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” (Matt. 2:23).
Where does the O.T. foretell this? And note that the plural “prophets” probably requires more than one allusion.
It is sometimes suggested that these words are a proverbial allusion to the despised status of the promised Messiah (see Jn. 1:46). But there is a better alternative:
Nazareth is derived from the Hebrew nezer and means Branch-town. This same word is the key expression in two undoubted Messianic prophecies. “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11:1, read the next few verses).
And again, “Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the Branch of my plantation (see 61 :3), the work of my hands, that I may be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21). As the Branch grows into a group of strong trees, so (v. 22) “The little one (the Messiah) shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation.”
It is interesting to note that this passage about the Branch immediately precedes the prophecy which Jesus read concerning himself in the synagogue at Nazareth (Lk. 4:16-21).
Even now the difficulty is not completely removed, for Matthew 2:23 says, “spoken by the prophets,” and both of these examples are from the same prophet (note, in passing, that the other prophecies about the Branch — Isaiah 4:2, Zech. 3:8 and 6:12-employ a different Hebrew word). Some would get around this by accepting the theory of two Isaiah—a poor expedient!
Instead, let it be observed that the same Hebrew root which gives the word “Branch” supplies also the verb “to keep” in the sense of keeping God’s commandments or of being kept or guarded by Him.
Thus “He shall be called a Nazarene” would be equivalent to “He especially shall keep God’s law” or “He shall be preserved from evil” (as in Ps. 40:11 and Is. 49:8, both of which are Messianic prophecies). In this second sense, Lk. 4:29,30 is interesting, when one remembers that it happened at Nazareth.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One