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 A few hundred years before the exodus, Jacob is lying on his deathbed in Egypt. Knowing he’s near the end of his life, he gathers his twelve sons so that he can bless them and prophesy over them before he dies.  

Twelve men appear before their father, but only one son is promised a kingdom. Not Reuben, the firstborn. Not Joseph or Benjamin, his favorites. In a twist that only makes sense if it’s God Himself leading Jacob, the dying man promises that a kingdom will come from the line of Judah.  

Genesis 49:10—“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  

Not only will Judah’s heir be a king with a scepter, but all nations will bow before Him. For nearly 1000 years this promise seemed to be forgotten. Until a little baby was born in the little town of Bethlehem. That baby was David, and he would become the greatest king Israel ever had.  

Near the end of his life, God repeated that long-forgotten promise to David:  

2 Samuel 7:12-13—“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."  

Perhaps some thought David’s son, Solomon, would be this promised forever king. But Solomon’s heart was quickly led astray. Solomon’s son divided the kingdom, and within a few hundred years the kingdom was completed destroyed. But God had not forgotten His people and He hadn’t forgotten His promise.  

Matthew believes that those old promises were actually pointing to a new and better kingdom, inaugurated by Jesus Himself:  

Matthew 2:19-22—But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.  

Herod’s dead and another king has taken his place. Joseph and the family don’t want to return to Judea where Herod’s son ruled.  Matthew wants us to see that God is sovereign in all this! He’s using this to fulfill a prophecy..  

Matthew 2:23—And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.  

There is no quote like this anywhere in the Old Testament. What is Matthew talking about? There’s a hint in the language Matthew uses here. Unlike the other two prophetic quotations in Matthew 2:13-23, here Matthew refers to the prophets (plural) not a single prophet. So Matthew doesn’t have a specific prophecy in mind, but a theme throughout the prophets.  

What theme? The answer comes in the name of the town, Nazareth. New Testament scholar Andreas Kostenberger says, “Although it is impossible to know with certainty the original meaning of the Hebrew name Nazareth (likely ntzrt) it likely was quite closely related to “branch” (ntzr), and an English translation might very well render it “Branchville” or “Branchtown.” [1]  

If you know the Old Testament, that word “branch” ought to remind you of something:  

Isaiah 11:1—There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  

Jeremiah 23:5—“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  

Matthew is telling us the Branch is here! Like David, He’s a king who will lead a glorious kingdom. But although this kingdom is similar to the one led by David, it’s different. This will be a kingdom that transcends nationality and ethnicity. It’s a kingdom without flags and borders. It’s a kingdom that spreads not by force but by faith.  

The story of Jesus is a new story that connects to an old story and completes it. Jesus inaugurates a new and better kingdom.  

 

[1] Andreas J. Kostenberger and Alexander E. Stewart, The First Days of Jesus: The Story of the Incarnation (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015), 88.