Jesus the Nazarene? (Matt 2:23)

There are three major interpretations regarding Matthew’s meaning. First, Matthew’s comment may be a word-play on Nazarene (i.e. a man from Nazareth; Greek nazōraios), which sounds almost the same as Nazirite (naziraios). A Nazirite would commit himself to a more dedicated lifestyle either temporarily or for a lifetime (Num 6:1-8; Samson was meant to be a life-long Nazirite ­– Judg 13:3-5), involving, among other things, not drinking wine or coming near a dead person. Jesus did both (Luke 7:33-34; 8:52-54), so if this is Matthew’s meaning then it only works if he is using the term loosely for Jesus’s dedicated lifestyle.

Secondly, it may be a word-play on the Hebrew netser (‘branch’), which is a messianic title (e.g. Isa 11:1), though such a word-play is not discernible in Greek. Rather, it involves connecting words in two different languages: the Greek for Nazarene (nazōraios) with the Hebrew (netser). This may not be an issue, however, given that Matthew’s audience is likely Jewish with knowledge of Hebrew, and bi- or multilinguals are known to move seamlessly between languages.

The third option is the one I adopt in my notes above. According to this view, Matthew connects his contemporaries’ use of ‘Nazarene’ with the contemptuous attitude that will be Messiah’s lot as foretold by the prophets. In other words, he is not claiming that the prophets refer to Nazareth. This may be indicated by his wording. Greek does not have quotation marks; rather, the word ‘saying’ marks the beginning of a citation. Thus, Matthew uses a formula with some variations which reads something like this ‘this was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet, saying: [OT quotation]’(Matt 1:22; 2:15, 17). The word ‘saying’ is omitted in the reference to Jesus being a Nazarene (2:23) and instead of ‘the prophet’, we have ‘prophets’ in the plural. Both these differences may indicate that Matthew does not have a specific prophet or saying in mind but is connecting the attitude of contempt for Jesus with a similar stance described by the prophets. While OT passages referring to a suffering and despised figure (e.g. Isa 53:1-5; 49:7; Zech 11:12-13; Pss 22:6; 69:7-9; 118:22) were not seen as Messianic in Jesus’s time, His followers recognised them as such in hindsight.