Nazaiene, an epithet given to our I^rd. There are two (ireek words for this designation — ^aZnptivog (only Mark i, 24; xiv, 07; xvi, 6; Luke iv, 34); and (elsewhere) Natwpaloc — both derived from 'Sa^apt^, Nazareth of Galilee, the place of the Saviour's child- hood and education. These two Greek words occur in the New Testament nineteen times; twice only arc they rendered Nazarene (Matt, ii, 23; Acts xxiv, 5); every- where else by the words " of Nazareth," as JIatt. xxi, 11. This appellative is found in the New Testament applied to Jesus by the daemons in the .synagogue at Caijernaum (Mark i, 24; Luke iv, 34) ; by tlie jieople, who so describe him to Bartinneus (JIark x, 47; Luke xviii, 37); by the soldiers who arrested Jesus (.lohii xviii, 5,7); by the servants at his trial (^latt, xxvi, 71 ; Mark xiv, 07) ; by Pilate in the inscription on the cross (John xix, 19); by the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv, 19); by Peter (Acts ii, 22; iii, 0; iv, 10); by Stephen, as reported by the false witness (Acts vi, 14) ; by the ascended Jesus (Acts xxii. 8) ; and by Paul (Acts xxvi, 9), At first it was ajiplied to Jesus naturally and properly, as defining his residence. In process of time, however, other influences came into operation, (Jalilee was held in disesteem for several reasons: its dialect was provincial, ri>iigh, and strange (Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud; Mark xiv, 70); its popul.ition was impure, containing not only provincial Jews, but also heathen, as Egyptians, Arabians, Phoenicians (Stra-
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bo, Geog. xvi, 523) ; its people were seditious (Josephus, as cited in Schleusner, s. v. raXiXaloc) ; whence also the point of the accusation made against Paul, as " ring- leader of the sect of Nazarenes" (Acts xxiv, 5). Naza- reth was a despised part even of Galilee, being a small, obscure place. Accordingly its inhabitants were held in little consideration everywhere. Hence the name Nazarene (Kuinol, in Matt, ii, 23) became a term of reproach (Wetstein, in Matt, ii, 23, 26, 71), and as such, as well as a mere epithet of description, it is used in the New Testament. " The name still exists in Arabic as the ordinary designation of Christians, and the re- cent revolt in India was connected with a pretended an- cient prophecy that the Nazarenes, after holding power for one hundred years, would be expelled" (Smith). See Nazareth.
In Matt, ii, 23, it is said of Jesus, "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be ful- filled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene.'' This citation has received the fol- lowing explanations (Spanheim, Dubia Eoangelica, ii, 538-6i8 ; Wolf, Curce PhilologiccK, i, 46-48 ; Hengsten- berg, Christology of the 0. T. ii, 106-112) : 1. It is gen- erally thought that the evangelist does not limit him- self to a quotation from any single prophet, but alludes to the several passages of the prophets where the Mes- siah is spoken of as " despised of men," as Psa. xxii ; Isa. liii. (See Paulas, Kosenmiiller, Kuinol, Van der Palm, Gersdorf, Olshausen, Ebrard, Davidson, Lange, and others, ad loc.) 2. But many (as Bauer, Gieseler, in the titud. u. Krit. 1831, p. 588* sq.; De Wette, Bret- schneider, 3d ed.) find here an allusion to the passages where the Messiah is called "12£3, netser, a branch or sprout (Isa. xi, 1 ; see Ilengstenberg, Christol. ii, 1 sq.). " This explanation, which Jerome mentions as that giv- en by learned (Christian) Jews in his day, has been adopted by Surenhusius, Fritzsche, Krabbe {Lehen Jesu), Drechsler (on Isa. xi, 1), Schirlitz {N.-T. Worterb.), Rob- inson (N.-T. Lex.), and Meyer. It is confirmed by the following considerations : (1) Netser, as Ilengstenberg, after De Dieu and others, has shown, was the proper Hebrew name of Nazareth. (2) The reference to the etymological signification of the word is entirely in keeping'with Matt, ii, 21-23. (3) The Messiah is ex- pressly called a Netser in Isa. xi, 1. (4) The same thought, and under the same image, although expressed by a different word, is found in Jer. xxiii, 5 ; xxxiii, 15 ; Zech. iii, 8 ; vi, 12, which accounts for the statement of Matthew that this prediction was uttered 'by thep7'oph- ets' in the plural" (Smith). It seems, however, rather refined for so general a quotation ; nor does it after all point especially to any particular passage of the Old Testament as being cited. Moreover, the ^ in Na^w- paloQ cannot correspond to j!, but to T (see Olshau- sen, ad loc; so Bengel, who derives the word from "iti, a crown). 3. Others have supposed a direct quotation from some lost prophecy (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Clericus, etc., ad loc), or from some apocryphal book (Ewald), or that it is a traditional prophecy (Calovius; Alexander, Connection and Harmony of the Old and New Testaments), all which suppositions are refuted by the fact that the phrase "by the prophets," in the New Testament, refers exclusively to the canonical books of the Old Testament. Nor is there any evidence else- where of such a source. 4. Many would make Na^w- p«rof = 1"^T3, Nazarite, i. e. one especially consecrated or devoted to God (Judg. xiii, 5) ; but this does not at all accord with our Saviour's character (see Matt, xi, 19, etc), nor with the Sept. mode of spelling the word, which is generally fiai^ipalog, and never Nasojpaiof. (See Schleusner's Lex. to LXX, ad verb.) See Naza- KiTE. 5. " Recently a snggestion, which Witsius bor- rowed from Socinus, has been revived by Zuschlag and Riggenbach, that the true word is "II1J3 or '^^^b, my Saviour, with reference to Jesus as the Saviour of the