Nazarenes or Netzarim
This is a great video teaching, from Torah teacher Michael from the UK, superb research that went into this, and clear scriptural referencing.
Who were the Nazarenes? What is the significance of Paul being called the ringleader of the Nazarenes, and what are the implications of this for us today? How does the term Nazarene relate to the olive tree that Scripture equates to the House of Israel? And what are the prophetic connections of this term, in regards to both Messiah and also those who claim to have faith in Him?
HA NETZARIM (The Nazarenes)
“Nazarenes” or “Netzarim” is a title used to identify the 1st century foundational group of disciples (Apostles) of the Messiah Yehoshua. Remember the 12 Apostles, the 120 and 3000 disciples (Acts 2) were all Messianic Jews, not Christians.
The singular of “Netzarim” is the Hebrew (#5342) “Netzer” – Greenness, a shoot, Figuratively a descendant- Branch /Wiki- Netzarim, twigs that shoot off from a branch of a tree (Hebrew from the root “neitzer” (נצר) meaning “a shoot”).
Netzarim
The prophet Isaiah says, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (Netzer) shall grow out of his roots.” – Isaiah 11:1
A “Netzer” is a type of Branch – a shoot from an olive tree that grows out of its original root system but springs up at a later time from the stump, or somewhat distant from the trunk. Netzer is more properly translated shoot or sprout. The Hebrew for Tsemach (H#6780) is most commonly translated Branch, which is used to mention the coming of Messiah.
Christian replacement theology? Remember: you do not bear the root, but the root bears you!
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree, Rom 11:18 do not boast against the branches. And if you boast, remember: you do not bear the root, but the root bears you!
If some of the branches, that is, unbelieving individual Jews but not the whole Jewish people, were broken off, removed (temporarily, not permanently! Rom_11:11-12, Rom_11:23-24) from being eligible to receive what YHVH-God has promised, and you Gentiles Christians (Rom_11:13), a wild olive, were grafted in among them, among the branches which are still part of the tree, the Messianic Jews, the Jewish nation as represented by its Messianic Jewish community, and have become equal sharers in the rich root of Yehovah God's cultivated olive tree, then don't boast as if you were better than (literally, "don't boast against") the natural branches, neither the ones still in place (the Messianic Jews) nor the ones broken off (the non-Messianic Jews).
Gentile Christian pride in having been joined to the "chosen people" is utterly out of place and unacceptable, particularly when directed against those very people! As Sha'ul writes elsewhere, "After all, what makes you so special? What do you have that you didn't receive as a gift? And if in fact it was a gift, why do you boast as if it weren't?" (1Co_4:7) However, if you do boast, for whatever reason-carelessness, thickheadedness, or actual malice-it ought to help you stop if you remember that you are not supporting the root, but the root is supporting you. Or, to make Sha'ul's point as clear as it can be, whether the root is Yehoshua HaMashiach, Avraham, the Patriarchs, the Messianic Jews or all the Jews (see Rom_11:16), it is a Jewish root, and don't you forget it!
The Jewish community sometimes draws a picture of the Jew who comes to faith in Yehoshua as someone doubly unwelcome, rejected both by other Jews and by the Gentile majority in the Christian Church as well. It's easy enough to understand why a Messianic Jew might be rejected by some in the Jewish community, but why did the image of his being rejected by the Church even arise? It came from Gentile Christians who forgot Sha'ul's warning and regarded the Jewish believer in their midst not as a natural branch of the olive tree into which they were grafted, but as an alien.
Shifting the perspective slightly, notice that Sha'ul is reminding Gentile Believers that trust in YHVH God also means joining YeHoVaH God's people. It is no different now than it was with Ruth: "Your people shall be my people and your Elohim my Elohim" (Ruth_1:16). Gentile Believers have joined Yisrael, not the reverse (see also Eph_2:11-16). For a Gentile Believer to look down on the people he has joined is not only chutzpah and ingratitude but also self-hate.
Isa 11:1 But a branch (a Netzar) will emerge from the trunk of Yishai (Jesse), a shoot will grow from his roots.
