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NAZARENE.—A title applied to Christ in Mat_2:23, apparently as a quotation from a phrophecy. Its signification is a matter of controversy. Apart from the primary meaning of the word, ‘an inhabitant of Nazareth,’ there may have been, as is often the case in prophetic quotations, a secondary meaning in allusion to the Heb. word nçtser, ‘a branch,’ in which case the reference may have been to the Messianic passage Isa_11:1; or possibly the reference may have been to the word nâtsar, ‘to save.’ The epithet, applied often in scorn (cf. Joh_1:48), was used of Christ by demoniacs (Mar_1:24, Luk_4:34), by the people generally (Mar_10:47, Luk_18:37), by the soldiers (Joh_18:6-7), by the servants (Mat_26:71, Mar_14:67), by Pilate (Joh_19:19), as well as by His own followers on various occasions (Luk_24:19 etc.). The attempt to connect the word with ‘Nazirite’ is etymologically impossible, and has no meaning as applied to Jesus Christ.
T. A. Moxon.