Prophecy that the Messiah would be a Nazarene.

What Old Testament prophecy says the Messiah would be a Nazarene?

Matthew 2:23 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.

What prophecy is Matthew referring to here? There doesn't appear to be any prophecy in the Old Testament that says anything about the Messiah being a Nazarene.

reyjamiei said:

What Old Testament prophecy says the Messiah would be a Nazarene?

Matthew 2:23 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.

What prophecy is Matthew referring to here? There doesn't appear to be any prophecy in the Old Testament that says anything about the Messiah being a Nazarene.

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It doesn't, no. There is no such prophecy.

I think the author of Matthew perhaps heard a rumour and took it as fact, or possibly just got over excited about his prophecy fulfillment and accidently included one that he thought existed, but doesn't.

Although, there is always the possibility that this prophecy did exist in a now lost book of Jewish scripture.

The KJV has I Samuel 1:11 as a cross reference but that seems to have nothing to do with it and then it does reference Judges 13:5 which reads (in the Jewish text)...

"5. Because you shall conceive, and bear a son; and a razor shall not come upon his head, for a Nazirite to God shall the lad be from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

But this doesn't seem to fit either as Jesus didn't save Israel from the Phillistines and further along in verse 24 the prophecy is fulfilled and we see who the Nazarite is...

24. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the lad grew, and the Lord blessed him.

reyjamiei said:

What Old Testament prophecy says the Messiah would be a Nazarene?

Matthew 2:23 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.

What prophecy is Matthew referring to here? There doesn't appear to be any prophecy in the Old Testament that says anything about the Messiah being a Nazarene.

Click to expand...

A general explaination of this is that there is no direct reference to a specific prophet (the term used was "prophets" plural) in Scripture but referes to the prophecy that Jesus would be unremarkable and despised among men which referes to the people of the area of Nazareth.

NoahideHiker said:

The KJV has I Samuel 1:11 as a cross reference but that seems to have nothing to do with it and then it does reference Judges 13:5 which reads (in the Jewish text)...

"5. Because you shall conceive, and bear a son; and a razor shall not come upon his head, for a Nazirite to God shall the lad be from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

But this doesn't seem to fit either as Jesus didn't save Israel from the Phillistines and further along in verse 24 the prophecy is fulfilled and we see who the Nazarite is...

24. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the lad grew, and the Lord blessed him.

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A Nazarite and a Nazarene are not the same.

sandy whitelinger said:

A general explaination of this is that there is no direct reference to a specific prophet (the term used was "prophets" plural) in Scripture but referes to the prophecy that Jesus would be unremarkable and despised among men which referes to the people of the area of Nazareth.

Click to expand...

The prophecy Matthew seems to be referring to doesn't seem to be a general prophecy that Jesus would be unremarkable and despised among men but seems to be specifc as he says that it was spoken by the prophets 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'

reyjamiei said:

The prophecy Matthew seems to be referring to doesn't seem to be a general prophecy that Jesus would be unremarkable and despised among men but seems to be specifc as he says that it was spoken by the prophets 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'

Click to expand...

But where is this found in the prophets?

Isaiah 11.1-12

From a ditty that I wrote last night for Victor Paul Furnish

"The LXX parallel [to 2 Thess 2.1-12] is in Isaiah 11.4 which describes the root of Jesse, “avlla. krinei/ tapeinw/| kri,sin kai. evle,gxei tou.j tapeinou.j th/j gh/j kai. pata,xei gh/n tw/| lo,gw| tou/ sto,matoj auvtou/ kai. evn pneu,mati dia. ceile,wn avnelei/ avsebh/, “but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” This is used in Christian tradition as prophesy fulfilled by Christ. Ellis finds this tradition in Matt 2.23 [Ellis, Paul’s Use of the OT, 44, 105]; Rom 15.12 [Ellis, 57]; Eph. 6.14a [which is interesting for its mention of armor, cf. 1 Thess 5.8; Isa. 11.5; Ellis, 154]; Rom 15.12 [Isa 11.10; Ellis 151]. It is interesting that the tradition is in a Gospel, Paul, and deutero-Pauline material."



Matthew 2.23 (ESV)

23And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Allusion to Isaiah 11.1-12

1There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

I think that the argument is that Jesse has a regional association with Nazareth. In any case, Jesse was from Bethlehem, which obviously is associated with the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

reyjamiei said:

The prophecy Matthew seems to be referring to doesn't seem to be a general prophecy that Jesus would be unremarkable and despised among men but seems to be specifc as he says that it was spoken by the prophets 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'

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It is argued that when reference is made to the "prophets," plural, in scripture is a general reference.

sandy whitelinger said:

It is argued that when reference is made to the "prophets," plural, in scripture is a general reference.

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Also, Greek very often uses the plural to refer to singular and vice versa.

I don't think that applies here, but we do only have one possibility in the extant written prophets, and even that is not a direct quote. Some of the problem is with the word "Nazarene," which refers to a city or region only known by the writers of the Gospels. There is no archeological record of such a city, and even the BDAG (the premier Greek dictionary) says that 'Nazarene' originally referred to something else. Personally, I think that someone confused 'Nazareth' with Bethlehem in this case.

NoahideHiker said:

But where is this found in the prophets?

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The term “Nazareth” was used in a derogatory sense in the first century. When Nathanael heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, he asked: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46).

A numberof Old Testament prophecies foretold that the Messiah would be a despised person, rejected by many of his contemporaries (see: Psa. 22:6-8,13; 69:8,20-21; Isa. 11:1; 49:7; 53:2-3,8; Dan. 9:26).

NoahideHiker said:

But where is this found in the prophets?

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That's the point of my original post.

sandy whitelinger said:

The term “Nazareth” was used in a derogatory sense in the first century. When Nathanael heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, he asked: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46).

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Kinda, its because people from Galilee were considered barbaric/less-civilised, a bit backward.
They also had a regional accent, which is why people could easily spot Peter as a disciple of Jesus, and why people seemed to automatically know where Jesus was from.