among them was that of Tsemach, or 'Branch.'26 We call it the most prominent, not only
because it is based upon the clearest Scripture-testimony, but because it evidently
occupied the foremost rank in Jewis h thinking, being embodied in this earliest portion of
their daily liturgy: 'The Branch of David, Thy Servant, speedily make to shoot forth, and
His Horn exalt Thou by Thy Salvation....Blessed art Thou Jehovah, Who causeth to
spring forth (literally: to br anch forth) the Horn of Salvation' (15th Eulogy). Now, what is
expressed by the word Tsemach is also conveyed by the term Netser, 'Branch,' in such
passages as Isaiah xi,1, which was likewise applied to the Messiah. 27 Thus, starting from
Isaiah xi. 1, Netser being equivalent to Tsemach, Jesus would, as Notsri or Ben Netser,28
29
bear in popular parlance, and that on the ground of prophetic Scriptures, the exact
equivalent of the best-known designation of the Messiah. 30 The more significant this, that
it was not a self-chosen nor man-given name, but arose, in the providence of God, from
what otherwise might have been called the accident of His residence. We admit that this
is a Jewish view; but then this Gospel is the Jewish view of the Jewish Messiah.
24. This is still the common, almost universal, designation of Christ among the Jews.
25. Comp. ch. iv. of this book.
26. In accordance with Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15; and especially Zech. iii 18.
27. See Appendix IX.
28. So in Be R. 76.
29. Comp . Buxtorf, Lexicon Talm. p.
1383.
30. All this becomes more evident by Delitzsch's ingenious suggestion (Zeitschr. fur
luther. Theol. 1876, part iii. p. 402), that the real meaning, though not the literal
rendering, of the words of St. Matthew, would be ωµ# ρχν ψκ - 'for Nezer ['branch'] is
His Name.'
But, taking this Jewish title in its Jewish significance, it has also a deeper meaning, and
that not only to Jews, but to all men. The idea of Christ as the Divinely placed 'Branch'
(symbolised by His Divinely-appointed early residence), small and despised in its
forthshooting, or then visible appearance (like Nazareth and the Nazarenes), but destined
to grow as the Branch sprung out of Jesse's roots, is most marvellously true to the whole
history of the Chr ist, alike as sketched 'by the prophets,' and as exhibited in reality. And
thus to us all, Jews or Gentiles, the Divine guidance to Nazareth and the name Nazarene
present the truest fulfilment of the prophecies of His history.
Greater contrast could scarcely be imagined than between the intricate scholastic studies
of the Judĉans, and the active pursuits that engaged men in Galilee. It was a common
saying: 'If a person wishes to be rich, let him go north; if he wants to be wise, let him
come south' - and to Judĉa, accordingly, flocked, from ploughshare and workshop,
whoever wished to become 'learned in the Law.' The very neighbourhood of the Gentile
world, the contact with the great commercial centres close by, and the constant
intercourse with foreigners, who passed through Galilee along one of the world's great
highways, would render the narrow exclusiveness of the Southerners impossible. Galilee
was to Judaism 'the Court of the Gentiles' - the Rabbinic Schools of Judĉa its innermost
Sanctuary. The natural disposition of the people, even the soil and climate of Galilee,