made of a branch (723) that shall
78
l with εἰς, h. iv. 13.
Γαλιλαίας, 23. καὶ ἐλθὼν | κατώκησεν εἰς πόλιν λεγομένην Ναζαρέτ}
(ew) σεται.
1 This spelling is found in BDL and adopted by W.H. Nafap@in CX, Other
forms occur,
spring out of Jesse’s root. This view is accepted by most modern scholars, Catholic and Protestant, the name of the town being viewed as a derivative from the Hebrew word (a feminine form). The epithet Ναζωραῖος will thus mean: ‘the man of Nazareth, the town of the off- shoot”. De Wette says : “In the spirit of the exegetical mysticism of the time, and applying what the Jews called Midrasch, deeper investigation, the word is used in a double sense in allusion at once to
“33, Isaiah xi, 1, sprout, and to the
name of Nazareth”. There may be something in the su ion that the reference is to Judges xiii. 7: ὅτι Nalip- aiov θεοῦ ἔσται, and the idea: one living apart in a secluded town. (So Furrer in Die Bedeutung der bibl. Geographie ην ᾱ. bib, Exegese, p. 15.)
This final prophetic reference in the history of the infancy is the weakest link in thechain. Itis wasted effort to try to show its value in the prophetic argu- ment. Instead of doing this, apologists would act more wisely by frankly recog- nising the weakness, and drawing from it an argument in favour of historicity. This may very legitimately be done. Of all the incidents mentionéd in this chapter, the settlement in Nazareth is the only one we have other means of verifying. Whether it was the original or the adopted home of Jesus may be doubtful, but from many references in the Gospels we know home from childhood till manhood, this case, therefore, we certainly know that the historic fact suggested the prophetic reference, instead of the pro- phecy creating the history. And the
weakness of the prophetic reference in this instance raises a presumption that that was the nature of the connec- tion between prophecy ard history
throughout. Itis a caveat against the critical theory that in the second chapter of Matthew we have an imaginary his- tory of the SU Jesus, compiled to meet a craving knowledge on the subject, and adapted to the requirements of faith, the rudiments of the story consisting of a collection of Messianic
rophecies—the star of Jacob, agg
inging gifts, Rachel weeping chil md etc. The last of the pro- phetic references would never have occurred to any one, whether the evan- gelist or any other unknown source of the tradition, unless there had been a fact going before, the settlement in Nazareth. But given the fact, there was a strong desire to find some allusion to it in the O. T. Faith was easily satisfied; the faintest allusion or hint would do. That was in this case, and presu™ably in most cases of the kind, the blem with which the Christian mind in the Apostolic age was occupied: not creating history, but discovering in evangelic facts even the most minute, prophetic fulfilments. The evangelist’s idea of fulfilment may κ a ae but it might also awaken a feelin thankfulness in view of what has stated. It is with the prophetic re- ferences in the Gospels as with songs without words. The composer has a certain scene or state of mind in his view, and writes under its inspiration. But you are not in his secret, and cannot tell when you hear the music what it means. But let the key be given, and immediately you find new meaning in the music. The prophecies are the music; the key is the history. Given the prophecies alone and you could with difficulty imagine the ee ee the history you can easily u how να fancy might discover corres- ponding prophecies. That the once suggested, might react on facts and lead to legendary modifications is of course not to be denied.