What was wrong with Nazareth?

[dmbrowne]

In John 1:45-46 the Apostle Philip told Nathanael that Jesus, “the one about whom Moses wrote in the law” had been found, to which Nathanael replied: “Can anything good come from Nazaretth?” (Jn1:46 - NAB)

Can anyone please shed some light on what was going on in 1st century Nazareth for Nathanael to ask such a curious (and ultimately ironic) question?

Thanks!

Donna.

 

[Tietjen]

In John 1:45-46 the Apostle Philip told Nathanael that Jesus, “the one about whom Moses wrote in the law” had been found, to which Nathanael replied: “Can anything good come from Nazaretth?” (Jn1:46 - NAB)

Can anyone please shed some light on what was going on in 1st century Nazareth for Nathanael to ask such a curious (and ultimately ironic) question?

Thanks!

Donna.

Two possibilities:

1. Nazareth was the home of Mary and is where the annunciation took place. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph went there from Nazareth to register for the tax (Lk 2). Their home town however was still Nazareth and not Bethlehem. And if I am not mistaken, when the Holy Family returned from Egypt after the death of Herod, they returned to Nazareth. So while Bethlehem was the birth place of Christ, his home town was Nazareth as this was the place that his parents lived. Nathaniel (aka - Bartholomew) was troubled by what Philip had said because he probably didn’t know that Christ was born in Bethlehem. Nathaniel was looking for the Messiah to come from Bethlehem. “But you, O Bethlehem, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel.” (Mic 5:2). He probably assumed that if Christ was “from” Nazareth, that He must have also been born there and therefore could not be the One spoken of in prophesy since that One would have to have been born in Bethlehem.
2. Perhaps at the time, Nazareth was considered a small insignificant village. Perhaps only having a population of a few poor families with no notable worth either being imported or exported. Kind of like a “hick town” of today with only one store and no stoplights. Nathaniel may have been hard pressed to believe that anything important could come from such a small and irrelevant community.

My personal opinion is that it was a combination of the two.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Nazareth was home to a lot of gentiles. Several villages near Nazareth were largely gentile as well. For that reason, Nazareth and its neighbors were held in contempt by Jews to the south.

 

[rcjones]

Nazareth and Nazarite are related words. When it is said He shall be called a Nazarene, there is no prophecy to match, so it must be speaking about the Nazarite foreshadowing of Christ.

The Nazarite had long hair (which is a disgrace on men) as a picture of Christ bearing our disgrace on the cross.

So the verse of the OP may have an oblique reference to this.

 

[dmbrowne]

Thank you all for your perceptive and varied answers. They all make a great deal of sense to me.

In the meantime, I did a little historical research and it appears that there is little to no historically documented mention of Nazareth until about the 2nd century! The reason for this could be twofold:

1. The absurd argument that Nazareth did not even exist until then (except, of course, for the notable mention in Scripture!); or
2. That it was indeed such an insignificant town that it was virtually imperceptible on the map.

I just thought that Nathanael’s quip would signify something, or jump out at us somehow. Obviously it was one of those comments that only those of the 1st century culture would know at the time.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to answer.

~Donna

 

[juliamajor]

Nazareth and Nazarite are related words. When it is said He shall be called a Nazarene, there is no prophecy to match, so it must be speaking about the Nazarite foreshadowing of Christ.

The Nazarite had long hair (which is a disgrace on men) as a picture of Christ bearing our disgrace on the cross.

So the verse of the OP may have an oblique reference to this./QUOT Sorry- they are not related-Nazareth comes from Natsareth- the root being ’ natsar’- to watch. Nazarite comes from the root ‘nazir’ consecrated

 

[rcjones]

I’m sorry. You have attempted to compare the roots of a Greek word and a Hebrew one. Of course they are different.

According to Kittel, the Nazarenes (Greek word) are called nosri (Hebrew word) in the Talmud, which is of course, the same root nsr as the Nazarite in Hebrew.

Chevy made a similar mistake when they tried to market the Nova in Mexico. Nova in Spanish means “no go” which is not a very good name for a car.

But since we have a historical record of what a certain people were called in each language, I think we are allowed to equate the words as I have.

 

[LilyM]

I just thought Nazareth, along with the whole region of Galilee, was kinda ‘hicksville’ and countrified compared to the more sophisticated and populous parts of Israel, especially (of course) the big smoke, Jerusalem.