He Shall be Called a Nazarene

In St. Matthew's Gospel, there is a quotation from the Old Testament that says that the promised Christ will be called a Nazarene.

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. (St. Matt. 2:23)

If were one to look through the Old Testament, one would be unable to find anywhere there these words. I remember a Protestant minister once commented that he thought that Matthew was stretching things a little too much whenever he tried to prove from the Old Testament that Jesus is the Christ.

I asked a very learned Orthodox priest about this passage once. He told me that St. Matthew was quoting from a Pre-Masoretic Hebrew text. I read through various places in the Church Fathers and found out that St. Jerome had seen these words in a fourth century Hebrew manuscript of Isaiah. He had been translating the Hebrew Old Testament into Latin. He said in his apology (defense) to Rufinus:

But I was encouraged above all by the authoritative publications of the Evangelists and Apostles, in which we read much taken from the Old Testament which is not found in our manuscripts. For example, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son" (St. Matt. 2:15): "For He shall be called a Nazarene" (St. Matt. 2:23): and "They shall look on Him whom they pierced" (John 7:37): and "Rivers of living water shall flow out of his belly" (John 7:38): and "Things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (I. Cor. 2:9), and many other passages which lack their proper context. Let us ask our opponents then where these things are written, and when they are unable to tell, let us produce them from the Hebrew. The first passage is in Hosea (Hosea 11:1), the second in Isaiah (11:1), the third in Zechariah (Zech. 12:10), the fourth in Proverbs (Prov. 18:4), the fifth also in Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4). (Jerome's Apology for Himself against the Books of Rufinus, Book II, by St. Jerome 345-420 A.D., vol. 3, p. 516, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)

St. Jerome said that the quote came from Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 11 of the Hebrew it says:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. (Isaiah 11:1)

Perhaps the ancient Hebrew manuscript that St. Jerome used when he was translating it said:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, for He shall be called a Nazarene. (Isaiah 11:1, possible Pre-Masoretic Hebrew text reading)

Anyway, based on the testimony of St. Jerome, those words were in a fourth century Hebrew manuscript of Isaiah.

This is the city that Jesus Christ grew up in. It is Nazareth, Israel. In fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, He was called a Nazarene. For attribute click here.

 St. Matthew says that after the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and Jesus returned to the land of Israel from Egypt, they moved to Nazareth.

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young Child’s life. And he arose, and took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. (St. Matt. 2:19-23)

Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled when this happened.

Steve

Bibliography

Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts