providentially led to go up to Bethlehem at this period, and there Christ
was born (Matthew 2:1, 6; Luke 2:1, 7). The exact year or month or day of
his birth cannot, however, now be exactly ascertained. We know, however,
that it took place in the “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4), i.e., at the
fittest time in the world’s history. Chronologists are now generally agreed
that the year 4 before the Christian era was the year of Christ’s nativity,
and consequently that he was about four years old in the year 1 A.D.
- NAUGHTY FIGS (Jeremiah 24:2). “The bad figs may have been such
either from having decayed, and thus been reduced to a rotten condition, or
as being the fruit of the sycamore, which contains a bitter juice” (Tristram,
Nat. Hist.). The inferiority of the fruit is here referred to as an emblem of
the rejected Zedekiah and his people. - NAZARENE This epithet (Gr. Nazaraios) is applied to Christ only once
(Matthew 2:23). In all other cases the word is rendered “of Nazareth”
(Mark 1:24; 10:47; 14:67, etc.). When this Greek designation was at first
applied to our Lord, it was meant simply to denote the place of his
residence. In course of time the word became a term of reproach. Thus the
word “Nazarene” carries with it an allusion to those prophecies which
speak of Christ as “despised of men” (Isaiah 53:3). Some, however, think
that in this name there is an allusion to the Hebrew netser, which signifies
a branch or sprout. It is so applied to the Messiah (Isaiah 11:1), i.e., he
whom the prophets called the Netse, the “Branch.”
The followers of Christ were called “the sect of Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).
All over Palestine and Syria this name is still given to Christians. (See
NAZARETH.)
- NAZARETH separated, generally supposed to be the Greek form of the
Hebrew netser, a “shoot” or “sprout.” Some, however, think that the name
of the city must be connected with the name of the hill behind it, from
which one of the finest prospects in Palestine is obtained, and accordingly
they derive it from the Hebrew notserah, i.e., one guarding or watching,
thus designating the hill which overlooks and thus guards an extensive
region.
This city is not mentioned in the Old Testament. It was the home of
Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:39), and here the angel announced to the Virgin
the birth of the Messiah (1:26-28). Here Jesus grew up from his infancy to
manhood (4:16); and here he began his public ministry in the synagogue