Flight into Egypt

==Nazarenes, Nazareth, and Nazirites==
{{see also|Matthew 2:23}}
[[Image:Nazarene Fountain Reputed to be Mary & Jesus'.jpg|thumb|left|Fountain in [[Nazareth]], reputed to have been used by the [[Holy Family]] (photograph, 1917)]]

While Luke places Jesus' family as being originally from the town of [[Nazareth]], Matthew has the family moving there, fearing [[Herod Archelaus|Archelaus]] who was ruling in Judea in place of his father [[Herod the Great|Herod]]. [[Nazareth]], now a town, is not mentioned by the Old Testament, [[Josephus]] or rabbinical sources,<ref>Perkins, P. (1996).  Nazareth.  In P. J. Achtemeier (Ed.), ''The HarperCollins Bible dictionary'', pp. 741–742.  San Francisco: HarperCollins.  {{ISBN|0-06-060037-3}}.</ref> though many Christian [[Bible archaeologists]], such as the evangelical and [[egyptologist]] [[Kenneth Kitchen]], state that they are fairly sure that a village existed in the area at the time of Jesus.<ref name="Columbia">[http://www.columbia.edu/~rcc20/christianity/galilee.html Galilee] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509013242/http://www.columbia.edu/~rcc20/christianity/galilee.html |date=2006-05-09 }}.</ref> Clarke notes that the location of Nazareth is just to the north of where the large town [[Sepphoris]] was located.  At the time, Sepphoris had been largely destroyed in the violence following the death of [[Herod the Great]], and was being rebuilt by [[Herod Antipas]], hence Clarke speculates that this could have been seen as a good source of employment by Joseph, a carpenter.

The difficulty with the brief quote ''he will be called a [[Nazarene (title)|Nazarene]]'' is that it occurs nowhere in the Old Testament, or any other extant source. The most similar known passage is [[Book of Judges|Judges]] {{bibleverse-nb||Judges|13:5|HE}} where of [[Samson]] it says ''the child shall be a Nazir'''ite''''', where a [[nazirite]] was a specific type of religious ascetic. That the Nazirite and Nazareth are so similar in name, while Nazareth isn't mentioned in any other source until after the Gospels have been written, and that the passage almost parallels one about the birth of a hero who was a Nazirite, has led many to propose that Matthew originally had Jesus being a Nazirite, but it was changed to Nazarene, inventing a location named ''Nazareth'', when the ascetic requirements fell foul of later religious practices. Biblical scholar [[R. T. France]] rejects this explanation, stating that Jesus was not a Nazirite and claiming that he is never described as one.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Another theory is that it is based on a prophecy at {{bibleref|Isaiah|11:1|HE}}, which states ''there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of [[Jesse (biblical figure)|Jesse]], and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:'' — the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] for branch is ''נצר (netzer)''. The priestly clan of the "netzerites" possibly settled in the place which became known as Netzereth/ Nazareth. Bargil Pixner<ref>Bargil Pixner</ref> in his work "With Jesus Through Galilee" says that the title Nazarene, given to Jesus, alludes not so much to his town of origin as to his royal descent. While this piece of wordplay is meaningless when translated into [[Greek language|Greek]], Hebrew wordplay is not unknown in Matthew, underlining the opinion that some parts of this gospel were originally written in Hebrew.
[[File:Lucas Cranach der Ältere - Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Ägypten (1504).jpg|thumb|260px|''Rest on the Flight into Egypt'' by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] (1504)]]