Difference between revisions of "Nazarene"

<p> '''Nazarene''' (''năz'a-r'' ''çne''' ). When our Lord was taken as a child to Nazareth, which thus became for many years his dwelling-place, the evangelist records this as a fulfilment of prophecy, &nbsp;Matthew 2:23, citing no particular place, but referring generally to "the prophets," who predicted Messiah's humble and despised condition. See Isa. chaps. 52, 53. The words, "He shall be called a Nazarene," do not occur in the writings of the Old Testament; but the thing or meaning conveyed by them is sufficiently obvious. Jesus, living at Nazareth, was from that very circumstance contemned; and we find in the course of his public career his connection with that town repeatedly used against him. &nbsp;John 1:46; &nbsp;John 7:41; &nbsp;John 7:52. Matthew notes that event which branded him with an ill-omened name, "Jesus of Nazareth." and his followers as Nazarenes, comp. &nbsp;Acts 24:5, as an exact fulfilment of what ancient seers had foretold. It is an error to connect &nbsp;Matthew 2:23 with &nbsp;Isaiah 11:1-16, from a fancied relation of the original Hebrew word there translated "branch" with the name Nazareth. </p>

<p> '''Nazarene'.''' ''An inhabitant of '' '''Nazareth''' ''.'' This appellative is applied to '''Jesus''' , in many passages in the New Testament. This name, made striking in so many ways, and which, if first given in scorn, was adopted and gloried in by the disciples, we are told in &nbsp;Matthew 2:23, possesses a prophetic significance. </p> <p> Its application to '''Jesus''' , in consequence of the providential arrangements, by which his parents were led , to take up their abode in Nazareth, was the filling out of the predictions in which the promised '''Messiah''' is described as a '''netser''' , that is, a ''shoot, sprout,'' of Jesse, a humble and despised descendant of the decayed royal family. Once, &nbsp;Acts 24:5, the term, Nazarenes, is applied to the followers of '''Jesus''' , by way of contempt. The name still exists in Arabic, as the ordinary designation of Christians. </p>