like we are today, to make the connection. They would have asked the Hebrew speaking "elite Jerusalem" priests if they knew any place in the Old Testament that said the messiah would be called a Nazarene. Only they would catch the obvious play on words found in the most important messianic text Isa chapters 7-11.
    3. The incredible power of this messianic prophecy is that in 730 BC when Isaiah was living, Mosaic Hebrew was the language of the general Hebrew public but at the time of its fulfillment, Aramaic and Greek were the native languages and Hebrew was functionally extinct among the masses. In other words, the Holy Spirit was able to construct the prophecies so that the fulfillment required a then non-existent Greek named city called "Nazareth". When the masses, who did not speak Hebrew, began to announce that the Messiah was Jesus the Nazarene, they unknowingly irked the Hebrew speaking "Temple Elites" who would hear, "Messiah, Jesus the Branch". No wonder they said, “But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” (John 7:49)
  2. The etymological origin of the name Nazareth is unknown, but archeological excavation indicate it was an agricultural town with vineyards.
    1. "Vineland" is a town in Ontario Canada named after its vineyards.
    2. "Recent excavations there by Stephen Pfann and others have revealed the presence of building activity, viticulture—that is, growing and processing grapes and producing wine—and terrace farming" (NT307 Archaeology and the New Testament, Craig Evans, Nazareth, 2014 AD)
  1. To illustrate, if you say to a blonde Swedish girl you want to "kiss her" she might slap you because in Swedish "kiss" sounds like "pee". If you order "salsa" in a Korean restaurant, the waiter might chuckle because in Korean "salsa" sounds like "diarrhea". In the same way, the crowds unknowingly went around saying the "Messiah was Jesus the Branch" (Nazarene) which would annoy the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees who spoke Hebrew and heard the crossover connection between the Greek town of Nazareth and the Hebrew word for Branch almost immediately. The later Christians, of course, all knew about this phonic word play which Matthew records as a matter of historical fact.
  2. Messianic texts:
    1. Twice in Matthew's nativity narrative he draws from the foremost messianic text of Isa 4-11 and applies it to Jesus:

                                                              i.      Virgin + God with us: Isa 7:14 + 8:10.

                                                            ii.      Nazarene = Branch: Isa 4:2; 11:1.

    1. "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch [Hebrew: nēṣer] from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." (Isaiah 11:1-2)
    2. “Behold, a man whose name is Branch [Hebrew: tsemach], for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. “Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.” (Zechariah 6:12-13)
  1. At the time Matthew wrote his gospel, the idea that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies that the "messiah would be a Nazarene" was universally understood and widely preached.
    1. The Messiah's name was "the branch" Isa 11:1; Zech 6:12.
    2. So widely was Jesus known as "the branch from branchland", that 13 times in the New Testament Jesus is called "the Nazarene". Jesus' "name" was "the Nazarene" which to the Jewish leaders sounded like "Jesus the Branch" through a play on words in two languages: Greek and Hebrew. "What I consider most probable is that Mattityahu is combining the second and third alternatives by means of wordplay, a technique very common in Jewish writing, including the Bible. Yeshua is both netzer and Natzrati." (Jewish New Testament Commentary, D. H. Stern, Mt 2:23, 1996 AD)
    3. At his arrest, twice they said they were looking for "Jesus the Nazarene" and twice Jesus said, "I am He".
  1. The sign above Jesus' cross read, "Jesus The Branch [Nazarene], The King Of The Jews.”
    1. The tri-lingual sign was written in Aramaic for the common people because only Elite Jerusalem temple priests spoke Hebrew. The sign was in the Aramaic (Jews), Latin (Romans/legislative) and Greek (World/commerce) inscription Pilate put on Jesus' Cross. (John 19:20)

                                                              i.      "John notes that the notice is trilingual, in Aramaic (the spoken language of Jewish Palestine), in Latin (the official language of the Roman Empire), and Greek (the common language of trade and literature)." (The College Press NIV Commentary,  John 19:20, 1989 AD)

                                                            ii.      "The reading was aided also by the fact that the inscription was trilingual. Anyone in the crowd who could read could almost certainly read Aramaic or Latin or Greek. Thus Pilate’s description of Jesus would become widely known through the city and beyond. Moreover, each of the languages has a significance of its own. Aramaic was the language of the country, Latin the official language, and Greek the common language of communication throughout the Roman world." (NICNT commentary, John 19:19, Leon Morris, 1995 AD) 

                                                          iii.      "The inscription was read by many Jews because the site of the crucifixion (in those days) was close to the city. The inscription is in three languages (not a hint in the Synoptics of this): Aramaic, Latin, Greek." (Hermeneia, Jn 19:20, 1984 AD)

                                                           iv.      "That is, it would have been written in Aramaic (a related language to Hebrew), the common language of the people; in Latin, the official language of the Roman government; in Greek, the trade/international language of the eastern Mediterranean world." (New Testament Background Commentary, Harold Mare, Jn 19:20, 2004 AD)

                                                             v.      "Since the sign was written in three languages—Aramaic, Latin, and Greek—and the Crucifixion was in a public place, all who could read saw a clear proclamation." (Bible Knowledge Commentary, Jn 19:20, 1985 AD)

                                                           vi.      Since the inscription was written in three languages yet the recorded inscription differs in each of the four gospels, the question arises if John was directly quoting from either the Aramaic, Latin or Greek inscription. Perhaps all three inscriptions were identical, but simply recorded differently by each evangelist. The word Nazarene sounds equally like the Hebrew word for "branch" in either Aramaic, Latin, "Nazarenvs" or Greek, "Nazoraios". Just as in today, all three languages would create a word in their own languages that sounded like Nazarene, the same way all non-English speaking foreigners call citizens of the USA "Americans" the same way the native Americans pronounce it.

    1. Pilate designed the sign to irritate the Jewish leaders as much as possible which is why he DID NOT write the inscription in Hebrew.

                                                              i.      Hebrew was the professional academic language of the Temple that the officiating Sadducees, scribes and Pharisees used, the very group who tried and crucified Jesus.

                                                            ii.      The inscription therefore, was a direct communication from Pilate to the general population that Jesus was an innocent man. This would remind the crowds that it was initially the Hebrew speaking "temple professionals" who in fact incited the general population to crucify Jesus at the very reluctant hands of the Romans.

                                                          iii.      Pilate clearly designed the inscription to snub and annoy the temple academics by the wording that emphasized the difference of the two verdicts where the three Jewish trials judged Jesus guilty but the three Roman trials judged Jesus innocent and proclaiming Jesus was their king. This is one thing Pilate got right and the Jews God wrong.

                                                           iv.      "As for the notice itself, its implication that the Jews are a people whose miserable “king” hangs on a cross, offends them, and is made all the worse by being publicly accessible as well to Gentiles passing by who read only Greek or Latin. Pilate is rubbing salt in old wounds, the wounds that were opened when he repeatedly called Jesus “the King of the Jews” (see 18:33, 39; 19:3, 5), and finally presented him as “your king” (see vv. 14, 15)." (NICNT commentary, Jn 19:20, J. Michaels, 2010 AD)

    1. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached the very first sermon and his opening statement was to say that JESUS THE BRANCH and 3000 repented and were baptized for the remission of their sins:

                                                              i.      "“Men of Israel, listen to these words: JESUS THE NAZARENE [BRANCH], a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." (Acts 2:22–24)

                                                            ii.       “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." (Acts 2:36-38)

  1. Apostle Paul who was part of the "Jerusalem Elite" was fluent in Hebrew being trained by famous teacher of the Law "Gamaliel". The "converting words" spoken by Jesus directly to him were, "I am Jesus the Branch [Nazarene], whom you are persecuting." (Acts 22:8) Paul was certainly very familiar with the connection between the messianic "branch" prophecy of Isa 11 and Jesus the messiah being universally called, "the branch" (the Nazarene). Paul immediately converted to Christianity and was baptized for the remission of his sins three days later. (Acts 22:16)

 

B. JESUS THE HOLY ONE OF GOD: phonic wordplay between Nazarene and Nazarite (LXX) and Jesus "the holy one of God" = Isa 4:1-3





  1. Nazarite Vow in the Law of Moses: Num 6:1-21

a.       "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. ‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. ‘All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person. ‘He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ‘All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord." (Numbers 6:2-8)

    1. It is impossible for a Christian to keep the Nazarite vow since the Aaronic priesthood is extinct.
    2. It is amusing to meet Christians today who think they are keeping the Nazarite vow. The attraction to be spiritually superior as a “long-haired hippie” outweighed the negative aspect of abstinence, given they usually love to drink beer. Most of these already had long hair and their only battle was not getting caught drinking beer or partaking the Lord’s Supper in church.
  1. The phonic similarity between Nazarene and Nazarite would cause early Christians to explore messianic passages that predicted Jesus would be a Nazarite who would "vow" not shave his hair or drink wine like Samson.
    1. "the designation “Nazarene” might have been intended to spark an association with “Nazirite” (ναζιραῖος, naziraios; Judg 13:5, 7; 16:17; 1 Macc 3:49 LXX). Because the two terms had similar pronunciations, this theory requires no jump from Greek to Hebrew. Furthermore, pre-Gospel tradition already might have exploited the terms’ phonological similarity as well as the semantic equivalence in the LXX between “Nazirite of God” (ναζιραῖος θεοῦ, naziraios theou) and “holy one of God” (ἅγιος θεοῦ, hagios theou; see Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; perhaps John 6:69). Luke’s infancy narrative shares significant parallels with that of Samuel the Nazirite in 1 Sam 2" (Lexham Bible dictionary, Nazareth, 2016 AD)
    2. The Septuagint (LXX) was the standard text used in every synagogue inside and outside Israel in the first century because nobody could speak Hebrew any more except the Jerusalem temple elites (scribes, priests, Sadducees, Pharisees). Aramaic and Greek were the working languages inside Israel and exclusively Greek outside Israel.
    3. Although they would quickly conclude no such prophecy exists, they would surely notice in their Septuagint, fact that Samson, the Nazarite was called "the holy one of God" in both Judges 13:7 and 16:7.
    4. Even more profound, was the fact that two hundred years earlier, the translators of the Septuagint chose to substitute "Samson shall be a Nazirite to God" (Masoretic) with "Samson shall be called the holy one of God" (LXX).
    5. So powerful is this argument, that some non-Christian Jewish apologists say Judges and Isaiah were not translated into Greek until after 200 AD by Christians who corrupted the text. This idea it easily proven false. It was Jews in 200 BC who translated it that way long before the Christian era. This "substitution" was in every synagogue on earth in the first century, since the LXX was the standard text they used.
    6. "To begin with, there is in the LXX an interchange between ναζαραῖος θεοῦ and ἅγιος θεοῦ and (see A and B for Judg 13:7; 16:17). This is significant because Jesus was known as ‘the holy one of God’ (Mk 1:24; Lk 4:34; Jn 6:69; cf. Acts 3:14; 1 Jn 2:20; Rev 3:7). Moreover, in Mk 1:24 we find this: ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth (Ναζαρηνέ)? Have you come to destroy us? We know who you are, the holy one of God’ (ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ). Here ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘holy one of God’ are in parallel and we clearly have a word play: Jesus, the ‘holy one of God’ (= nāzîr), is from Nazareth." (Critical and Exegetical Commentary, Davies, Allison, Matthew 2:23, 2004 AD)
  1. Jesus was widely known as "the Holy one of God".
    1. The very first reports about Jesus that spread through the population were about a cast out demon who called Jesus "the Holy one of God".The demon called Jesus "Holy one of God" inside the crowded Capernaum synagogue: “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” … And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district." (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34,37)
    2. Peter's short confession included on fact: "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:69)
    3. Peter's first and second sermons that resulted in over 5000 Jews converting to Christianity contained direct references to Jesus being the Holy One of God:  "You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. (Jesus rose the third day)" Acts 2:27. "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you," (Acts 3:14)
    4. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:" (Revelation 3:7)
  1. The Christians then connected the allusion that Jesus would be holy like a Nazarite in a metaphoric sense:
    1. The name of the "messiah branch" is HOLY: "For seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!” In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 4:1-3)
    2. Samson the most famous Nazarite was directly called THE HOLY ONE OF GOD in the standard synagogue Bibles at the time Christ began his ministry.
    3. Jesus was already reported to be THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.
    4. Therefore the Messianic prophecy that the Messiah would be CALLED holy was metaphorically fulfilled through the similarity of the words Nazarene and Nazarite through the translation of the Septuagint in 200 BC.
  1. This kind of connection may seem strange to Christians today, but to the Jerusalem elite priests and experts in the Law of Moses and the prophets, this was very, very typical in Jewish Midrashic style.

 

C. JESUS THE DESPISED: Jesus was associated with a town of bad reputation: "Nazareth"

  1. Towns you don’t want to say you are from today if you are a Christian:

Sin city: Las Vegas

Immoral/crazy city: San Francisco

Slum city: Detroit or Flint Michigan

Death city: Chicago
  1. "Can any good thing come from Nazareth"
  2. Even Nathaniel, the "Israelite in whom is no guile" commented, "can any good thing come from Nazareth" (Jn 1:46).
    1. People are often stereotyped based upon where they grew up.
    2. Jesus grew up in Nazareth which had a bad reputation like Detroit or Flint Michigan have today
  3. This exactly matches the lowly and despised "ambiance" of the Messiah.
    1. "He was despised and forsaken of men …. we did not esteem Him." (Isaiah 53:3)
    2. "But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people." (Psalm 22:6)
  1. The messiah was not going to be from a place of high esteem, like Jerusalem, but of low esteem, even despised.
    1. The holy one of God was born in insignificant Bethlehem and grew up in despised Nazareth.

 

D. Conclusion:

1.           Matthew’s statement in Mt 2:23: "and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23)

a.           Nowhere is this statement found in scripture and it has been attacked by Bible skeptics as proof Matthew was not inspired.

b.           Matthew was in fact drawing upon three scriptural concepts and applying them to Jesus.

c.           Atheists, Jews and "Bible trashers" say Matthew got it wrong because Old Testament prophecy says nothing about Jesus being "called a Nazarene".

2.           Mirroring the first century Jewish Midrashic style Matthew makes three prophetic connections that the messiah would be called a "Nazarene".

a.           First: “Jesus the branch (Isa 11:1) who lived in branch land (Nazareth)”.

b.           Second: Jesus was holy (LXX replaced Nazarite with holy in Judges 13:7; 16:7).

c.           Third: “Jesus was despised (Isa 53:3; Ps 22:6) because he came from Nazareth which had a bad reputation. (Jn 1:46)”

3.           When Matthew wrote, "as the prophets prophesied" in Mt 2:23, he was following a standard and accepted Midrashic method and style of connecting many different texts and prophecies in exactly the same way as all the Jewish rabbis of his day. They would instantly recognize his method of connecting scriptures the way he did in Mt 2:23 and would accept what he wrote as powerful, authentic and inspired.

4.           While today we may scratch our heads at first, everyone in the first century knew exactly which Old Testament passages to which Matthew was referring. Jews today who say "Matthew got it wrong" are being very "un-Jewish" since the interpretation methods of the first century rabbis were identical to Matthew's throughout his entire gospel.

6.           The key is to understand that everyone was already calling “Jesus the Nazarene”. It is the most common way he was referred to in the first century. Even the pagan Roman soldier asked Jesus at his arrest, “Are you Jesus the Nazarene?”. The fact that Matthew does not explain how the prophecy was connected with Jesus being called a “Nazarene” proves that it was common knowledge which had already been widely preached.

7.           Matthew’s application was in fact stunningly brilliant once you understand what he was doing. Matthew made the application of these messianic prophecies like a master scholar.

8.           This is typical Midrashic style and is useful as a guide in decoding the Olivet Discourse.

 

  By Steve Rudd 2020: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

 

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