We here subjoin the discussion of the New Testament passage which refers to this verse.
[ [1]] Their testimony is collected by Seb. Edzardi in the treatise: Cap. xi. Esaiae Christo vindicatum adversus Grotium et sectatores ejus, imprimos Herm. v. d. Hardt. Hamburg 1696.
[ [2]] "The madness of the Jews is indeed to be lamented who refer this prophecy to Zerubbabel."
[ [3]] Although Umbreit denies it, yet this is implied in the designation of the Messiah as a shoot from the roots. Moreover, the lowliness of the Messiah himself at His appearance is a necessary consequence of the lowliness of His family; and it is a bad middle course to acknowledge the latter and deny the former. To this may, moreover, be added the parallel passage Is. liii. 2.]
[ON MATTHEW II. 23.]
Καὶ ἐλθὼν κατῴκησεν εἰς πόλιν λεγομένην Ναζαρέτ· ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι Ναζωραῖος κληθήσεται.
We here premise an investigation as regards the name of the town of Nazareth. Since that name occurs in the New Testament only, different views might arise as to its orthography and etymology. One view is this: The name was properly and originally נצר. Being the name of a town, it received, in Aramean, in addition, the feminine termination א. And, finally, on account of the original appellative signification of the word, a ת, the designation of the status emphaticus of feminine nouns in א, was sometimes added. We have an analogous case in the name Dalmanutha, the same place which, with the Talmudist, is called צַלְמוֹן. Compare Lightfoot decas chorog. Marc. praem., opp. II., p. 411 sqq. So it is likewise probably that γαββαθὰ, גַבְתָא is formed from the masculine גַב, dorsum. Our view is that the original name was Nezer, that this form of the name was in use along with that which received a ת added, and that this ת served for the designation of the status emphaticus only; or also, if we wish to take our stand upon the Hebrew form, was a mere hardening of the ה Femin. (either of which suppositions is equally suitable for our purpose); and this our view we prove by the following arguments: 1. The testimonies of the Jews. David de Pomis (in De Dieu, critic. sacr. on M. II. 23) says: נצרי מי שנולד בעיר נֵצָר הגליל רחוק מירושלים דרך שלשת ימים "A Nazarene is he who is born in the town of Nezer, in Galilee, three days' journey from Jerusalem." In the Talmud, in Breshith Rabba, and in Jalkut Shimeoni on Daniel, the contemptuous name of Ben Nezer, i.e., the Nazarene, is given to Christ; compare the passages in Buxtorf, lex. c. 1383; in Lightfoot, disquis. chorog. Johan. praem. opp. II., 578 sqq.; Eisenmenger, I., p. 3139. It is true, Gieseler (on Matth. ii. 23, and in the Studien u. Kritiken, 1831, III. S. 591) has tried to give a different interpretation to this appellation. He is of opinion that this appellation has reference to Is. xi. 1; that it had come to the Jews from the Christians, who called their Messiah בן נצר, because He was He who had been promised by Isaiah. But this supposition is correct thus far only, that, no doubt, this appellation was chosen by the Jews with a reference to the circumstance that the Christians maintained that Jesus was the נצר announced by Isaiah, just as, for the very same reason, they also assign to Him the names נצר נאפוף "adulterous branch," and נצר נתעב "abominable branch" (from Is. xiv. 19); comp. Eisenmenger I. S. 137, 138. But Gieseler is wrong in deriving, from this reference to Is. xi. 1, the origin of the appellation, be it properly or mainly only. Against that even the very appellation is decisive, for in that case it ought to have been Nezer only, and not Ben-Nezer. Gieseler, it is true, asserts that he in whom a certain prophecy was fulfilled is called the "Son of the prophecy," and in confirmation of this usus loquendi he refers to the circumstance that the pseudo-Messiah under Hadrian assumed, with a reference to the כוכב in Numb. xxiv. 17, the name בן כוכב or בר כוכבא, in so far as the star there promised had appeared in him. But this confirmation is only apparent; it can as little be proved from it, that Christ could be called Ben-Nezer because He was He in whom the prophecy of the Nezer was fulfilled, as it can be proved from the appellation Ben Nezer that that pseudo-Messiah could be called Bar Cochba, only because it was believed that in him the prophecy of the star was fulfilled. Reland has already proved (Geogr. II. p. 727) that Barcochba probably had that name because he was a native of Cocab, a town or district in the country beyond Jordan. And the reason why he laid such special stress upon that descent was, that he sought a deeper meaning in this agreement of the name of his birth-place with the designation of the subject of the prophecy in Numb. xxiv. Moreover the supposition that, by the Jews, he in whom some prophecy was fulfilled, was called the son of that prophecy; that, e.g., the Messiah, the Servant of God, the Prince of Peace were called the Son of the Messiah, &c., is not only destitute of all foundation, but is, even in itself, most improbable. To this must still be added the consideration that this interpretation of Ben-Nezer is opposed by the constant interpretation of the Jews. Jarchi, in a gloss on that passage of the Talmud referred to, explains Ben Nezer by: "He who has come from the town of Nazareth." Abarbanel in his book Majenehajeshua, after having quoted from Jalkut Shimeoni the passage in question, observes: "Remark well how they have explained the little horn in Daniel vii. 8, of the Ben Nezer who is Jesus the Nazarene." From the Lexicon Aruch which forms a weighty authority, Buxtorf quotes: "נצר נצרי המקלל Nezer, (or Ben Nezer), is the accursed Nazarene." Finally--It could not well be supposed that the Jews, in a contest where they heap the most obnoxious blasphemies on Christ, should have given Him an honourable epithet which they had simply received from the Christians.
2. The result which we have obtained is confirmed by the statements of Christian writers. Even at the time of Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. i. 7), and of Jerome, the place was called Nazara. The latter says: "Nazareth: there exists up to this day in Galilee a village opposite Legio, fifteen miles to the east of it, near Mount Tabor, called Nazara" (comp. Reland i. S. 497). In Epistol. xvii. ad Marcellum he expressly identifies the name with Nezer, by saying: "Let us go to Nazareth, and according to a right interpretation of that name, we shall see there the flower of Galilee."
3. To this may be added, that the Gentilitia formed from Nazareth can be explained only when the ת is not considered as belonging to the original form of the name. For, in that case, it must necessarily be found again in the Gentilitia, just as, e.g., from ענתת we could not by any means form ענתי, but only ענתתי. In the New Testament the two forms Ναζωραῖος and Ναζαρηνὸς only occur, never the form Ναζαρεταῖος. Gieseler has felt the difficulty which these names present to the common hypothesis, but has endeavoured (l. c. p. 592) to remove them by the conjecture that this form, so very peculiar, had been coined by a consideration of נצר which the first Christians were accustomed to bring into connection with נצרת. But this conjecture would, at most, be admissible, only if, with the Jews too, the form נצרי were not found throughout without a ת, and if the Arabic form also were not entirely analogous.[1]