[B-Greek] Use of hOTI in Matt. 2:23

Iver Larsen iver at larsen.dk
Sun May 22 13:44:39 EDT 2005


> hOPWS PLHRWQHi TO RHQEN DIA TWN PROFHTWN hOTI NAZWRAIOS KLHQHSETAI
>
> Is the proper greek sense of hOTI here 'for or because'?
>
> I have looked at Dean Alford, Bishop Lightfoot, and various
> non-critical commentaries.  The only commentary that I reviewed
> that addressed this explicitly is from Dr. Gijs van den Brink in
> his commentary on Matthew.
> ( http://www.elim.nl/eng/nt/matt/mat02.htm )
>
> "23. He will be called a Nazarene, is not the gist of an Old
> Testament quotation. This is so not only in that it does not
> occur in the Old Testament, but also from Matthew's introductory
> words. He writes of prophets in general terms (in contrast to one
> specific prophet) and omits 'saying' (cf. Matt 26:56). When this
> occurs, no quotation follows (see Mark 14:49; Luke 24:25,27,44;
> John 17:12). The Greek word hoti (tr. ':' ) here does not mean
> 'that' or 'that is' but rather 'for', or 'because', and thus
> indicates a reason and explains the sense in which living in
> Nazareth is a fulfilment of prophecies. When Jesus is later
> called a Nazarene (a man of Nazareth) or a Galilean (cf. Matt
> 26:69,71), it is in most cases a sign of lack of appreciation
> (Matt 13:54 ff; John 1:46; 7:41,42,52). For this reason living in
> Nazareth is a fulfilment of the prophecies which say that the
> Messiah will make an unobtrusive appearance and will be
> unappreciated by his people (among others, Isa 42:2; 53
>  :3; Zech 12:10).
> Some of those who regard v.23b as the subject-matter of a
> prophecy claim that Matthew sees a deep prophetic significance in
> the word 'Nazarene'. He may have derived it from the Hebrew word
> ntser, which means 'branch', 'twig' (Isa 11:1). Yet others
> consider that Matthew is speaking of a Nazarite (Judg 13:5)."
>
> He sees hOTI in the sense of 'for or because'.  Because of my own
> bias I tend to agree with him.  But I would like other opinions
> on the use of hOTI in this context.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Theo Pope

It is very unlikely that the intended meaning is "for/because", because the
following verb is in the future tense (he will be called) and because the
preceding context favours the sense of "content introducer" for hOTI here.
Note that it is an indirect quote, and those translations that render it a
direct quote are IMO misleading. Matthew has a specific formula when he
introduces a direct quote from Scripture:
TO RHQEN ... DIA ... TOU PROFHTOU LEGONTOS (not followed by hOTI)
But here we have prophets in plural and no LEGONTWN.

So it must refer to an underlying thought/concept expressed in the OT by
several prophets.
It has nothing to do with the Nazirite, since that word in Hebrew is spelled
with a zayin, whereas Natzareth is spelled with a tzade.
The most likely reference is to the concept of the netzer (the shoot) based
partly on Isa 11,1. There was apparently a group of Jews who believed that
they would produce the Messiah and they settled in Natzareth. The first
Christians were also called Netzrim.

Iver Larsen




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