Why is Jesus often referred to as Jesus of Nazareth?

A native of Nazareth. Joseph and Mary, when they returned from Egypt, went to reside at Nazareth, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." These words are not found in the O.T., but the thought conveyed by them is in the prophets generally, that the Messiah would be despised and reproached: cf. Ps. 69; Isa. 53; etc. His disciples suffered the same reproach: Paul had to hear himself called "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." Matt. 2:23; Acts 24:5. Christians in some parts of Palestine are still called Nazarenes.

Town where the Lord was 'brought up.' Early in the Lord's ministry He visited Nazareth, and taught in the synagogue. The people wondered at His gracious words, but they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" When He told them that no prophet is accepted in his own country, and proceeded to speak of the grace of God having gone out to the Gentiles in O.T. times, they were filled with wrath, thrust Him out of the city, and sought to hurl Him over the brow of the hill on which the city was built. But He, passing through the midst of them, went His way. Luke 4:16-30. About twelve months later He visited 'his own country' again and taught in the synagogue. But the inhabitants only regarded Him as 'the carpenter,' and were offended in Him. He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matt. 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6. As far as is known the Lord did not visit Nazareth again.

It is identified with en Nasirah, in Lower Galilee, 32 42' N, 35 18' E. The town presents a striking appearance, the houses being built of the white limestone of the neighbourhood, which reflects the rays of the sun. There is a steep precipice which is probably the place where the enraged people intended to cast down the Lord. A spring, called the 'fountain of the virgin,' supplies the town with water, where the women may daily be seen with their pitchers, and whence doubtless the mother of the Lord also fetched water for her family. The name of the city often occurs in the gospels in the expression, 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and this designation was also placed on the cross. God has highly exalted the One who humbled Himself, and was in the eyes of the Jews merely 'Jesus of Nazareth.'

And this connects with what we have had before, and with that to which our attention is once again and more distinctly directed in this summing up of various prophecies . "He shall be called a Nazarene." This was, of course, a name actually given to the Lord, and generally in scorn, from the place to which in general His birth was accredited, and in which so large a proportion of His life on earth was spent. Nazareth was, it seems, nowhere in very good repute, but especially among the Pharisees and traditionalists. It had no history, no memories, was consecrated by no great names; and its own name, which seems to have been but a feminine form of netzer, a "sprout" or "shoot," may even refer to this. It was thus expressive of lowliness, if yet of life, and identical with the word in Isaiah 11:1, where Messiah is spoken of as the "rod" or "shoot out of the stem of Jesse;" and here His greatness and His lowliness are seen together.

It should be noticed, in examining the scripture, that it does not say that there was any distinct and definite prophecy that our blessed Lord should be called a Nazarene. It speaks, we apprehend, in a general way, for the language is, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets," which signifies, as we understand it, that this is the sense of the prophetic testimony, not of one prophet simply, but of the prophets generally. The second difficulty is as to what is meant by the words, "He shall be called a Nazarene." Some attempt to solve it by the endeavour to deduce the word "Nazarene" from the Hebrew word "Netzer" - a branch - and thus to connect it with Isaiah 11:1, where this word is found. But it is not used in this sense by other prophets, and consequently would seem to be excluded from our scripture. Moreover, our Lord's being called a Nazarene is so plainly connected with His dwelling in Nazareth that one hesitates to accept such a solution, even if it could be satisfactorily shown that "Nazareth" is derived from the word employed by Isaiah for "Branch." It should also be added, that Nazarene is a regular word to denote an inhabitant of the city. (Mark uses a different form of the word.) But if a moral meaning is sought for, it might be discovered in Nathanael's words, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" In that case it will mean that, according to the testimony of the prophets, Christ should be despised and rejected of men. This is all that we can say, and this only as suggestion.

The method of citation is worthy of note here. Note that it is not one particular prophet, but "the prophets". And by that we are to gather, not that any one inspired writer said these words, but it is the spirit of the prophets who do speak of Him. When we read in one prophet, "They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek"; in another, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief "; and again, what they should give Him for meat, and in His thirst for drink, and how He should be taunted up to the last — we can understand this application of the prophets. It was the well-understood language expressive of contempt in that day: He should, in other words, be called a Nazarene. Nazareth was the most scorned of places. Not only did the men of Judea proper look down upon Nazareth, but the Galileans themselves despised it, though it was part of their own district. Later on we read of a guileless Israelite who, when he heard of Jesus being there, exclaimed, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Thus, if one spot in Palestine, more than another, would accord with the rejection that was the portion of Christ, it was Nazareth. A striking picture, surely, of One who, while He was the true King, was yet refused by His own people! Gentiles might have done Him reverence; but His own nation was indifferent. How little fruit was there to answer to the culture that God had bestowed upon them! But here was the blessed One who pursues His path of obedience unto death, who would not show His glory by protecting Himself. His people went down into Egypt: He goes down there also. He has to be called out of Egypt: that was His portion. He would not screen Himself from the sorrows of His people: He would share them all. When He does come forth, Israel is still unprepared for Him. His parents turn to Nazareth once more, Joseph having been again divinely instructed in a dream. This is the last mention that we have of him in Matthew. Luke gives us later circumstances; but Joseph wholly disappears before our Lord entered upon His ministry.

When He is called out of Egypt, He cannot go to Jerusalem, nor to Bethlehem either. He was to be despised and rejected: the prophets had said so: their words must be accomplished. Archelaus reigned in Judea: a usurper was still there. Joseph, at the warning of God, turns aside to Nazareth, and Jesus dwelt with them; that the word of the prophets might be fulfilled in our Lord's proving to the full what it was to be the most despised of men. He knew it pre-eminently on the cross; but it was His all through. And this is the way that God speaks of the Messiah to Israel. He shows what their hardness of heart and unbelief would entail — even if it were to the Messiah Himself. What a picture of man, and especially of Israel, when such must be His portion! He comes and calls, but no answer greets Him. The unbelief of man hinders the blessing of God. It was the sin of Israel that thus complicated the early history of the King. But future chapters will show that God would turn the very unbelief of Israel into the means of blessing for the despised Gentiles, and that if the Jews rejected the counsel of God, to their own perdition, the Gentiles would hear and receive all blessing in the blessed One.

There is one more prophecy which is to be mentioned. "And having been divinely instructed in a dream, he went away in the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a town called Nazareth; so that it should be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene" (verses 22, 23). It is next to the questions from the first chapter in Matthew, the most important the inquiring Jew brings in reading the New Testament: "Where is it written, or in what prophet is it written, that Messiah should be called a Nazarene?" It does not say here that it is written by one prophet, but by the prophets. Therefore all the prophets have spoken of Him as being a Nazarene. A Nazarene is an inhabitant of Nazareth . That city is in Galilee, which is called the Galilee of the Gentiles, because so many Gentiles lived there. The Pharisees and scribes in Jerusalem hated and despised Galilee, and especially was Nazareth despised. The inhabitants were called Am-horatzim, that is ignorant men. Even the Galileans looked down upon the town and despised everybody who lived there. The ruin and corruption was there the greatest. Therefore we read in another Gospel: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" To that mean, despised place the Son of God is to go, there He, who was rich in all eternity, found His abode. Now, this is spoken by all the prophets, that the Messiah, the Saviour, was to be rejected by men. The rejection began with the very start, and there in the little town He is to spend thirty years of His life, and when He comes forth and begins His ministry in Galilee, it is only to be rejected again, ending at last in Jerusalem outside of the camp. How true, He was despised and rejected of men. And our place is with Him now in rejection, outside of the camp, to bear His reproach. May this be our place, and like Him, the leader and completer of the faith, may we, for the joy set before us, endure the cross and despise the shame.

Returning, in due time, to the land of Israel at the death of him that reigned after Herod the Great, His parents are instructed as we are told, and turn aside into the parts of Galilee. This is another important truth; for thus was to be fulfilled the word, not of one prophet, but of all — "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." It was the name of man's scorn; for Nazareth was the most despised place in that despised land of Galilee. Such, in the providence of God, was the place for Jesus. This gave an accomplishment to the general voice of the prophets, who declared Him despised and rejected of men. So He was. It was true even of the place in which He lived, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."

No Old Testament prophet predicted that He should be "a Nazarene," in so many words, but more than one said that He would be despised and an object of reproach. So in verse 23 it is "the prophets," and not one particular prophet. They had said He should be an object of contempt, which in our Lord's time was expressed in the epithet, "a Nazarene." In Darby's New Translation — large edition with full notes — there is an illuminating comment on this verse, as to the exact phrase used regarding the fulfilment, as contrasted with the earlier expression in Matt. 1:22, and Matt. 2:17; showing the accuracy with which quotations from the Old Testament are made. It is a note well worth reading.

Nazarene is the fourth name given to our Lord in this opening Gospel. He is, as we have seen, Jesus, Emmanuel, Governor; but He is also the Nazarene. God may come amongst men to save, to dwell, to rule; but alas! He will be "despised and rejected of men."

The great point here is the fulfilment of many leading prophecies, vers. 6, 15, 18 in the last verse He shall be called a Nazarean. Nazareth was the despised place. It is in keeping with the prophets generally; there is no special quotation. It is a general term of reproach. The prophets show generally that He should be despised and rejected. God was arranging it all that He should go to Nazareth.

Many prophets had testified that Messiah would become an object of scorn to men when they saw Him. And their united witness to this character of the King of Israel in His first presentation to the nation was fulfilled by the Lord's residence in Nazareth, the village of Joseph and Mary (Luke 1:26; Luke 2:39). This fulfilment is explicitly stated in the first Gospel: "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" (Matt. 2:23).

Jesus of Nazareth (the Nazarene) is the term of reference to the Lord most frequently used by contemporary persons of all classes. He was so known not only in Galilee but also in Judea; for when the whole city of Jerusalem was stirred at His final visit, the multitude said, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee" (Matt. 21:11). This name too was the one used on the inscription placed in mockery by Pilate upon the cross: "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

But if this title is one of dishonour and disrepute among men, angels are not ashamed to use it. The angel at the tomb said to Mary Magdalene, "Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified; he is risen; he is not here; behold the place where they laid him" (Mark 16:6). To Jesus of Nazareth the apostles in their preaching testified expressly under this designation as the crucified but risen and glorified Messiah and Lord (Acts 2:22: Acts 3:6; Acts 4:10; Acts 10:38). And more striking still, the exalted One Himself speaking from the glory to Saul of Tarsus, the bigoted Jew and haughty Pharisee, declared Himself under that name of reproach: "I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest" (Acts 22:8).