Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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MrMacSon
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Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

Post by MrMacSon »

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In a sort of age/destiny related chronological order for the first half; until the 'rejected' passages section) -


Luke 1
  • 26 (NIV) "In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,

    27 "to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary."

Luke 2: 4, 39, 51
  • 3 "... everyone went to their own town to register.

    4 (NIV) "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David."
  • after Jesus' circumcision, purification rites, consecration, offer fo a sacrifice, praise & blessiong by Simeon, thanks by the prophet Anna, -
  • 39 (NIV) "When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth."
  • when Jesus was 12 yrs of age, he went AWOL,and was found in the temple courts b/c he "must be in my Father’s house”-
  • 51 "Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart."

Matthew 2:23 After the escape to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod &, after hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, they
  • 23 "... went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Natsarene/Nazarene."

Mark 1
  • Mark 1:19 (ESV) (after being foretold by John the Baptist) -

    "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan."
  • Mark 1:24 (teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum) -

    23 '... a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out,

    24 (ESV) ' "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God”.'

Matthew 4:13
  • 12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.

    13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—

    14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
    • 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
      the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
      Galilee of the Gentiles—
      16 the people living in darkness
      have seen a great light;
      on those living in the land of the shadow of death
      a light has dawned.” [Isaiah 9:1,2]
    17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

John 1
  • 43 ... Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Matthew 21 (Jesus comes to Jerusalem as 'King')
  • 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
    • “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
      “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” [Psalm 118:25,26]
      “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
    10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

    11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

    12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ [Isaiah 56:7] but you are making it a ‘den of robbers’. [Jer. 7:11]

Acts 10:38
  • 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.


Jesus rejected at Nazareth (probably versions of the same narrative, though Luke shows some variation) -


Mark 6:1-6
  • 1 He ... came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

    2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying,
    • Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

      3 "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”

    And they took offense at him.

    4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

    5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

    6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Mathew 13:54 -
  • 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ....


    57 and they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

    58 and he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Luke 4:16-30
  • 16 (ESV) And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read ..

    28 (ESV) When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath

    29 (ESV) And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

    30 (ESV) But, passing through their midst, he went away.
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MrMacSon
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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"The relatively loose connection between the place name Nazareth and the Jesus tradition, and the still unresolved issue of its relationship to Ναζωραιος, give good grounds for doubting the historical reliability of accounts of Nazareth as Jesus' home. Thus H Stegemann and W Schmithals consider the possibility that Jesus first became "Jesus of Nazareth" because the name Ναζωραιος or its variant form Ναζαρηνοςa was no longer understood, while the historical home of Jesus could better be sought in Capernaum"b

'Nazareth' in horst Balz, Gerhard M. Schneider (2004) Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; p.454
  • attributed to H Kuhli

    one can reading by scrolling down a little from this link
a Ναζωραιος; Matthew 26:71, John 19:19, Acts 22:8; . . Ναζαρηνος; Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34;


b Capernaum: where Jesus is said to be home (Mark 2:1); somewhat portrayed to have lived when he rose to fame; and where various synoptic passages refer to him preaching or starting to preach -
  • Mark 1:24; Matthew 4:13
Some also say Jesus would have been better described as 'Jesus the Bethlehemite' as that is more 'true to prophecy', and stating that Jesus was the awaited "son of David".

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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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MrMacSon wrote:Luke 4:16-30
  • 16 (ESV) And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read ..

    28 (ESV) When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath

    29 (ESV) And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

    30 (ESV) But, passing through their midst, he went away.
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Here'a a pic of Dr Sri at the alleged site of the event.
cliff outside nazareth.jpg
cliff outside nazareth.jpg (99.5 KiB) Viewed 5030 times
http://www.edwardsri.com/about-dr-sri/
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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Ναζωραιος and Ναζαρηνος have been somewhat interchangeable with Nazareth (and its various variations as a place name) in various versions of the NT viz -

'Jesus the Nazarene' vs 'Jesus of Nazareth' -- eg. -
  • Mark 10:47 N-NMS
    GRK: Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζαρηνός ἐστιν ἤρξατο
    NAS: that it was 'Jesus the Nazarene', he began
    INT: 'Jesus of Nazareth' it is he began

    Mark 14:67 N-GMS
    GRK: μετὰ τοῦ Ναζαρηνοῦ ἦσθα τοῦ
    NAS: were with 'Jesus the Nazarene'.
    KJV: with 'Jesus of Nazareth'.
    INT: with "the Nazarene" were

    Mark 16:6 N-AMS
    GRK: ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον
    NAS: for 'Jesus the Nazarene', who has been crucified.
    KJV: 'Jesus of Nazareth', which
    INT: you seek "the Nazarene" who has been crucified
Ναζωραίου is more used in John & Acts - http://biblehub.com/greek/3480.htm
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MrMacSon
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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arnoldo wrote: Here'a a pic of Dr Sri at the alleged site of the event.
lol, Cheers! That looks like a big drop!
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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arnoldo wrote: Here'a a pic of Dr Sri at the alleged site of the event.
Interestingly, I have found a couple of references to that drop being the reason Nazareth is named as it is -
Some ...think that the name of the city [of 'Nazareth'] must be connected with the name of the hill behind it, from which one of the finest prospects in Israel is obtained, and accordingly they derive it from the Hebrew notserah, i.e., one guarding or watching, thus designating the hill which overlooks and thus guards an extensive region.

http://www.christiananswers.net/diction ... areth.html
I have seen other references to 'natsar/na·ṣar' - נָצַר - meaning "to watch" (whereas 'netser' is said to mean "branch");

hence 'Natsarith' means watchtower, and 'Natsarim' are 'watchmen'
  • There is also a view there is a passive meaning of 'preserved, protected' in reference to its secluded position -

    RH Mounce, "Nazareth", in Geoffrey W Bromiley (ed) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol 3: Eerdmans, 1986; pp 500–1
Furthermore, the word "Gennetsaret" ('vale of Netsar') is said to refer to the whole district.

Technically we should not use a letter "z" in "Nazarene" because the letter is a tsade - צ - with a "ts" sound

cf. the word 'nazir' which uses a zayin (z).

There are also references to linguistic discrepancies due "a peculiarity of the 'Palestinian' Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) ( tsade) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound" -
  • Carruth, S; Robinson, J McC; Heil, C. (1996) Q 4:1–13,16: the temptations of Jesus : Nazara. Peeters Publishers. p 415. ISBN 90-6831-880-2.
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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Interestingly, the main road at the time for traffic between Egypt and the interior of Asia passed by Nazareth, near the foot of Mount Tabor, 6 miles to the east of Nazareth, and thence northward to Damascus (Easton's Bible Dictionary).
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

Post by Ulan »

MrMacSon wrote:Matthew 2:23 After the escape to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod &, after hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, they
  • 23 "... went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Natsarene/Nazarene."
I assume this is the key passage. Matthew has several instances in his text that show that "he" wrote answers to common criticisms of an obviously older story (the guards in front of the tomb come also to mind). Here he probably tries to explain wtf "Nazarenos" is supposed to mean in the older story.
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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MrMacSon wrote:the word "Gennetsaret" ('vale of Netsar') is said to refer to the whole district.
Somebody made that up, working with the Hebrew word for "valley/gorge", which can end up in English in names as "Ge-" (see Chr 4:14, Ge-harashim). The old Jewish Encyclopedia talks of "the valley of Gennesaret" ("biḳ'at Genusar"), which would be the valley of the valley of "netsar" to your confused source.

Γεννησαρετ/θ doesn't have a direct transliteration from a Semitic source, but the form found in Josephus BJ 2.573 etc. & 1 Macc 11:67 is Γεννησαρ (Gennhsar h=eta), which reflects the Syriac גנסר, (GNSR S=samek) and the Talmudic form גינוסר (GYNWSR). That means that there is no tsade in the word. However, the issue is more complicated, given the strong similarity with כנרת Kinneret, the name of the Sea of Galilee, Yam Kinneret (Num 34:11).
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Re: Mentions of Nazareth in the NT

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Yes, the issue of how the name Gennetsaret came about is probably more complicated & convoluted.

I have seen it portrayed as ge-nes'-a-ret

From wikipedia -
Older Bible translations name Kinneret alternatively Kinnereth or Chinnereth. The name evolved in time to become Gennesaret and Ginosar (Hebrew: גִּנֵּיסַר).

Due to its prominence, the city gave its name to the lake for long periods of history, as the Sea of Kinneret, Kinnerot, Gennesaret or Ginosar, the last two mirroring the transformation of the name. "Gennesaret" is the Grecized form of Kinneret.[1]

The name is also used for the "Plain of Gennesaret". For beauty and fertility this is called "the Paradise of Galilee".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinneret_ ... ical_site)
Easton's Bible Dictionary for Gennesaret -
A town of Naphtali, called Chinnereth ( Joshua 19:35 ), sometimes in the plural form Chinneroth ( 11:2 ). In later times the name was gradually changed to Genezar and Gennesaret ( Luke 5:1 ). This city stood on the western shore of the lake to which it gave its name. No trace of it remains. The plain of Gennesaret has been called, from its fertility and beauty, "the Paradise of Galilee." It is now called el-Ghuweir.

(2.) The Lake of Gennesaret, the Grecized form of CHINNERETH (q.v.). (see GALILEE, SEA OF.)
The plain of Gennesaret lies b/w Natsaret (to its southwest) & the Sea of Galilee (ie. west of the Sea) so would be overlooked from the hills around Natsaret.
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