NAZARETH naz’ ə rĭth (Ναζαρέτ, Ναζαρέθ, and other forms. Meaning uncertain, but perhaps related to Heb. nazir meaning separated or nēṩěr meaning branch. Cf. Matt 2:23). A city in Galilee, the home of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.
About halfway between the S end of the Sea of Galilee and Mt. Carmel is the town of Nazareth. Important as it may seem to have been in the NT the town is not mentioned in the OT, the Talmud, or by the historian Josephus. This has even led to a wild theory that the town did not exist even in NT times, but was imagined as the home of Jesus. There is reason to believe that Nazareth was a rather insignificant town in Jesus’ day overshadowed by the larger city to the N, Sepphoris. Modern Nazareth has only one spring. Situated in the hills to the N of the plain of Esdraelon, it thus commands a good view of the ancient battlegrounds. To the N one also can see Mt. Hermon, to the W the Mediterranean, and to the E Bashan.
There is considerable discussion regarding the meaning of the name and its connection with the Nazirites of the OT. There is an obvious similarity of the letters, but the connection between this town and that religious order defies any clear explanation. The problem grows more complicated in consideration of the name Nazarene. Should it be “Nazirite”?
Jesus is called a Nazarene (Matt 2:23), as were His disciples (Acts 24:5). Matthew (2:23), apparently had Isaiah 11:1 in mind: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch (Heb. nēṩěr) shall grow out of his roots.” In all other places He is Jesus of Nazareth (except the RSV of Mark 14:67 where He is “the Nazarene, Jesus”). However one renders the word, it is clear that Jesus was not a Nazirite, as that order is described in Numbers 6. It is interesting that to this day the word for “Christians” in both Arab. and Heb. is basically this same word.
There is no question that the Nazareth of the NT is the modern town of En-Naṩira or Nazareth. The spring which rises near the Church of St. Gabriel is channeled to the Well of Mary in an open square. Doubtlessly Mary came to this well to fetch water for the needs of her little household.
Luke 1:26f. declares that the angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary in Nazareth. Despite the fact that she bore Jesus in Bethlehem, and later the family fled to Egypt, their home was in Nazareth. To it they returned, doubtlessly because of the terror still present in Judea during Archelaus’ reign (Matt 2:20-23). The two incidents in the boyhood of Jesus recorded by Luke clearly state that He lived with His parents in Nazareth (Luke 2:39, 51). The location of the so-called Carpenter Shop of Joseph in the complex of the Church of the Annunciation has little basis in fact. That church is the largest Christian church building in the whole Middle E.
Upon reaching the age of thirty and the beginning of His ministry, our Lord went from Nazareth of Galilee to be baptized by John. An interesting comment on Nazareth from the mouth of Nathanael appears in John 1:46. When Philip told Nathanael he had found Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” This question has been understood in many ways, but the most common is that Nathanael was casting an aspersion on the smallness of Nazareth, perhaps viewing it as a rival to his own little village of Beth-saida.
The reason Matthew gave for Jesus leaving Nazareth to live in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1f. (Matt 4:13-16). Another good reason was the so-called first rejection of Christ in Nazareth, spelled out rather fully by Luke (4:16-30). “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day.” He read from Isaiah 61:1f. and told them that He was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Then He proceeded to illustrate from the lives of Elijah and Elisha that prophets are rejected by their own people. In their anger the citizenry led Him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, that they might throw Him over. But He escaped in the crowd.
Two identifications have been made for this hill. There is the traditional Hill of Precipitation or Mount of the Leap (Jebel el-Qafza) to the S and W, and a cliff closer to the town near an ancient synagogue. This latter is more likely since it is nearer the town.
Some gospel harmonizers see a second rejection of Jesus at Nazareth in the parallel accounts of Matthew (13:54-58) and Mark (6:1-6a) as part of the second period of His Galilean ministry. Again, the people were offended at Him when He read in the synagogue. He retorted with the maxim: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” Then Mark adds the postscript which is another good reason for moving Jesus’ ministry away from Nazareth, “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:4ff.).
The only other references to Nazareth are those in which Jesus is said to be “of Nazareth” (e.g., Matt 21:11; 26:71; Mark 16:6; Luke 18:37; John 19:19; Acts 3:6; 4:10; 22:8; et al.). It was common practice to designate a person by his home town, particularly if he had a common name, e.g., Judas Iscariot, Saul of Tarsus, John of Damascus, or Thomas a’ Kempis.
Helena the mother of Constantine built the first shrine in Nazareth in the 4th cent. Since that original one, other religious edifices have been erected and subsequently destroyed. In the first Moslem takeover of the Middle E, Nazareth suffered much. It was rescued by the Crusaders in 1099 and later made the seat of the bishopric of Beth-shan (Scythopolis). Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the nearby Horns of Hattim and Nazareth changed hands again (1187). Frederick II took it in 1229 but it was lost thirty-four years later to the Mamaluke Sultan Baybars. The Turks gained control in 1517 and in 1620 the Franciscans became guardians of the holy places throughout the Holy Land. The British captured Nazareth from the Germans and the Turks in 1918. Thirty years later the Israelis took Nazareth without a fight from the Arab, Fawzi Kawukji, and to this day it is under their control. Apart from Jerusalem Nazareth has the largest Arab and the largest Christian population in Israel with more than 25,000 inhabitants. Because it is so heavily populated, archeological excavation is impossible.
Bibliography G. F. Moore, “Nazarene and Nazareth” in The Beginnings of Christianity, ed. F. J. F. Jackson and K. Lake, I (1920), 426-435; E. Kraeling, Bible Atlas (1956), 358-361, 383f.; Encyclopaedia Britannica, IV (1968).