Matthew 2:19-23
In John 1:43-46 we read: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
This exchange, between two men who would become Jesus’ apostles, is indicative of the infamous reputation of Jesus’ hometown. It may surprise you to learn, as I have, that Nazareth was a widely disliked place and pretty much the last place anyone would expect as the home of the Messiah. When He went into His three years of public ministry, Jesus’ enemies would throw His hometown in His face as an insult and as “evidence” of falsehood in His claims to be the Messiah.
An example of this kind of attack is found in John 7:40-44: When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.” So the crowd was divided about him. Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.
Nazareth symbolizes what God can do with things despised by the world.
1. Nazareth was a community of ill repute.
Name = Nazareth derives its name from either the Greek form of the Hebrew word neser, for “sprout” (which would link it with Isaiah 11:1, a prediction of the Messiah) or the Hebrew word nasar for “watchtower,” which may explain why the city was built atop a steep hillside; to provide an overview of the Valley of Jezreel.
Location = Nazareth was settled in the lower region of Galilee, three miles south of the Roman city of Sepphoris and eighteen miles from the Sea of Galilee to the east, 70 miles north of Jerusalem. Nestled against the backdrop of Galilee’s olive trees, vineyards, sloping plateaus, small farms, and rural villages, it was in Nazareth that Jesus lived for 30 years.
Population = Nazareth was mostly populated by Jewish locals. However, given its proximity to cities like Sepphoris and other Roman outposts, a Gentile population may have also resided in or around Nazareth, influencing their language, religion, and economy.
Reputation = In the eyes of most Jews in Judea, including some in Galilee, Nazareth was a town of low regard and disrepute. Why? Here are a couple explanations.
Because of the Greek and Roman influence in Galilee, the place was seen as less cultured than the rest of Judea. In the eyes of Jews living in Jerusalem and Judea, the religious piety of the Galileans had been corrupted by their Gentile neighbors. The language and dialect of the Galileans were seen as less refined.
Several years before Jesus’ birth, a Galilean named Judas led a violent revolt against Roman occupation. Though the far superior Roman army eventually put it down, they would have been wary of any potential uprising, emerging leader, or populist movement coming out of Galilee.
Role in Jesus’ Life = In a practical sense, being known as “Jesus of Nazareth” would have distinguished Him from others with the same name, Jesus being a common name among first-century Jews. It was common for individuals to be linked to their fathers or hometowns. For this reason, Jesus is sometimes referred to as the “son of Joseph” (Luke 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42), “Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 10:38), or “Jesus the Nazarene” (Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19). In Acts 24:5, Jesus’ followers were called “Nazarenes.”
Sometime after Jesus’ baptism and His temptation in the wilderness, He returned to Nazareth. Entering the synagogue on the Sabbath and reading from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet, He proclaimed that He had come to fulfill the prophet’s words. Thereby claiming to be the Messiah, Jesus’ neighbors were “filled with rage as they heard these things and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went on His way.” (Luke 4:28-30) Ironically, their actions fulfilled what was written of the Messiah, that He would be despised, scorned, and abandoned by even His hometown and neighbors (Psalms 22; Isaiah 53; Matthew 13:57).
2. God directed Joseph to take his family back to Nazareth. (Matthew 2:19-23)
God sent them to Egypt to save the infant Jesus’ life (Matthew 2:13-18). Realizing he’d been hoodwinked by the wise men, King Herod decided to take matters into his own murderous hands and have every male child in Bethlehem two years and younger killed. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the family to Egypt. By the time Herod’s soldiers got to Bethlehem, Jesus was gone.
Verses 19-22 relate the dream and Joseph’s initial hesitation. The angel’s message from God was there was no longer any threat to the Christ-child, so it was time to come home. King Herod died in 4 B.C., making it possible he did not live long after ordering the killing of all the male children in Bethlehem.
The angel’s command was to go to THE LAND OF ISRAEL, which Joseph understood as being Judea, a province ruled by Archelaus. Joseph was concerned about his family’s safety if they settled anywhere in Judea. He had good reason to be concerned: when Archelaus was king over Judea, he ordered the killing of 3000 people during the observance of the Day of Pentecost. This massacre caused widespread rioting and Archelaus was eventually banished to the frontier – the middle of Europe – in a place that would be called “Vienna.” This account in Matthew 2 happened before Archelaus’ banishment. No doubt reports of his grave abuse of power reached Joseph and other Jews living in Egypt.
God heard Joseph’s concern and sent a fourth dream, diverting the Holy Family to the province of Galilee, which was ruled by Antipas, not Archelaus. Antipas was no real prize either, as the Gospels tell us he was the man who would order the death of John the Baptist and interrogate Jesus prior to His crucifixion. The fourth dream and Joseph's compliance are recorded in vs. 22+23. The family settled in Nazareth. If you were looking for a place to “hide in plain sight,” Nazareth was a good choice. It had a population of just 500-1500 people, was situated on no major roads, and overlooked a valley that could only be entered from one side. The safety of the Christ-child is the most significant outcome. Having preserved Him from Herod’s rage, the infant Jesus is now also preserved from the lethal tyranny of Archelaus.
Another significant aspect of the event is the fulfillment of prophecy (23). Matthew is not directly quoting a single Old Testament prophet and that is why he used the plural term PROPHETS. His statement is a summary and restatement of Scriptures he memorized from the Hebrew version of the Old Testament and that is a partial explanation why we can’t find this quote directly in the Old Testament.
Nazareth symbolizes what God can do with things despised by the world.
Today, the remnants of the biblical Nazareth still exist near the modern village of en-Nazirah, home to Jews, Arabs, and Christians. Like many locations referenced in the Bible, Nazareth is a popular tourist destination and pilgrimage site.
Some people denied Jesus was the Messiah based on their false assumption that He was born in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem. It became a point on which they sneered at Jesus (John 7:41-43).
It’s possible that calling Him “Jesus of Nazareth” was intended by some to be an insult, not unlike “Jesus from Hicksville.” The only remarkable thing about Nazareth was how unremarkable it was. There, the son of a carpenter and his wife grew to manhood. Among religious snobs, the son of a carpenter growing up in a place like Nazareth meant Jesus did not possess the education, upbringing, or credentials that would explain the kind of ministry He had, let alone explain the authority by which He taught, healed the sick and cast out demons. The fact that this man could claim to be their Messiah, having come from a place as obscure and unremarkable as Nazareth, made it harder to believe Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Promised One.
Worse, Nazareth had a bad reputation in morality and religion. Nazareth and the people living in her were despised by Romans and Jews alike. Evidence of the citizen's spiritual condition in Nazareth is found in their treatment of Christ during His ministry. When He told them things they could not tolerate they drove Him out of town, intending to kill Him.
The significance to all this is that Jesus’ connections to Nazareth shows us that God is just as able and willing to send His message to a people that are not willing to receive the message as well as to a people searching for God.
Of all places, no one expected the Messiah to come from Nazareth. For God to choose Nazareth as a home for His Son to live and grow to maturity demonstrated how God often “uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
RESOURCES:
Adapted from https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/nazareth-in-the-bible.html, retrieved on 25 November 2024.
R. H. Mounce, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, Nazareth, 1986, pp. 500-501.
Adapted from https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/68404/the-significance-of-nazareth-by-terry-laughlin, retrieved on 27 November 2024.
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