If this could have been found in the ******ures, he never would have said, “Because it has been spoken by the prophets,” but he would rather have spoken more plainly: “Because it has been spoken by a prophet.” As it is now, in speaking of prophets in general he has shown that he has not taken the specific words but rather the sense from the ******ures.[1]
When he says “through the prophets,” not “through a prophet,” he clarifies a term derived from no specific prophetic authority. He speaks instead of the implied meaning he has gathered from all the prophets. [2]
We can also speak in another way of what was written … in Hebrew in Isaiah: “A branch will blossom from the root of Jesse, a Nazarene from his root.”7 Commentary on Matthew 1.2.23.8[3]
” Likewise we find in Isaiah: “A branch from the stock of Jesse and its flower.”13 Even the Lord says of himself in the Song of Songs, “I am the bloom of the plain, the lily of the valleys.”14 Fragment 16.15[4]
“Nazarene” is understood as “holy.” Every ******ure attests that the Lord was to be holy[5]
But if “the Nazarene” is interpreted to mean “holy” or, according to some, as “flower,” this is the designation found in many instances. For Daniel calls him “holy” or “of the holy ones.[6]
Therefore, because the author and ruler of every act of sanctity and piety is Christ the Lord, who said through the prophet, “Let them be holy, since I am holy, says the Lord,”10 it was not undeservedly that he was called “the Nazarene.” It was he who, following truly what was preordained in the law, offered as a pledge to God the Father the sacrifice of his own body. David spoke about this pledge when he said of the Lord, “Just as Jacob swore an oath to the Lord, he was offered a pledge to God.”11 The Lord would show himself as the Nazarene at the time when he became a creature of flesh. Tractate on Matthew 7.2.12
[7]
For Jesus was called “the Nazarene” by all the prophets because he was holy[8]
For many of the prophetic writings have been lost;
We see here the cause why the angel also, putting them at ease for the future, restores them to their home. And not even this simply, but he adds to it a prophecy, “That it might be fulfilled,” saith he, “which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”21
And what manner of prophet said this?
[9]
[1]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 37
[2]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 38
7 7 Is 11:1.
8 8 CCL 77:16.
[3]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 37
13 13 Is 11:1.
14 14 Song 2:1.
15 15 MKGK 158.
[4]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 38
[5]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 37
[6]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 37
10 10 Lev 11:44; 19:2; 20:7.
11 11 Ps 132:2 (131:2 lxx).
12 12 CCL 9a:224–25.
[7]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 37
[8]Simonetti, Manlio: Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 2001 (Ancient Christian Commentary on ******ure NT 1a), S. 38
21 Matt. ii. 23.
[9]Schaff, Philip: The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Vol. X. Oak Harbor : Logos Research Systems, 1997, S. 58