(ii.) The theory which connects the word with a root, isj, meaning ' tlowering,' ' growing.' Mt 2-^ says that Joseph came and dwelt in a town called Nafap^S that it might be fultilled which was spoken by the prophet 'he sh.all be called Ncifiuparos.' But Nafwpaios cannot be derived from Hat^apid. Be- fore the age of Jesus there was a belief that the Messiah would be ip or Rod of Jesse of Is IV. The Targum paraphrases ^^J, ' branch,' as Messiah, so that ' it need not surprise us if among the Messianic names in the hrst century the Branch of the Tree of Jesse became familiar and popular so that the Messiah might be hailed as Nctzer.'^ Hence when Jesus became famous as a healer the people began to play on the words Nazarene and Nazonean, and His disciples, who felt His residence from childhood in Nazareth had been ordained to fulfil a Messianic prophecy that He should be called a Nazoroean, connected some form of Nazareth or Nazara with a form of Netzer, a word used in prophecy to indicate the Messiah. Thus Jesus the Nazarene, i.e. the man of Nazareth, became known as Jesus the Nazorsean, i.e. the Netzer, the Lifegiver and Healer." Abbott supports this by several lines of evidence. Taking such passages as Mk l'^ = Lk 4'", where the demoniac addresses our Lord as 'IijiroC Nai'apiji'^, he contends that Nazorsean in a Messianic sense is much more appropriate than Nazarene, a name referring to an obscure place Nazareth, and that this was used by the demoniac, but wrongly rendered by Mark.' Mk 14" reads ffi fi€Tik ToS Nafa/)7;i'oC ijirBa rod 'ItjcroD.* Mt 26" reads 'Ir;(roO ToD Naftiipaioi/.' Abbott argues: 'if "Nazo- rsean," meaning Netzer, was regularly used about Jesus by His Galilean followers in Jerusalem, it would naturally be repeated by the Roman soldiers, and afterwards by Gentiles in general, as a mere place-name — "Nazora;an" being regarded by Mark and other Greek writers as an inaccurate form of "Nazarene."'"* Again, the Talmud calls Jesus or His followers Nutzri. This does not resemble Nazara. But it closely resembles a form of 'brancli' (Nvtzer) e.xtant in the text of Ben Sira — ' the branch of violence shall not be unpunished.' And it is easy to believe that the Jews parodied a form of Netzer, to distinguish the Branch of the Christians from that true Netzer of Jesse which God might call 'the branch of my planting.' Thus the Talmud, as far as it goes, favours NHzer, not Nazara.^^ Again, while Jesse in Jewish mystical thought is typical of old age, the shoot growing up from the root of Jesse indi- cates life and vigour, and would suggest thoughts of strengthening, healing, vivification, resurrection ; and it is most signiticant that the hrst proclama- tion of the gospel concerns '1ti(ToOv rbv Nafupafoi',
1 HDB iii. 497 ff. ; Nu 61» ; Jos. BJ ll. xv. 1 ; W. R. Smith, K.SB, Lonflon, 1804, pp 332, 482 ; H. Schultz, OT Theology, Edinbur^'h, 1S92, i. 161, 401; Abbott, p. 311.
2 Mt lll^, Lk 7**, a passa{;e not in Mk.
3 P. 18. ■• Burkitt, p. 18 ; Abbott, p. 324. 5 Abbott, pp. 809, 315. « /(/., p. 309.
' P. 31U. 8 Mt 2669 reads liio-oO toO VaXiKaiov.
9 Mk 14fi9 reads oCtos e'^ ainitv €ariv. 10 Abbott, p. 314. " lb., p. 318.
the first miracle is done iv rijJ <ii»(i/xori 'IijcroO X/jkttoO ToD NafwpaioK, and the title which our Lord used when He spoke to St. Paul on the Damascus road was '\riaoZi 6 Naj-u/jaios. ' ' Most readers — if they approach these stirring announcements with a desire to realize them as if hearing them for the lirst time — will feel (I think) that there would be something flat in the mention of " the Nazoraian" if it only meant " born at Nazara," — a name suggesting "Where is it?" — but that it would sound an inspiriting and stirring note if it al.so alhuled to "the ever-living Prince of Life, the N6tzer, the Branch of the Lord's Planting.""^ Finally, Abbott argues that, when Nazara, Netzer, Nazir were transliterated into Greek in Mark's tiospel, they were inevitably confused. Eusebius did confuse them, Jerome actually indicates that ' Nazirite ' was an early interpretation of Matthew's ' Nazoriean,' while Tertullian takes Ha^ap-ijui as applied to Jesus in Lk 4" to mean Nazirite and then applies that term, in this sense, to the Christians.' In this connexion the words of the demoniac (Mk 1", 6 ^7105 to5 eeoO) are signiticant. The Holy One of God ( Jg 13' 16") is rendered iyioi QeoO. The words of the demoniac may ' indicate a tradition that called Jesus Nazir instead of Netzer and that took Nazir to mean " holy one of God," ' and in recording the words ' Mark might naturally add — in accordance with his frequent habit of combining two interpretations — " thou Nazirite of God " in the sense of ' ' thou holy one of God."'*
A consideration of the evidence for and against these two theories shows at least the need of a thorough philological and historical investigation of the terms and their use before an answer can be given to the question which Nestle propounded, ' Did not the whole tradition of Jesus living at Nazareth, and being called after that town, arise from a misunderstanding of this designation " Nazarene"?'''