Week 20 Matthew 2
Matthew’s story about the early life of Jesus ends with Joseph Mary & Jesus moving to the province of Galilee. The family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. In my bible when the writer quotes from the OT the quotation is indented and all the letters are in upper case. But what Matthew said came from the prophets – that he would be called a Nazarene – isn’t indented or in upper case. Which means that it isn’t a quote. So where’s it from? What’s-going-on?
One possibility is that Matthew was just blowing smoke – though I think that’s the least likely option.
Another is that Matthew had a definite OT prophecy in mind but he used his own (fairly different) words to express the same general idea. Paraphrasing is a possibility.
And I heard where some people figure that when Matthew said that Jesus was a Nazarene that his unstated implication (and his real point) was that since Nazareth had a notorious reputation it followed that Jesus grew up as one of it’s disrespected people. Hmmm…seems like quite a stretch.
Personally I don’t think the question can be resolved. I know that in this chapter Matthew directly quoted Micah & Hosea & Jeremiah. But no OT prophet said that Jesus was a Nazarene.
My takeaway? A prophecy can be tricky enough without making it untraceable.
Note: quote from Matthew 2:23 (NIV)