What Scriptures Are Being Referred To By Matthew When He Says, “He Shall Be Called A Nazarene?”

Matthew says in Matt 2.23 that there are Scriptures that say Yeshua will be called a Nazarene, but the problem is, there are no Scriptures that say this. Was Matthew wrong? Is this an obvious contradiction? Could this be used by unbelievers to show that the Bible is wrong? There is a simple answer to these questions and that is what we will briefly go over.

Matthew says that Yeshua moved to Nazareth so that the Scriptures could be fulfilled, in that, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” The only Scriptures Matthew could be referring to is the Tanach (the “old Testament”), and the Tanach never predicted this. So what is happening here?

The term “Nazarene” became an idiom in the first century for one who was despised. The people in the north and Galilee were looked down on as being “illiterate and uneducated ” (Acts 4.13). This alludes to the fact that they were not educated in any of the rabbinical schools in the south. The Temple and many Jewish sects were located there and it seems they thought the people in the north were “hicks” because they were farmers, fishermen, carpenters, stone masons and worked with their hands. Even their spoken Hebrew was different (Matt 26.73).

When Philip came to Nathanael and told him that, “We have found him whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”, Nathanael responded with, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth (John 1.43-46)?”

So, when Matthew uses “Nazarene” in Matt 2.23, he is meaning a “despised one” based on several Scriptures. Isa 49.1-26 tells us about the physical manifestation of the Messiah, and Isa 49.7 specifically says, “Thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel, its Holy One, to the despised one, to the one abhorred by the nation” and it goes on as a clear reference to the Messiah. Isa 53.3 says Yeshua was despised and forsaken of men. Psa 22.6 is talking about David, but it alludes to the fact that Yeshua was despised by the people.

So, Matthew uses “Nazarene” as an idiom for one despised, and the Scriptures he refers to are some of the Scriptures we have just mentioned. So there is no contradiction here.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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