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You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

 


 

Natsarim

Natsar -- A Crash Study of the Hebrew word
 
natsar = nun, Tsadee, resh.  

THE WORD "NATSAR"

There is usually some initial confusion with the word Natsar.
The original Hebrew for "Nazarene" is based on the root "natsar", and means
to watch -- this is because the area around the burg Natsareth was named
for it, hence the word "Gennetsaret" (vale of Netsar) -- referring to the
whole district.   This root word used points to the fact that the town was
situated on high ground, and provided a panoramic view of the surroundings.
It was an absolutely lovely place to grow up.

The "brow of the hill" which Yahushua's (our Messiah) townfolk tried to throw Him
over gave the name to the town itself.   Natsareth (natsar, the root) hence means "watchtower", 
and Natsarenes are by extension "watchmen",  but this also fulfills the prophecies of Yesh Yahu 11:1, (Isaiah 11:1) and Zec. 6:12. 
In these places, the change in vowels forms the root "netser", meaning "branch"; it's
a kind of synonym, like any word with two meanings, but the same spelling.
"He shall be called a Natsarene" (Mt. 2:23) refers to the verses above,
but it is not a direct quote as we are led to believe.   This synonym (word
spelled the same) forms a play-on-words: "netser", meaning "branch", and
"natsar", meaning "to watch".   So, we can be called branches, and
watchmen for this reason.   Remember Yahushua said, "I am the vine, you are
the branches" (Yahuchanon 15:5).
The original followers of Yahushua were known as "Natsarim" (the plural of Natsari), because you'll see "sect of the Nazarenes" written in your translations at Acts 24:5.
At Acts 28:22, we see that this "sect" was spoken against everywhere:  "And we think it right to hear from you what you think, for indeed, concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere."   What sect?   The sect of the Natsarim.   The definition of "sect" is the same as the word "cult", and a "cult" is not necessarily a bad thing at all--it's only a label flung about to judge a group before thoroughly examining its teachings.   The Natsarim were the ORIGINAL disciples and followers of Yahushua, before Catholicism and Christianity ever existed.   The brain-washing of the masses would have us believe that Abraham was a Catholic;  but we know now that Kepha (Peter) wasn't one either.  Yet, Catholics believe Kepha was the "first Pope".   This is an incredible quantum leap to make.

From chapter 31 of Yerme Yahu (Jeremiah) where the promised
New Covenant is located, there are the words, "There will be a day when
WATCHMEN will cry out on the hills of Ephraim" (31:6) -- referring to one
of the 10 lost tribes whom Yahushua was sent to, among these, some are "Natsarim" (like me);  and He is finishing that
mission through His Natsarim today.   The word "watchmen" is from the same
root, Natsar, from which we derive the words Natsareth, Gennetsaret, and
Natsarim.   Technically, we should not use a letter "z" in "Nazarene",
because the letter is a tsadee, or "ts" sound -- and it confuses the word
with nazir, which uses a zayin (z).   
A specialist in researching the historical setting of the Natsarim, brother Norman Willis expresses it the best as he says:

"The Catholic Church Father Epiphanius lived and wrote in the fourth century CE, some three hundred years after the Messiah.  Epiphanius was one of the key players responsible for the establishment of the official Roman Catholic Church dogma.

 

In his doctrinal book, ‘Against Heresies,’ Epiphanius wrote:

 

“The Nazarenes do not differ in any essential thing from them [meaning the Orthodox Jews], since they practice the customs and doctrines prescribed by Jewish Law; except that they believe in Christ….

“They believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that the universe was created by God.  They preach that God is One, and that Jesus Christ is his Son....

“They are very learned in the Hebrew language.

“They read the Law [meaning the Law of Moses]….

“Therefore they differ…from the TRUE Christians because they fulfill until now ‘Jewish’ rites as the circumcision, Sabbath, and others.”

 

[The Church Father Epiphanius in his doctrinal book, “Against Heresies,” Panarion 29, 7, Page 41, 402]

 
 

Epiphanius tells us that the Nazarenes differed from what he called the “True Christians….” because they continued to fulfill “until now” such “Jewish” rites as the circumcision, the Sabbath, and others.  Since Epiphanius lived and wrote in the fourth century, three hundred years after the Messiah, the Nazarenes and the Christians could only have been two Separate Groups at that time.

 

The Next quotation is by a modern-day Catholic Christian professor named Marcel Simon.  Marcel Simon lived and worked in twentieth Century France, and he was widely regarded as being one of the leading experts on the First Century Assembly.

 

In his book ‘Judeo-Christianity,’ Professor Simon disagreed with what Epiphanius had said regarding the Nazarenes.  In an effort to correct history, the Catholic Professor Simon wrote:

 

“They (meaning the Nazarenes) are characterized essentially by their tenacious attachment to Jewish observances.  “If they became heretics in the eyes of the Mother Church , it is simply because they remained fixed on outmoded positions.”

[However….] “They well represent (although Epiphanius is energetically refusing to admit it) the very direct descendants of that primitive community, of which our author knows that it was designated by the Jews, by the same name, of Nazarenes’.”

[French Catholic Professor and First Century Assembly expert Marcel Simon, Judéo-christianisme, pp 47-48.]

 

 

Even though he was himself a practicing Roman Catholic, Marcel Simon professed that it was not the Catholic Christians, but the Nazarenes who were the “very direct descendants of that primitive community,” called the Nazarenes.  By this, he means that the Nazarenes (and not the Catholics) are the direct spiritual descendants of the Apostles of the New Covenant.

 

The Church father Epiphanius told us that there were two different groups, the Christians and the Nazarenes; and now Professor Simon tells us that it was the Nazarenes who descended directly from James, John, Peter, Paul, Matthew, Andrew, Phillip, and the rest.  And yet, curiously, Professor Simon agrees with Epiphanius that these Nazarenes were indeed heretics, because they continued to practice the exact same worship as the Apostles had.

 

In other words, Professor Simon says that the Nazarenes of the fourth century became heretics simply because they continued to practice the Faith Once Delivered to the Saints."  [end of quote]

 

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