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. 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.
After Herod died Joseph was warned to bring Jesus and Mary back to Israel, yet he feared Herod's son on the throne in Judea and was perplexed about where to settle until God by an angel chose Nazareth as their safe former home. Dwelling in Galilee kept Jesus for nearly thirty years where foreign influence was greater and Jewish jealousy and interest in power were less likely to be stirred against Him, and this fulfilled what the prophets had spoken about His being known as one from Nazareth. His coming to save fallen humanity thus met insecurity and hostility from the beginning, with no safe home among men until angels preserved Him through to the completion of His mission. Nazareth itself was a small, poor, despised mountain village, and His obscure upbringing there to lowly parents without worldly rank shows how God introduced the gospel through faith and obedience rather than grandeur and display.
Return and Dwelling in Nazareth
Matthew 2:23 belongs to the account of the flight into Egypt, when Herod waited for the wise men to return so that he could destroy the infant King of Israel, and when he felt his purpose thwarted and himself insulted and mocked he grew in impatience, envy and hatred and, stirred by the devil, determined by cruelty and by power and authority to strike terror into the Jews against placing a king on the throne in Jerusalem. After Herod's death Joseph was warned to return to Israel with Jesus and Mary, but he feared Herod's son ruling on his father's throne in Judea and carrying out his father's purpose to murder Christ, and he was unsure where to settle. He did not return to Bethlehem because Herod's son was ruling in Judea.
While Joseph was perplexed and wanted to live in Judah or Bethlehem, God through an angel directed and chose Nazareth, and the family settled there in their former home as a safe home selected by the Lord. Nazareth in Galilee was safer because the region had more foreign inhabitants than Judea and less interest in matters especially concerning the Jews, so Jesus' claims were less likely to provoke the jealousy of those in power. He dwelt there for nearly thirty years.
His dwelling in Nazareth fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. The verse also marks the insecure and hostile reception Jesus met from the beginning: though He came to save fallen humanity, He had no safe home among people and was preserved by angels until His mission was completed.
Humble Upbringing and Its Lesson
Nazareth in Galilee where He was brought up was a small town, obscure and without worldly rank. It was a poor mountain village, despised rather than honored. He lived there instead of in the homes of the rich or the palaces of kings.
Though He was heaven's Commander, He laid aside His royal status to take human nature and was raised in that despised town. He was born into poverty to lowly parents and brought up in obscurity and without worldly rank. When old enough to handle tools He helped care for His family.
His humble beginnings and work begun in poverty in obscurity marked the way God introduced the gospel. That introduction was through faith and obedience, not by worldly rank or status, grandeur, outward appearance, display, or splendor. From the beginning of the gospel age this taught the church to rely on the Lord God of Israel. His life there in those humble conditions revealed God and accomplished the redemption of humanity.