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Jesus was a Nazrene.
Prophecy:
Judges 13:5: “…Because you shall conceive, and bear a son; and a razor shall not come upon his head, for a Nazirite to God shall the lad be from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
Proof:
Matthew 2:23: 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."
Nazirite vows.
The word used in Judges is Nazirite (נְזִיר) – someone who has taken the Nazirite vows.
The Nazirite vow is explain in Numbers 6:1-21. The vow entails the following:
Refrain from eating food or drinking any liquid from new or aged wine (verses 3-4)
Refrain from cutting one’s hair (verse 5)
Refrain from coming into contact with the dead (verses 6-12)
At the end of the period of the vow, the Nazirite shall bring a burnt offering, a sin offering, a peace offering, and a meal offering to the Temple and shave off his hair (verses 13-21)
Jesus did not do any of these things. Jesus was not a Nazirite which is what is being spoken about in this verse from Judges.
Non-existent prophecy.
The verse in Matthew speaks of the prophets saying "He shall be called a Nazarene." The problem is that there is no such prophecy.
The city of Nazareth is never mentioned in the Tanach.
*Jewish Scripture from The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary
**Christian Scripture from the New King James Version |