Mat 2:23 prophets, who were to be called n
Act 24:5 plague .. and leader of the sect of the n
Nazarene (Gr. nazí‡ráií‡s and nazar’nós, “from Nazareth”). 1. Term applied to Christ (Mat 2:23; Mar 14:67; etc.). Since the passage in Matthew speaks of Nazareth as the paternal village of Jesus, it seems that the author uses it in the sense of “inhabitant of Nazareth”. However, his claim that it was the fulfillment of a prophecy causes a difficulty, because it cannot be found in the OT. It is possible, of course, that Matthew was referring to some inspired prediction that is not contained in the sacred canon. Some commentators have interpreted nazí‡ráií‡s as “nazarite”, but Jesus was not a nazarite (Mat 11:19; Luk 7:33, 34; cf Num 6:2-4). Others think that the Greek term refers to the messianic prophecy of Isa 11:1, which speaks of the nêtser, “offspring”, and that Nazareth may have derived its name from the root of that word (nâtsar). 2. Term applied to Christians (Acts 24:5) as followers of the one who came from Nazareth, that is, Jesus Christ. It seems to have been used in a derogatory way.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
born in ® Nazareth. According to other versions, Nazarean. Name given to Jesus, Mt 2, 23; Acts 26, 9, which was later applied by extension to his followers, Acts 24, 5. When Joseph was warned, in a dream, he retired to live in a city called Nazareth, so that the oracle of the prophets might be fulfilled: He will be called N. or Nazarite, Mt 2, 22-23. Other authors relate the name of N. or Nazoreno with nazir (® nazireato). In Syria, mainly, they call Christians Nazarenes, Acts 24, 5.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
1. Term derived from Nazareth, the place where Jesus grew up. Jesus was often called a Nazarene. When the expression was used by his friends, it had a positive connotation (Act 2:22; Act 3: 6). When used by his enemies, it was contemptuous (Mat 26:71; Mar 14:67). Matthew (Mat 2:23) is generally thought to refer to Isa 11:1, where the Messiah is called a netzer, or an offshoot of the roots of Jesse. The name Nazareth was probably derived from the same
root.
2. In Act 24:5 adherents to Christianity are called Nazarenes.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Native of Nazareth. It was an appellation frequently applied to the Lord Jesus, who was called “the number.” Mat 2:23 says that coming to live in Nazareth was “so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, which would be called n.† Nazareth, in Hebrew, comes from netzer, that is, shoot, branch (Isa 11:1; Jer 33:15; Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12). Those who applied the term to the Lord, however, did so to emphasize that Nazareth was unimportant. Nathanael himself asked: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Joh 1:46). With that derogatory sense, many used the qualifier n. added to the name of the Lord Jesus, to the point of including it in the sign that was placed over his head on the cross (Jua 19:19). But the Lord Jesus was never ashamed to be called “of Nazareth,” applying the name to himself (Acts 22:8). For a time his followers were also called n. (Acts 24:5).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
see, NAZARETH
vet, = “of Nazareth”. (a) Born in Nazareth or resident there (Mt. 2:23; 26:71; Mark 16:6). In Is. 11:1 the Messiah receives the name of “nêser”, rod of the trunk of Jesse. It is an offshoot of the royal family, which has been deprived of its glory and reduced to the humility of its first origin. The Spanish versions also have “renew” (Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zec. 3:8; 6:12). The evangelist saw the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in the providential intervention that indicated to the parents of Jesus that they should settle in Nazareth (Mt. 2:23). If Nazareth means “protector” or “guardian”, Matthew undoubtedly sees the fulfillment of the prophecy in the analogy of sound and in the little reputation that the city and its inhabitants had. But if the name derives from the same root as “nêser” (see NAZARETH), the fulfillment of the prophecy is found in the common sense of the two expressions (Mt. 26:71, gr. “Nazõraios”, from Nazareth, or Nazarene (cf. Mark 16:6). (b) Adherent to Christianity; term of contempt (Acts 24:5).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Inhabitant of Nazareth. Jesus was called a “Nazarene”, because he was a Galilean from this village with a bad reputation. And it seems that the Christians were originally called sectarian followers of the Nazarene. (Acts 24.5)
Sometimes attempts have been made to force the interpretation for etymological reasons and for parallelisms, making the title of Nazarene synonymous with belonging to a select group, between consecrated to God by a vote and segregated from men, and for others as sectarians related to the movements radicals who probably appeared in Galilee against foreign oppression.
Thus, “Nazarene” and “Nazirean” would be falsely identified, since in Hebrew (Nazir) it means “segregated before God by vote” (Judges. 13. 5 and 7; Am. 2.11; Num. 6. 1-21). Even the text of Matthew (2.23) would be better understood in this way, in which he affirms that he “went to live in Nazareth” to fulfill the prophetic saying that he “would be called” Nazarene “. But this text is not a sufficient argument to distort the natural interpretation of the Nazarene name. And the original Greek and Hebrew terms (nazarenes, inhabitant of Nazara… and nazir, segregated) do not allow such an interpretation.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
Natural of Nazareth (Mk 1,24; 10,47; 24,67; 16,6; Lk 4,34; 24,19). Jesus is called a Nazarene because he was from Nazareth (Mt 2,23; Lk 18,37; Jn 18, 5-7; 19,19). Christians were also called Nazarenes (Act 24,5). Some say that the word Nazarene is derived from the Hebrew nazir, which means consecrated, holy (Mk 1,24).
MNE
FERNANDEZ RAMOS, Felipe (Dir.), Dictionary of Jesus of Nazareth, Editorial Monte Carmelo, Burbos, 2001
Source: Dictionary of Jesus of Nazareth
(probably from the Hebrew word neʹtser, “sprouting”).
Qualifying applied to Jesus and later to his followers. The terms Nazarene and Nazarite should not be confused, since although they are written in a similar way in Spanish, they are derived from different Hebrew words with different meanings. (See NAZARITE.)
The fact that Jesus was called the Nazarene was something natural and did not suppose anything extraordinary, since from his childhood (less than three years of age) he was raised as the son of the carpenter of the city of Nazareth, located about 100 km to the N of Jerusalem. In those days it was common to associate people with their places of origin. (2Sa 3:2, 3; 17:27; 23:25-37; Na 1:1; Ac 13:1; 21:29)
People of all kinds in very diverse places called Jesus a Nazarene. (Mr 1:23, 24; 10:46, 47; 14:66-69; 16:5, 6; Lu 24:13-19; Joh 18:1-7) Jesus himself accepted and used this name. (Joh 18: 5-8; Acts 22: 6-8) In the inscription that Pilate placed on the torture stake, he wrote in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek: † œJesus the Nazarene the King of the Jews †. (Joh 19:19, 20) From Pentecost 33 CE onward, the apostles and others used to call Jesus Christ the Nazarene or specify that he was from Nazareth. (Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 10:38; 26:9.)
Prophetic. Matthew noted that the name “Nazarene” was prophetically foretold as another sign that would identify Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. He called the attention of his readers to this fact by explaining how Joseph brought Mary and her child back from Egypt after Herod’s death. “Furthermore,” wrote Matthew, “having been given divine warning in a dream, he withdrew to the territory of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city named Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘It will be called a Nazarene†™.† (Mt 2:19-23.)
Nazareth is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Some suppose that Matthew had access to some lost prophetic books or some unwritten traditions, but the expression “it was spoken through the prophets” is only used by the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures to refer to the same canonical collection of the Hebrew Scriptures. that we currently have. The key seems to lie in establishing the equivalence of Nazarene with ne tser, the term mentioned above, which means “bud”, “sprout”, or “branch”.
With this in mind, Matthew must refer to what Isaiah (11:1) had said concerning the Messiah: “And a twig must come out of the stump of Jesse; and from its roots a shoot will be fruitful† . Another Hebrew word, tze mach, also means “sprout,” and was used by other prophets in reference to the Messiah. Matthew used the plural when he said that the “prophets” had mentioned this coming “Sprout”. For example: Jeremiah wrote of the “righteous sprout” as a branch of David (Jer 23:5; 33:15), and Zechariah described a priest-king “whose name is sprout”, a prophecy that could only apply to Jesus the Nazarene, the great builder of the spiritual temple. (Zech 3:8; 6:12, 13)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
This term is applied in the NT to Jesus and his followers. The Jews needed some nickname by which to identify Jesus’ disciples, and chose “the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5; cf. 28:22). Whatever hatred attached to this label stemmed from the crucifixion and the rift within Judaism, for which Jesus was held responsible. It is not evident that the general use of the word in reference to Jesus during his life on earth, that is, in order to identify or address him, had any adverse connotation. Jn. 1:46 is quite useless to supply the basis for the opinion that Nazareth had a bad reputation. It is more likely that since Galilee as a whole was not expected to produce the Messiah (cf. Jn. 7:41, 52), much less would one of its small communities.
The word appears in two forms, as nazarēnos (six times) and how nazōraios (thirteen times). But both are probably derived from the place called Nazareth. The theory that the second points to a pre-Christian sect to which Christ belonged is unfounded. Proponents frequently doubt that Nazareth was the home of Jesus in his childhood, and believe that this Christian tradition is a deliberate attempt to distract attention from the fact that Jesus was originally connected with the “Nazarenes,” and this is done associating it with a place nicknamed Nazareth.
Matthew explains that the prophecy made it necessary (2:23) for Jesus to reside in Nazareth. There may be a double play on words here. Isaiah 11:1 describes the Messiah as a nēṣer (branch, rod). on Thu. 13:5 (LXX) Naziraios (nazarite) refers to…