Who were the Nazarenes?
Matthew 2:23,
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
It is possible that Matthew recognized the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1 about the נצר nēṣer “shoot” from the stem of Jesse, as being fulfilled in Jesus the son of David coming from Nazareth and being therefore called in Greek Nazōraios “Nazarene” – especially given the Syriac Naṣraya (Matthew 2:23; cf. Isaiah 60:21). One ought also to consider the so-called Pierced Messiah text from Qumran cave 4 (4Q285 /4QMessianic Leader-Nasi/4QWar Scrollg/4QMilhama frag 5, Midrash Isaiah, Aramaic),[1] in which one finds that very same "shoot, root of Jesse" || "branch of David" ("Prince of the Congregation"), etc., specifically quoting "Isaiah the Prophet."
It is also possible that the etymology here should be based on Northwest Semitic נצר nṣr “guard” (Arabic naẓara, Syriac nṭar).[2] Thus, when the Babylonian Talmud refers to Jesus as הנצרי hanNoṣrî (Berakot 17b, Soṭa 47a), which David Stern takes to mean simply Jesus of Nazareth,[3] Stephen Goranson understands it to mean “Observer (of Torah)” – based especially on Mandean Nāṣōrāyā “true religious ‘observers’.”[4]
Archaeological evidence confirms that Nazareth existed as a small, Jewish village in the early first century AD, during the time of Jesus, with finds like first-century houses, pottery, agricultural activity, and quarrying all supporting its presence, though it was a modest place, not a prominent town.[5]
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