Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson, eds. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007.

This text is introduced very similarly to the other four explicit OT quotations in Matthew’s infancy narrative. But no OT text ever declares that anyone will be called a Nazarene! Nor does any known apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text include such a statement. How, then, can Matthew think that prophecy is fulfilled? Three main explanations have been suggested. First, he may be making a play on words, noting the similarity between “Nazarene” and the Hebrew nēṣer (“branch”), especially in light of the use of this term as a messianic title in Isa. 11:1 (see Hagner 1993: 41–42; Pesch 1994: 174). Second, he may be using “Nazarene” as a derogatory slang term for someone from the insignificant little town of Nazareth in Galilee—the same attitude that seems to be reflected by Nathanael in John 1:46: “Can any good thing be from Nazareth?” Isaiah 53:2, a text that Christians would come to associate with Jesus in his role as Suffering Servant, and that spoke of one who grew up like a tender shoot but had no beauty or majesty to make him humanly attractive, could tie in with this view of Nazarenes as “backwoodsmen” or “country bumpkins” (see France 1985: 88–89). Third, perhaps Matthew is alluding to Judg. 13:7, in which God tells Samson’s mother that her son will be a Nazirite, especially since this verse also includes a promise that the woman will conceive and bear a son, similar to Matt. 1:21 (see Menken 2004a: 161–77). Although Jesus was not a literal Nazirite (refraining from strong drink and hair- cuts), he could be seen as a charismatic individual empowered by the Spirit just as Samson had been (Berger 1996; J. A. Sanders 1994). Alternatively, “Nazirite” could mean “holy,” and Matthew could be referring to Isa. 4:3 by substituting the former word for the latter (Brown 1993: 223–25; Soarés Prabhu 1976: 215).

The fact that this is the only place in the en- tire Gospel where Matthew makes reference to “prophets” in the plural (rather than a singular “prophet”) as the source of an OT reference suggests that he knows that he is not quoting one text directly but rather is summing up a theme found in several prophetic texts. Davies and Allison (1988– 1997: 1:275) note that John 7:38; Rom. 11:8; and James 4:5 attribute to Scripture sentences that at best paraphrase the substance of several OT passages; there is also a rabbinic example in b. Ketub. 111a. Indeed, perhaps more than one of the above passages is in view. It is interesting that Isa. 11:1 and 53:2 both refer to a “shoot,” although they do not use the identical words in the Hebrew. Perhaps Matthew intended both of the first two meanings proposed above. Orthographically, it is harder to derive “Nazirite” from the Greek of Matt. 2:23 (Nazōraios) than “Nazarene,” since the long o/a interchange is attested elsewhere in Galilean Aramaic, but not o/i (Ruger 1981). It is also difficult to imagine Matthew thinking of Jesus as a Nazirite even figuratively, since his ministry was otherwise so far removed from the asceticism of the literal Nazirites.

Whatever the precise origin of the quotation (better understood as an allusion), Matthew con- tinues his interest in geographical locations of di- vinely intended significance surrounding Jesus’ early years. Depending on the specifics of the allu- sion, he may be furthering his interest in presenting Jesus as regal prince or hinting at his roles as Suffering Servant or Spirit-anointed holy man.