Biblion Bible Commentary
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He Will Be Called a Nazarene
Matthew 2:19-23
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, · WEB
A third dream, a nervous detour north, and a fulfillment formula that names no prophet — because the point is the name of the town.
"Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead" Matthew 2:20.
The wording echoes the call that sent Moses back to Egypt — all the men who sought your life are dead Exodus 4:19 — and the direction is reversed. Moses was sent into Egypt to bring a people out; this child is brought out of Egypt to save his people from something else.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there Matthew 2:22.
Joseph's caution is well founded. Archelaus inherited his father's cruelty without his competence and was removed by Rome within a decade. What the passage shows is a man taking a dream seriously and also reading the political news, and being given a further dream when his judgment needs confirming. Guidance in these chapters keeps arriving in that order: act on what you know, and be redirected as you go.
And came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene Matthew 2:23.
The formula changes shape here in a way worth noticing. Everywhere else it says the prophet and quotes a text; here it says the prophets, plural, and quotes nothing that can be found in any of them. So Matthew is pointing at a theme rather than a verse.
The town is the theme. Nazareth was an obscure village with no standing, and the contempt it attracted was still current a generation later — can any good thing come out of Nazareth? John 1:46. The prophets said repeatedly that the Messiah would be despised and rejected Isaiah 53:3 Psalms 22:6, and a hometown that functioned as an insult delivers exactly that. Some also hear the Hebrew word for branch behind the name, from the shoot out of Jesse's stump Isaiah 11:1, and the two readings sit comfortably together.
The two chapters end with the geography the whole book will use: a king born in David's town, called out of Egypt, and raised in a village whose name was a slur.
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