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  • From: JBarach AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Name
  • Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:16:48 EDT

Yonah wrote:

> As for Notzri/Netzari/Nazoraios, etc, Ναζωραιος [Nazoraios] is
> a Greek word which means "an inhabitant of Nazareth"
> (Ναζαρετ or Ναζαρεθ). The name of Nazareth in Hebrew is
> נָצְרַת [Natzerat]. The Hebrew word for "Christian" is נוֹצְרִי
[notzri],
> and Jesus is often called (based on the assumption that he
> is the same person spoken of in the Talmud) ישו
> הנוצרי [Yeshu ha-Notzri] or ישוע הנוצרי [Yeshua ha-Notzri].

For what it's worth, here's something from Jakob van Bruggen's _Het
evangelie van Gods zoon_ (Kampen: Kok, 1997).

6.1.1 The Nazarene

The name by which Jesus was most often designated in Israel already betrays
something of the disparagement by others and of his own meekness. It was
normal for people to be named after their father (e.g., Simon, the son of
Jonah;
John and Jacob, the sons of Zebedee). In Jesus’ case, however, people
deviated from that rule. He is designated with the name of the place where
He
grew up. That is Nazareth, a virtually unknown village in the northern
area,
Galilee. There is something of a condescending tone in the surname
“Nazarene”
: “the villager from Galilee!”

This is emphasized when people in Judea imitate the Galilean dialect by
pronouncing “Nazarene” as “Nazorene.” In Galilean Aramaic, the vowel "a"
was
often pronounced in a muted way, as a "u" or an "o" (H. Odeberg, The Aramaic
Portions of Bereshit Rabba with Grammar of Galilean Aramaic. II. Short
Grammar of Galilean Aramiac [Leipzig: Gleerup 1939] 154). The Judeans mimic
this
by speaking of the “Nazorene” (cf. in the Dutch “Hegenaar” or “Gronniger”
[i.e., a person from Den Hague or Groningen]). That surname characterizes
Jesus as a man from the borderlands and also betrays, through this
sharp-witted
tone of mockery [kiene spottoontje?], a measure of disdain.

In the name “Nazarene” there appears a certain displeasure over the fact
that Jesus did not take the temple-city Jerusalem as the starting point for
his
ministry nor the town of Bethlehem, where David had originated. During the
Feast of Tabernacles in John 7, this comes up from various sides. Jesus’
brothers (7:3-4) are surprised that, on the one hand, He wants to draw the
attention of the people and, on the other hand, continually keeps moving
around on
the periphery (Galilee). The crowds (7:42) wonder why He does not operate
from Bethlehem. And the leaders (7:52) say to Nicodemus that a prophet does
not arise from Galilee!

Irritation over this unpretentious and unassuming behavior is evident from
the name which the popular language then gives Him: Jesus of Nazareth! The
name “Nazorene” is well-chosen: the striking thing about the great teacher
and
miracle-worker is, after all, His reticence. He astonishes the world, but
goes around in out-of-the-way Galilee. Is that not weak? The fact that
Jesus lets Himself be called this name by many people indicates something of
His
defenselessness. People can -- without contradiction or punishment --
designate Him with a rather mocking and distancing [afstandelijk?] name!


The name Nazoraios alludes, via the place name and the dialect
pronunciation, to the district of Galilee. Jesus is “the Galilean” (Matt.
26:69) and His
disciples are also seen as “Galileans” (Mark 14:70; Acts 2:7). People can
think that Peter belonged with the Nazarene because his speech betrayed that
he too comes from Galilee (Mark 14:67,70). And Jesus can begin to be called

Nazorene” (cf. John 18:5-8) because His parents had settled down in Galilee
(Matt. 2:22-23).

Later, the Jews in Judea designate the Christians as “the sect of the
Nazorenes” (Acts 24:5). This indicates that “Nazorene” was the customary
name
(cf. Matt. 2:23). The somewhat caustic exaggeration of the dialect
pronunciation is omitted a few times: particularly in Galilee itself people
say “Nazarene”
(Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). In Mark 14:67, a slave girl at Jerusalem also uses
the more neutral designation “Nazarene,” but this is then not a surname
(which always follows the proper name), but strictly a place designation
before
the proper name (“the Nazarene Jesus” in place of “Jesus the Nazarene”).

The idea that the surname originally had nothing to do with the place name
Nazareth has pretty much been abandoned (cf. J. A. Sanders, “Nazoraios in
Mathew 2:23,” The Gospels and the Scriptures of Israel, JSNTSup104, ed. C.
A.
Evans and W. R. Stegner [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994],
116-28.).
For a critical discussion of the various theories concerning the positive
surplus value which the name allegedly had or received (Nazirene:
consecrated to
God; Netser: the Shoot of Isaiah 11) and for an overview of theories which
do not derive the surname from the place name Nazareth, but from a
pre-Christian baptizing sect (the Observants), see J. van Bruggen,
“Nazoreeers: de
oudste naam voor christenen,” Almanak Fides Quadrat Intellectum (Kampen,
1973),
147-167.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
John Barach (541) 531-2906
Pastor, Reformation Covenant Church (CREC)
706 Beekman Avenue
Medford, OR 97501
http://barach.us












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