Bereansearching Bible Studies

Did you ever wonder why Jesus was born in Bethlehem (in Judah/Judaea), but He was raised in the village of Nazareth (in Zebulun/Zabulon)?

Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם (bêṯ leḥem)^H1035 which means “House of Bread”)

The reason is that Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem is fairly well known. Jesus also had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy of Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.” Bethlehem is also known as the city of David as we read in Luke 2:4, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)“

It is also no coincidence that the very name Bethlehem, House of Bread, because we also know that Jesus is the Bread of Life as we read in John 6:48, where Jesus said, “I am that bread of life“. (This is also reiterated further in John 6:49-51). It is also note worthy that Ephratah (אֶפְרָת (‘ep̄rāṯ))^H672 means “fruitful”. 

Nazareth (Ναζαρά (nazara)^G3478 which means “The Guarded One”)

After the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, we are told in Matthew 2:13-15, “¶And when they (the wise men) were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt,and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod willseek the young child to destroy him. ¶When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
(Note: This is referring back to the prophecy in Hosea 11:1, “When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”)

Joseph, after fleeing with Jesus and Mary to Egypt until after King Herod was dead, moved to Nazareth in Galilee as we read in Matthew 2:19-23, “¶But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother,and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene^G3480.“

It should also be noted that Jesus, when He appeared after his resurrection to Saul/Paul, Jesus identified Himself as “Jesus of Nazareth” in Act 22:8, “And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, ^G3480 whom thou persecutest.“

There appears to be only one possible prophetic reference that is provided to us in the Old Testament that could be interpreted as referring to Jesus being a Nazarene/Nazarite, and that is found in Judges 13:5, where an angel of the LORD spoke to Samson’s mother (who was barred at the time) regarding Samson “For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” The last mention of Samson in the Old Testament is in Judges 16:30, “And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with [all his] might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than [they] which he slew in his life.” While the earthly account is referring to Samson, Samson serves a spiritual “type” of the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the True Deliverer of the Eternal Israel of God.

It is also consistent that “Nazarite” (נָזִיר (nāzîr))^H5139 means “consecrated” or “separated” in service “unto the LORD” and is first appears in Numbers 6:2 in relation to the “Nazarite vow”. The name Nazareth is consistent with Nazarite, because someone who is “consecrated” is also “guarded”.

Jesus was also a Galilaean (From the Hebrew, גָּלִיל (gālîl)^H1551, meaning “circle” or “circuit”)

Note that the Luke 2:4 also mentions Nazareth, and specifies Nazareth as being part of Galilee (which represents the northern furthest reaches of Israel and was evidently considered largely heathen).  Jesus is also referred to as a Galilaean as we read in Luke 23:6, “When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.” And the accusation brought to Pilate was that Jesus began His teaching in Galilee as we read in Luke 23:5, “¶And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.” 

Zabulon/Zebulun (זְבוּלוּן (zᵊḇûlûn)^H2074, which means “Exalted”) is in Galilee of the Gentiles

In Isaiah 52:13, we see this prophecy regarding Jesus, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.“

And we also know that Jesus is from the Tribal area of Zebulon from Matthew 4:15, “The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, [by] the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;” which refers back to Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 9:1, “Nevertheless the dimness [shall] not [be] such as [was] in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict [her by] the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.“

The Messiah Was Not Expected to Come from Nazareth or Galilee

In John 1:45 we read, “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.  And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.“

Why did Nathanael ask this question?  We get the feeling that it was some kind of contemporary euphemism which indicated that Nazareth, a city in Galilee, was a place of poor reputation.  We find support for this idea in John 7:52, where we read, “They (the chief priests and Pharisees) answered and said unto him (Nicodemus*), Art thou also of Galilee?  Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” (We should also be aware that this is entirely consistent with what we read just a few verses prior in John 7:40-41, “Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?“)

Jesus Came From the Same Neighborhood as the Prophet Jonah

And it should also be pointed out that the prophet Jonah was from the same neighborhood as Jesus’ boyhood home in Nazareth. Jonah is from the town was Gathhepher, which is located only two miles north of Nazareth, and therefore Jonah is also from Zebulon and hence Galilee. For more on Jonah and his role as a prophet of God, and another “type” of Jesus in the Old Testament, please see the Book of Jonah post.

Conclusion 

1. Jesus was born in Bethlehem (the land of the tribe of Judah, in the center of Jewry, next to Jerusalem), but He grew up in Galilee (Nazareth, in the land of the tribe of Zabulon) the fringes of Israel that represent the Gentiles, and then… 
2. Jesus first revealed the kingdom of heaven on earth, at His first advent, in the land of the Gentiles, which culminated in the fulfillment of his earthly ministry with his death at Jerusalem in the land of Judah, and then…
3. The revelation of the of His atonement to His people, His heavenly ministry, began at Pentecost in Jerusalem in Judah and is being fulfilled in the Gentile world, typified by Zebulon in Galilee, as we read in Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.“

This entry was posted on July 24, 2023 at 1:47 am and is filed under Bible Studies. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.