his Parents were led to take up their abode in Nazareth, was the filling out of the predictions in
which the promised Messiah is described as a netser i.e. a shoot, sprout, of Jesse, a humble and
despised descendant of the decayed royal family. Once, (Acts 24:5) the term Nazarenes is applied
to the followers of Jesus by way of contempt. The name still exists in Arabic as the ordinary
designation of Christians.
Nazareth
(the guarded one) the ordinary residence of our Saviour, is not mentioned in the Old Testament,
but occurs first in (Matthew 2:23) It derives its celebrity from its connection with the history of
Christ, and in that respect has a hold on the imagination and feelings of men which it shares only
with Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It is situated among the hills which constitute the south ridges of
Lebanon,just before they sink down into the plain of Esdraelon, (Mr. Merrill, in “Galilee in the
Time of Christ” (1881), represents Nazareth in Christ’s time as a city (so always called in the New
Testament) of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, of some importance and considerable antiquity, and
not so insignificant and mean as has been represented.—ED.) Of the identification of the ancient
site there can be no doubt. The name of the present village is en-Nazirah the same, therefore, as of
old it is formed on a hill or mountain, (Luke 4:29) it is within the limits of the province of Galilee,
(Mark 1:9) it is near Cana, according to the implication in (John 2:1,2,11) a precipice exists in the
neighborhood. (Luke 4:29) The modern Nazareth belongs to the better class of eastern villages. It
has a population of 3000 or 4000; a few are Mohammadans, the rest Latin and Greek Christians.
(Near this town Napoleon once encamped (1799), after the battle of Mount Tabor.) The origin of
the disrepute in which Nazareth stood, (John 1:47) is not certainly known. All the inhabitants of
Galilee were looked upon with contempt by the people of Judea because they spoke a ruder dialect,
were less cultivated and were more exposed by their position to contact with the heathen. But
Nazareth labored under a special opprobrium, for it was a Galilean and not a southern Jew who
asked the reproachful question whether “any good thing” could come from that source. Above the
town are several rocky ledges, over which a person could not be thrown without almost certain
destruction. There is one very remarkable precipice, almost perpendicular and forty or fifty near
the Maronite church, which may well be supposed to be the identical one over which his infuriated
fellow townsmen attempted to hurl Jesus.
Nazarite
more properly Naz’irite (one separated), one of either sex who was bound by a vow of a peculiar
kind to be set apart from others for the service of God. The obligation was either for life or for a
defined time. There is no notice in the Pentateuch of Nazarites for life; but the regulations for the
vow of a Nazarite of days are given. (Numbers 6:1-21) The Nazarite, during-the term of has
consecration, was bound to abstain from wine grapes, with every production of the vine and from
every kind of intoxicating drink. He was forbidden to cut the hair of his head, or to approach any
dead body, even that of his nearest relation. When the period of his vow was fulfilled he was brought
to the door of the tabernacle, and was required to offer a he lamb for a burnt offering, a ewe lamb
for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering, with the usual accompaniments of peace offerings,
(Leviticus 7:12,13) and of the offering made at the consecration of priests. (Exodus 29:2; Numbers
6:15) He brought also a meat offering and a drink offering, which appear to have been presented
by themselves as a distinct act of service. ver. (Numbers 6:17) He was to cut off the hair of “the
head of his separation ”(that is, the hair which had grown during the period of his consecration) at
the door of the tabernacle, and to put it into the fire under the sacrifice on the altar. Of the Nazarites
frankie
(Frankie)
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