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.
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth - a small town in Lower Galilee, lying in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon, and about equally distant from the Mediterranean sea on the west and the sea of Galilee on the east. 'The town of Nazareth (says Dr. Robinson) lies upon the western side of a narrow oblong basin, extending, from S.S.W. to N.N.E., perhaps about twenty minutes in length by eight or ten in breadth. The houses stand on the lower part of the slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them, and is crowned by a Wely, or saint's tomb, called Neby Ismail. After breakfast I walked out alone to the top of this western hill above Nazareth. Here, quite unexpectedly, a glorious prospect opened on the view. The air was perfectly clear and serene; and I shall never forget the impression I received as the enchanting panorama burst suddenly upon me.
There lay the magnificent plain of Esdraelon, or at least all its western part; on the left was seen the round top of Tabor over the intervening hills, with portions of the little Hermon and Gilboa, and the opposite mountains of Samaria, from Jenin westwards to the lower hills extending toward Carmel. Then came the long line of Carmel itself. In the west lay the Mediterranean gleaming in the morning sun. Below, on the north, was spread out another of the beautiful plains of northern Palestine, called el-Buttauf. Further toward the right is a sea of hills and mountains; backward lay the higher ones beyond the lake of Tiberias; and in the northeast lay the majestic Hermon with its icy crown. I remained for some hours upon this spot, lost in the contemplation of the wide prospect, and of the events connected with the scenes around. In the village below the Saviour of the world had passed His childhood.
He must often have visited the fountain near which we had pitched our tent; His feet must frequently have wandered over the adjacent hills; and His eyes, doubtless, have gazed upon the splendid prospect from this very spot. Here the Prince of peace looked down upon the plain where the din of battles so often had rolled, and the garments of the warrior been dyed in blood; and He looked out, too, upon that sea over which the swift ships were to bear the tidings of His salvation to nations and to continents then unknown. How has the moral aspect of things been changed! Battles and bloodshed have indeed not ceased to desolate this unhappy country, and gross darkness now covers the people; but from this region a light went forth which has enlightened the world and unveiled new climes; and now the rays of that light begin to be reflected back from distant isles and continents, to illuminate anew the darkened land where it first sprung up.' NOTE: If, from Luke 2:39, one would conclude that the parents of Jesus brought Him straight back to Nazareth after His presentation in the temple-as if there had been no visit of the Magi, no flight to Egypt, no stay there, and no purpose on returning to settle again at Bethlehem-one might, from our Evangelist's way of speaking here, equally conclude that the parents of our Lord had never been at Nazareth until now. Did we know exactly the sources from which the matter of each of the Gospels was drawn up, or the mode in which these were used, this apparent discrepancy would probably disappear at once. In neither case is there any inaccuracy. At the same time it is difficult, with these facts before us, to conceive that either of these two Evangelists wrote his Gospel with the other's before him-though many think this a precarious inference.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene, х Nazooraios (G3480)] - better, perhaps, 'Nazarene.' The best explanation of the origin of this name appears to be that which traces it to the word х neetser (H5342)], in Isaiah 11:1 - the small 'twig,' 'sprout,' or 'sucker,' which the prophet there says "shall come forth from the stem (or rather 'stump') of Jesse, the branch which should fructify х yipreh (H6509)] from his roots." The little town of Nazareth-mentioned neither in the Old Testament nor in Josephus-was probably so called from its insignificance-a weak twig in contrast to a stately tree; and a special contempt seemed to rest upon it - "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46) - over and above the general contempt in which all Galilee was held, from the number of Gentiles that settled in the upper territories of it, and, in the estimation of the Jews, debased it. Thus, in the providential arrangement by which our Lord was brought up at the insignificant and opprobrious town called Nazareth, there was involved, first, a local humiliation; next, an allusion to Isaiah's prediction of His lowly, twig-like upspringing from the branchless, dried-up stump of Jesse; and yet further, a standing memorial of that humiliation which "the prophets," in a number of the most striking predictions, had attached to the Messiah.
Remarks:
(1) In the sleepless watch which the providence of God kept over His Son when a helpless Babe, and the ministry of angels so busily employed in directing all His movements, we see a lively picture of what over-canopies and secures and directs that Church which is His body. "No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:29-30).
(2) Didst Thou spend all but thirty years, blessed Jesus, in the obscurity of a place whose very name afterward brought opprobrium upon Thee? And should not this reconcile us to like humiliation for Thy sake; and all the more, as we are sure that like as Thou didst thereafter emerge into glorious manifestation, so do Thy servants shine out of obscurity, and make even the world to see that God is with them of a truth, and that at length, "if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him."