Matthew 2:19-23 19 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Last time we saw that when King Herod knew that Christ was born in Bethlehem, he wanted to kill him, so an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. After Herod died, an angel appeared to Joseph again and told him to take the child and mother back to Israel. Because Herod’s son succeeded his father as king, Joseph did not return to Bethlehem, but was instructed by the Lord in a dream to go to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, so the Lord Jesus was called a Nazarene. Here we see the Lord was leading Joseph step by step.
45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. (John 1:45-46)
When we were studying the Gospel of John, we mentioned that when Philip found Nathanael and told him that he had seen the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael said that can anything good come out of Nazareth? , but when he saw the Lord Jesus, the Lord knew that he had talked with Philip before the Lord Jesus saw him, that is, the Lord knew everything and he believed.
Nathanael said this because the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, not in Nazareth. They did not know that the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but he later came to Nazareth.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.(Isaiah 11:1)
The Hebrew word for Nazareth is Natzeret, the Hebrew word for the branch mentioned in above verse is Netzer, the two words have the same root in Hebrew, and Jesse is the father of David, and the Lord Jesus is called the son of David, so the above passage is considered to be the Old Testament prophecy prophesying that the Lord Jesus is a Nazarene.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😀
