Matthew 2:23

Ναζαρέθ. The MSS. vary wherever this name occurs between Ναζαρέθ, Ναζαρέτ, Ναζαρὰθ and Ναζαρά, so that the orthography cannot be determined.

23. εἰς πόλιν λεγομένην Ναζαρέθ. St Matthew gives no intimation of any previous residence of Mary and Joseph at Nazareth.

If the Son of David, full of wisdom and of grace, had continued to live on at Bethlehem, the home of his ancestors, hopes and schemes, and therefore dangers, might have gathered round him, rendering impossible such quiet life as he led at Nazareth.

Ναζαρέθ. Said to signify ‘the Protectress’ (Hebr. natsar), a small town of central Galilee, on the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, beautifully situated on the side of a steep hill within a sheltered valley.

Ναζωραῖος κληθήσεται. The meaning of this passage was probably as clear to the contemporaries of St Matthew, as the other references to prophecy Matthew 2:15; Matthew 2:17; for us it is involved in doubt. First, it may be said Nazarene cannot = Nazarite: the word differs in form, and in no sense could Christ be called a Nazarite. Secondly, the quotation is probably not from a lost prophecy. One meaning of the word Nazoræus is an inhabitant of Nazareth, but the word either (1) recalls the Hebrew word netser a Branch, a title by which the Messiah is designated Isaiah 11:1, or (2) connects itself in thought with the Hebr. natsar, to save or protect (see above), and so has reference to the name and work of Jesus, or (3) is a synonym for ‘contemptible’ or ‘lowly,’ from the despised position of Nazareth. Of these (3) is perhaps the least probable explanation. The play upon words which (1) and (2) involve is quite characteristic of Hebrew phraseology. The sound of the original would be either (1) He whom the prophet called the ‘Netser’ dwells at ‘Netser’—(for this form of Nazareth see Smith’s Bib. Dict.), or (2) He who is called ‘Notsri’ (my protector) dwells at ‘Natsaret’ (the protectress).

In any case the passage gains fresh interest from the fact that the early Christians were called Nazarenes in scorn. Cp. Acts 24:5. For them it would be a point of triumph that their enemies thus unconsciously connected them with a prophetic title of their Master.