NAZARETH (in the T. R. Narapft, and in MSS. sometimes Narapa-, Narapd, and ; Nazareth), a town of Galilee (arats rair raXactitts) chiefly celebrated as the residence of our Lord's parents, and the home of his youth (Matt. ii. 23 ; Luke i. 26 ; ii. 39, 51). It is a sin gular fact that the first mention of this town is in connection with the advent of the Messiah, as related by Luke the evangelist (i. 26). The name occurs nowhere in the O. T., nor in any write) before the birth of Christ, nor is it found in any classic author.
The name Nazareth demands the attention of the Biblical scholar on account of the statement of the evangelist, And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth (Nat'aper); that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene' (NaNpraor; Matt. ii. 23). This passage is confessedly difficult, and has formed the basis of determined attacks upon the inspiration of Scripture from the earliest ages. Various interpretations have been given. The words here cited are not found in any part of the sacred Scriptures. Some say that by the pro phets' are meant, not the authors of the O. T., but a lower grade of prophetic interpreters, who deduced this meaning from their words. Others affirm that Matthew refers to some traditional saying (T6 and not to any written text. Others, again, state that some portions of the canonical Scriptures have perished, and this pas sage among them (see Jerome, Chrysostom, and Theophylact, in loc.; Critici Sacri). These ex planations will not satisfy the critical scholar. The phrase of irporpijrac is used here and else where in the gospels, as a proper name, to denote one of the three great sections into which the Jews divided the O. T. (Matt. v. 17, 18; Luke xvi. 29; xxiv. 44); but the very generality of the reference is enough to show that this is no citation from any one of the sacred writers, but a summary of the symbolic or spiritual meaning of several. It ought to be remembered that the allusions to the Messiah in the O. T. are of three kinds, directly propheti cal, typical, and symbolical. We are justified, therefore, as Bishop Ellicott says, in assigning to the word NaPwpdios all the meanings legitimately belonging to it, by derivation or otherwise, which are concurrent with the declarations of the pro phets in reference to our Lord. We may there fore trace this prophetic declaration, (a) principally and primarily, in all the passages which refer to the Messiah under the title of the Branch (Miser, of the root of Jesse (Is. xi. r ; Jet, xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15; Zech. vi. 12); (b) in the references to the circumstances of lowliness and obscurity under which that growth was to take place (cf. Is. liii.
2); and perhaps further (c) in the prophetic notices of a contempt and rejection such as seems to have been the common and, as it would seem in many respects, deserved portion of the inhabitant of rude and ill-reputed Nazareth' (Lectures on the Life of our Lord, p. 81, note. See also the subject fully discussed in Mill, On the Mythical Int. of the Gos pels, pp. 334, seq.) The whole history of Nazareth clusters round one event, known throughout the Christian world as the ANNUNCIATION. Before that event its
name was unknown ; but since, it has become a household word throughout Christendom, linked in holy alliance with Bethlehem and Jerusalem. From this event comes all its traditional glory. Splendid structures have been built to commemo rate it. Thousands of pilgrimages have been made in honour of it. But to the thoughtful Christian, Nazareth — the home of Christ's boyhood, the scene of his domestic relations, his private life, his mental development, his prayers and communion with the Father, his early labours—possesses a far greater charm, a far more intense interest, than the miraculous event of the Annunciation could ever of itself have conferred. Yet there is little said about Nazareth in the gospels ; and the references to its site and features are only incidental. They are worthy of note, however. 'The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin . . . and the virgin's name was Mary' (Luke i. z6, 27). From Galilee, out of Nazareth,' Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be taxed (Luke ii. 4). After the return of the holy family from Egypt, they returned into Galilee, to their awn city, Nazareth' (Luke ii. 39 ; Matt. ii. 23). After the visit to the temple at the age of twelve, Jesus went down with his parents to Naza reth, and was subject unto them' (Luke ii. 51). When entering on his public life, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan' Mark i. 9 ; Matt. iii. 13). Naza reth was now no longer his home. Yet he re turned to it. He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up' (Luke iv. 16). The recep tion he met with shows only too plainly the gene ral character of the Nazarenes, and that there was some foundation for Nathanael's question, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?' (John i. His fellow-townsmen not only rejected him, they sought to murder him ; then he left Nazareth, and took up his residence in Capernaum, which was henceforth called his own city' (Luke iv. r6 35 ; Matt. iv. 13-16 ; ix. i). Again he visited his native town, and taught in the synagogue with such clearness and power that all were astonished. Still they said in derision, Is not this the carpen ter's son ? .. . whence, then, bath this man all these things ? And they were offended at him' (Matt. xiii. 54-58 ; Mark vi. 1-6). We hear no more of Nazareth in sacred history, and its tradi tional history is not worth recording. It attracted no notice till the establishment of Christianity in the time of Constantine ; nor does it seem to have been visited by a single pilgrim till about the 6th century (Epiphanius, adv. Hawes., i., pp. 128, 136; Reland, Pal., p. 905). In the 7th century it con tained two churches—one built over the fountain ; the other over the house of Mary, now occupied by the Latin convent (Arculf, in Early Travels in Pal., Wright, p. 9; Reland, /.c.) During the Crusades, its great church was rebuilt and richly endowed, and the town was made the seat of a bishop (Will. Tyr.,. ix. 13 ; xxii. 16; Yew. de Pit Mac., 56; see Reland, p. 906 ; Robinson, B. R., ii. 345, sey ; Handbook, pp. 360-362).