ACC ~ Matthew 2 v23

THE SENSE OF PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES SUMMARIZED

JEROME: If this could have been found in the Scriptures, he never would have said, “Because it has been spoken by the prophets,” but he would rather have spoken more plainly: “Because it has been spoken by a prophet.” As it is now, in speaking of prophets in general he has shown that he has not taken the specific words but rather the sense from the Scriptures. “Nazarene” is understood as “holy.” Every Scripture attests that the Lord was to be holy. We can also speak in another way of what was written … in Hebrew in Isaiah: “A branch will blossom from the root of Jesse, a Nazarene from his root.” [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.2.23. [2]

[1] Is 11:1.

[2] CCL 77:16.

WHY A NAZARENE?

CHROMATIUS: Our Lord and Savior is called “the Nazarene” as much after the name of the place, the city of Nazareth, as from the mystery of the law. For, according to the law, those are called Nazarenes who make an extraordinary vow of chastity to God, maintaining that vow with the hair of their heads, which the ordained law had commanded them to offer as a sacrifice. [1] Therefore, because the author and ruler of every act of sanctity and piety is Christ the Lord, who said through the prophet, “Let them be holy, since I am holy, says the Lord,” [2] it was not undeservedly that he was called “the Nazarene.” It was he who, following truly what was preordained in the law, offered as a pledge to God the Father the sacrifice of his own body. David spoke about this pledge when he said of the Lord, “Just as Jacob swore an oath to the Lord, he was offered a pledge to God.” [3] The Lord would show himself as the Nazarene at the time when he became a creature of flesh. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 7.2. [4]

[1] Num 6.

[2] Lev 11:44; 19:2; 20:7.

[3] Ps 132:2 (131:2 LXX).

[4] CCL 9a:224-25.

BLOOMING IN HOLINESS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: But if “the Nazarene” is interpreted to mean “holy” or, according to some, as “flower,” this is the designation found in many instances. For Daniel calls him “holy” or “of the holy ones.” Likewise we find in Isaiah: “A branch from the stock of Jesse and its flower.” [1] Even the Lord says of himself in the Song of Songs, “I am the bloom of the plain, the lily of the valleys.” [2] FRAGMENT 16. [3]

[1] Is 11:1.

[2] Song 2:1.

[3] MKGK 158.

NAZARENE UNDERSTOOD THROUGH ALL THE PROPHETS

ANONYMOUS: When he says “through the prophets,” not “through a prophet,” he clarifies a term derived from no specific prophetic authority. He speaks instead of the implied meaning he has gathered from all the prophets. For Jesus was called “the Nazarene” by all the prophets because he was holy. Or, perhaps, they read other prophets, whom we do not recognize as canonical, making this assertion. For thus some have prophesied and have written, such as Nathan and Esdras. And inasmuch as it had been prophesied, this very thing Philip makes clear when he says to Nathanael, “We have found the one of whom Moses wrote in his law, as well as the prophets, and he is Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth.” [1] Thus did Nathanael, knowing that it had been prophesied, respond in confirmation of this very thing: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” [2] INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 2. [3]

[1] Jn 1:45.

[2] Jn 1:46.

[3] PG 56:646.