<p><span>2:23&nbsp;</span><em>And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets-</em><span>&nbsp;It was not specifically spoken by plural prophets that Messiah was to be called &quot;a Nazarene&quot; because He would grow up in despised Nazareth, but that was the implication of the prophecies that Messiah was to be despised of men. See on 2:22 for some thoughts about this apparent 'forcing' of the prophetic fulfilment here.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><em>That he should be called a Nazarene</em>&nbsp;- The town was despised spiritually as incapable of producing a prophet (Jn. 1:46; 7:52), and yet in Hebrew it meant 'town of the shoot', and the shoot was a title of Messiah (Is. 11:1). Again this is typical of God's style- to invest the most spiritually despised with the highest spiritual calling.</p>