Was Christ truly a Nazarene? Part 2

Our Savior was often called Jesus of Nazareth. He lived and worked in the village of Nazareth. Yet, he was born in the same city of Bethlehem, that King David is said to have been born. If he was Jesus of Nazareth, how and why could this be so? To find the answer, we must examine the history of the people Judea itself.

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In 175 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes, invaded the land of Judea. He ransacked the Second Temple, and erected an altar to Zeus, which was placed in the Temple.

He defiled the alter by sacrificing a pig to Zeus and banned the practice of circumcision, which was given to the people of Israel under the Mosaic law handed down by God on mount Horeb.

As a result, any male child which was found to have been circumcised, was thrust through with the sword.

The descendants of King David, along with other devout people of Israel, escaped the brutal sword of Antiochus Epiphanes, settling in the small town of Nazareth, near the Sea of Galilee. Being thereby separated from their ancestral city of Bethlehem, they had refuge.

In about 8 B.C. Caesar Augustus issued a decree, that there should be a universal tax. Joseph and Mary, being Roman subjects, were obligated to return to their ancestral hometown of Bethlehem. And so it was, that Christ came to be born in Bethlehem as prophesied by the prophet Micah:

Micah 5:2: 

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Our Savior having been born as prophesied, and the tax having been paid while they were in Bethlehem, they returned to their home in Nazareth. Although this represents one aspect as to why he has been called a Nazarene, there is a deeper meaning of the term which was referenced in Matthew 2:23, and which Christ did indeed fulfil. It was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 11:1:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

The word “rod” in the previous passage from Isaiah, is the Hebrew/Chaldee word "choter" (Strong's H2415)  It refers to a branch or a twig. The word rendered “stem,” is the word “geza`,” (Strong's H1503) which refers to the trunk of a dead, cut down tree. The word “Branch,” is the word “Netser” (Strong's H5342), which means a sprout, a shoot, or a branch. 

It is interesting to note that a netser, is a sprout from an original olive tree that comes up from the root of that tree.

It comes up in a place distant from the trunk of the original olive tree.

Just like a new sprout which grows from a tree having been dead from all appearances, so did our Savior arise from the House of David, which had the appearance of being dead.

Given this understanding, we can rightly understand the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1:

And there shall come forth a “branch” out of the “dead cut down tree” of Jesse, and a “shoot which grows from this dead tree” shall grow out of his roots.

That Branch is known as a Netser, and it is symbolic of how our Savior grew from the seemingly dead House of the line of King David. Thus is the prophecy of Isaiah confirmed and the reference in Matthew 2:23 rendered in context.

 © 2010 Craig Portwood
 

This author acknowledges his debt to Bill Robinson for providing direction and to Michael Rood for providing the research which went into this article.

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