The Testimony of the Nazarenes:
the jizya (head tax) on non-Muslims, convert to
Persecution of the Followers of the
Jewish Messiah Brings Jesus to the
Foreground of the Middle East
Conflict
By Judith Mendelsohn Rood and
Paul W. Rood1
August 1, 2014 (5 Av 5774)
In Mosulσ ancient Ninevehσ this week, ISIS
(Islamic State of Iraq and Sham/Syria) spray-painted
the Arabic letter τnun‖ to identify homes owned by
Christians so that they could be expropriated as
Islamic property. The τnun‖ stands for Christianσ
in Arabic Nasrani, the Qur‘anic term for the
followers of Jesus the τNazarene.‖2
11 Dr. Judith Mendelsohn Rood is Professor of Middle
Eastern History at Biola University in La Mirada, CA. She
received her Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History from the
University of Chicago and her M.A. in Arab Studies from
Georgetown University. Paul W. Rood is an independent
scholar and Lecturer in Politics, Economics and History
at Biola University.
2 Muslims Join Christians in Declaring I am Iraqi, I am
Christian, Al-Jazeera Online, July 23, 2014,
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201407232058-
0023959 Accessed August 2, 2014.
ISIS offers Christians a horrific choice: either pay
Islam, flee and leave all their possessions, or be put
to death.3 The status of dhimmi requires non-Muslim
subjects of Islamic states to pay the head tax in
exchange for the protection of the regime, which in
early Islam aimed to keep Christians and Jews in
place so that they could continue to lead productive
lives for the benefit of the state.
However, today‘s Takfiri jihadists condemn
traditional Muslims, Jews, and Christians as infidels
and consider the presence of Christians as a threat
and insult to Islam, so the τjizya” tax they impose is
exorbitant and does not follow the laws of Medieval
Islam setting the legal rate for jizya payments (which
non-Muslims paid in exchange for not serving in the
Muslim army and for the state‘s protection).4
Since few people can afford to pay these unjust
taxes, many have been murdered. Horrific stories of
rape and suicide have emerged from the darkness
created by the so-called τcaliphate‖ in Syria and Iraq.
Since the fall of Mosul, more than 500,000 refugees,
including almost all of the Christians from Mosul,
have fled to the Kurdistan region seeking refuge.5
Christians have taken shelter in churches in Erbil
and other Iraqi Kurdish cities with Christian
populations. 6 Over the past three years of war in
Syria, we have read unspeakable accounts of
beheadings, crucifixions, and even the bartering of
blood by Sunni jihadists, slaughtering the Nasara,
traditional Sunnis, Shiites, and other minorities.
The unholy jihad unleashed in Syria and Iraq in
response to the Iranian penetration of the Levant
has led to a frenzy of destruction. It has now spread
beyond Syria and Iraq to Gaza, where Qatar and
Turkey, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, and
3 ISIS in Mosul Marks Christian Homes, Patriarch Issues
Urgent Appeal, Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA), July 19, 2014,
http://www.aina.org/news/20140719115241.htm
Accessed August 3, 2014.
4 Judith Mendelsohn Rood, Sacred Law in the Holy City
(Leiden: Brill Academic, 2004), 48, 57, 115-6, 159, 182.
5 ISIS Forces Last Iraqi Christians to Flee Mosul, by
Alissa J. Rubin, in the New York Times, July 18, 2014, A4.
6 They are Savages – say Christians Forced to Flee Mosul
by Isis, by Fazel Hawramy in The Guardian, July 24, 2014.
 2
Iran, which supports Hamas are fighting a proxy
war, and to Lebanon. 7 Churches and monasteries
have been looted, demolished, or taken over to
serve as mosques. The shrines of the biblical
prophets Jonah and Seth, revered by Christians,
Jews and Muslims, have been completely destroyed,
because the Takfiris consider anything dating from
before the giving of the Qur‘an ς the Jahiliyya τthe
time of ignorance‖ ς to be sinful. Their aim is to
destroy all connections between the Bible and Islam.
Against this background, in a
courageous demonstration of
solidarity with their Christian
neighbors, some Muslims and
other minorities have adopted the
Arabic letter τnun‖ in opposition
to ISIS, protesting, τwe are all Nasrani.‖ This
phenomenon has gone viral on social media.8
Yet few participating in this campaign are aware of
the etymology of the ancient term. It was first used
to name the early followers of Jesus, the τNazarene.‖
Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic, the three major
Semitic languages spoken in the Middle East, share
similar names for Christians (notzri/nasrani): in
Hebrew Notzrim ‫נוצרים‬, in Arabic Nasara (‫ن ص ر ا‬,
collective noun), Nasrani (‫ن ص ر ا ن ي‬, "a Christian"
singular, adjective).
This contemporary use of ancient prophetic
language is worthy of our notice. The word τNaṣara‖
is used in the Qur‘an and translates as τNazarenes.‖
These Nazarenes were Aramaic-speaking followers
of Jesus: some scholars believe that these were the
descendants of the Jewish Christians of Arabia
7 Kahwagi: Arsal Attack Meticulously Planned, The
Daily Star, August 3, 2014,
http://www.dailystar.com.1b/News/Lebanon-
News/2014/Aug-03/265908-kahwagi-arsal-attack-
meticulously -planned.ashx#axzz.39LYfRIhp accessed
August 3, 2014.
8<#nazara_pic.twitter.com/j5o7Hv4F6F>, A Christian
Genocide Symbolized by One Letter, by Christine Sisto
on National Review Online, July 23, 2014.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/383493/christi
an-genocide-symbolized-one-letter-christine-sisto
among whom the Apostle Paul stayed during his
three-year retreat in Arabia following his conversion
on the Damascus road. It‘s important, in this
connection, to note the destruction of Aramaic
villages and towns throughout Syria and Iraq as a
particular aim of the Takfiri movement.
The Arabic language has both preserved and
obscured the biblical content of the sacred texts of
the Qur‘an, redacted in the 7th century in northern
Arabia. The term for the followers of Jesus (‘Isa in
the Qur‘an) is the Nasara, which preserves the
shared understanding that the people of the Middle
East who follow Jesus, τthe Nazarene,‖ are the
Nasara, the Nazarenes. First recorded in the New
Testament, the Qur‘an preserved this most ancient
name for Christians, and has resurrected it in today‘s
headlines.
Nazareth: The Home of Jesus
Obviously, one of the reasons that Jesus was called
τthe Nazarene‖ was because he grew up in Nazareth.
But to the Jewish religious leaders, Nazareth, in
Jesus‘ day, was an out-of-the-way town in the
Galilee, tucked up in the mountains off the major
highway going north from Jerusalem into Syria. The
backward and humble Galileans were despised by
the religious elites of Judea, and even Galileans such
as Jesus‘ disciple Nathanael viewed the humble
village with disdain ς τcan anything good come
from Nazareth?.‖9
Unbeknownst to most Jews then and now, during
the Second Temple Period, the Davidic family
began to be persecuted by other Jewish parties who
were vying for power. Famously, Herod the Great
persecuted the family of David, fearing that a leader
from the royal blood line would overthrow him. As
recorded in the New Testament, Jesus‘ mother Mary
and her husband Joseph were both of the family of
David. They had fled Bethlehem and taken refuge
in Nazareth, where they lived until just before Jesus‘
birth.
9John 1:46. Some Bible commentators believe that
Nazarene was simply used as a term of disdain,
fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53 that the Messiah
would be despised and rejected by mankind.
 3
τNazareth‖ (Natzerat, ‫ )נצְרת‬is a noun for
τwatchtower‖ in Hebrew. The town sits below a
ridge which offers a panoramic view (Arabic:
nadhara) of the Jezreel Valley, to the northeast, south
and west. A watchtower is built in order to allow
the defenders of the region to warn of the
movement of armies ς critical to the defense of
Israel. Nazareth also acquired a symbolic meaning
as the place of refuge for the branch (netzer) of the
Davidic family, a shelter far from the reach of
Herod, unlike their hometown, Bethlehem. After
the Holy Family‘s flight to Egypt, they returned to
Nazareth. And so it was in this neglected little town
on the frontier of Israel that the young Jesus τgrew
in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and
men‖ (Luke 2:52).
Jesus‘ extended teaching ministry in Galilee enabled
him to remain on the fringes of the territory of the
Herodians - the inveterate enemies of the Davidic
line ς and their temple agents, the Sadducees. On
occasion, Jesus would slip away into Phoenicia and
the Syrian Decapolis to escape beyond the borders
of their political control.
The Notzrim: The “Watchers” Who “Keep the
Testimony”
We have seen that the place-name of Nazareth is
connected to its setting as a τhigh watchtower‖ over
the Jezreel Valley and as a refuge for the τbranch of
David.‖ Similarly, the people who are called Notzrim,
Nasara, or the Nazoreans are those who are τthe
watchers,‖ or, translated often, as in Psalm 119:2,
τthe keepers of His testimony (Hebrew notsri
edotaw).‖
The root verb netzer (‫ )נצר‬appears over sixty times
throughout prophetic Hebrew scripture; frequently
in Isaiah, Jeremiah and the Psalmsσ sixteen times
in Psalm 119 alone.
The Greek word used in the Gospels, Nazoreans,
and the Hebrew equivalent, the Notzrim, was a term
which was in use during the Second Temple Period
to designate those very observant communities
which were expectantly awaiting the Messiah,
including the little community in Nazareth, where
the family of David found refuge from the
Herodians.
The early disciples of John the Baptist, who had
undertaken repentance, ritual baptism, and the
pursuit of a righteous lifestyle were also called
Nazoreans in the patristic and apocryphal literature.
While John himself had undertaken the extreme
religious vow of a nazir (‫ )נ יר‬ς an even further
separation and consecration ς which included
abstinence from alcohol, the cutting of hair, and
touching the dead ς only rarely would his disciples
do so. Some linguists argue for an etymological
connection between the Greek word Nazorean
(Να ω αίων) 10 and Nazirite vows. However, it
cannot be demonstrated in the historical record that
Jesus or his followers took Nazirite vows.
The New Testament record gives much stronger
evidence to the connection of Nazareth and
Nazerene to the Hebrew root word netzer. Matthew,
John, and Luke used the term Nazorean
(Να ω αῖ ) repeatedly in their writings to indicate
that Jesus was τfrom Nazareth,‖ but also to
acknowledge him as the rightful heir of Davidσthe
royal τbranch‖ (netzer) of David. The link between
Nazorean and Nazareth is found in Matthew 2:23:
And after being warned in a dream, he went away
to the district of Galilee. There he made his
home in a town called Nazareth [Να α έ ], so
that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled, τHe will be called a Nazorean
[Να ω αῖ ].‖
In this verse, Matthew was interpreting the
testimony of the Hebrew prophets Jeremiah and
Isaiah, creatively linking the forms of the Hebrew
Netzer/Notzrim. Nazorean, as used by the Greek
10Nazerene is spelled with the letter ζ (zeta), which is generally
transliterated from the Hebrew letter (zayin) but never ‫צ‬
(tsade) as in netzer (‫)נצר‬. Transliteration from Hebrew to Greek
often led to the blending and confusion of terms, fusing their
meaning to create entirely new concepts.
 4
translator of Matthew, is thus a new term, appearing
here for the first time in association with Nazareth.11
Early in his gospel (1:9), Mark refers to Jesus as
being τfrom Nazareth‖ (ἀ ὸ Να α ὲ ). After his
baptism (1:24) by John the Baptist, and three later
passages, Mark refers to Jesus as τthe Nazarene‖
(Να α νέ), perhaps signifying a broader Messianic
label for Jesus and his followers.
Few prophetic passages are more Messianic than
Isaiah 11:1-10. Jerome (c. 347 ς 420), the first
known Church Fathers to do so, links Matthew's
prophecy to Isaiah 11:1: τThere shall come forth a
shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch (netzer,
‫ ) נצר‬from his roots shall bear fruit.‖ 12 Thus,
according to this interpretation, Jesus was the
τbranch‖ (netzer) from the house of Jesse (David‘s
father), which had been cut off from kingship, of
which only a buried stump remained. Epiphanius
provides some additional background when writing
about the Nazerenes, saying that before the
Christians were given that name, they were called
Iessaioi (of Jesse). 13 The shoot coming out of the
stump of Jesse, the branch (netzer), is Jesus, and his
followers, the Notzrim.
The prophet Zechariah and Jeremiah also make
repeated mention of the Messianic τBranch,‖ but
use a different Hebrew word tsemach (‫)צ ח‬. 14 In
Zechariah 3:8-9 (NIV), the prophet writes
concerning the future Messianic Branch:
8 ‗Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your
associates seated before you, who are men
symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring
11An inscription on a marble fragment from a synagogue
found in Caesarea Maritima in 1962, confirms "‫"נצרת‬
(Nazareth) was spelled with a ‫( צ‬tsade), rather than a
(zayin). Avi-Yonah, M. (1962). "A List of Priestly Courses
from Caesarea". Israel Exploration Journal 12: 137–139.
12 Jerome, de situ, 143.
13 Epiphanius, Panarion, 29, 1,3-9; 4, 9.
14 See Jeremiah 23: 5-6 The days are coming, declares
the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous
Branch [tsemach ], a King who will reign wisely and do
what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be
saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by
which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
my servant, the Branch [‫]צ ח‬. 9 See, the stone I
have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes
on that one stone, and I will engrave an
inscription on it,‘ says the Lord Almighty, ‗and I
will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
10 ‗In that day each of you will invite your
neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,‘
declares the Lord Almighty.
Why would Isaiah prophecy concerning the future
Branch using the root netzer, while other prophets
might use tsemach? Recent Dead Sea Scrolls
scholarship indicates that both terms were used
interchangeably for the τMessianic Branch.‖ 15 A
pesher (commentary) on Isaiah 11:1-6 describes the
netzer as the tsemach haDavid, the same term used by
Zechariah in 3:8 and 6:12. 16 How splendid that
Isaiah would use a word formed out of the Hebrew
word root netzer, that has the dual meaning of
τbranch‖ (the Messiah) and τwatcher/keeper‖ (the
followers of the Messiah).
It is significant that John‘s Gospel relates that when
the armed guards come to arrest Jesus in the Garden
of Gathsemene, they state twice that they have
come to arrest τJesus the Nazerene‖ [ ὸν
Να ω αῖ ν]. When crucified, τPilate had a notice
[ ί λ ν, title] prepared and fastened to the cross. It
read: Jesus [lit.] the Nazerene, [ὁ Να ω αῖ ], the
King of the Jews.‖17 It is most significant that this
inscription on his cross is his τtitle,‖ giving it great
significance.
In Acts 24:5, the Jewish leaders charged the Apostle
Paul with being a τringleader of the Nazorean
(Να ω αίων) sect.‖ Paul responds affirming his
identity as a Nazerean, equating it with another
description of the earliest Jesus followers:
14 However, I admit that I worship the God of
our ancestors as a follower of the Way [Gr: hodos],
which they call a sect. I believe everything that is
15 M.L. Coloe, God Dwells With Us: Temple Symbolism in
the Fourth Gospel (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical
Press, 2001), p. 171.
16 4Q161 (4QpIsa Line 111). Martinez and Tigchelaar,
Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, (Leiden: Brill, 1997), I:316.
17 John 18:5, John 19:19.
 5
in accordance with the Law and that is written in
the Prophets…
Clearly this term was used to describe a people with
a specific set of beliefs (followers of the Nazerene,
and the Way of the LORD), not residents of a specific
town in Galilee.
In the early rabbinic Jewish writings such as Avodah
Zarah 6a and Ta'anit 27b., Notzri (singular) and
Notzrim (plural) ς spelled with the Hebrew ‫( צ‬tsade)
are used to describe Christians. The Babylonian
Talmud passage Sanhedrin 107b states "Jesus the
Nazarene (Yesu haNotzri) practiced magic and led
Israel astray." A clearer indication of early rabbinic
antipathy toward the Messianic linkage of the Netzer
(Branch) to Jesus‘ followers is found in Baraita
Sanhedrin 43a-b:
Our Rabbis taught: Jesus the Nazarene had five
disciples …When they brought Netzer (one of
those disciples listed) before the court, he
(Netzer) said to them …It is written: an offshoot
(netzer) shall grow forth out of his roots [Isa.
11:1].‖ They [the judges] answered him: Yes,
Netzer shall be executed, since it is written: You
shall be cast forth away from your grave like an
abhorred offshoot (netzer) [Isa. 14:10].
Princeton scholar Peter Schafer, in his fascinating
book, Jesus in the Talmud, includes detailed primary
source material and a careful interpretation of the
rabbinic polemic against Jesus the Nazarene and his
disciples. 18 Shafer notes that the passage above
clearly indicates that the Rabbis connected Jesus and
his followers with the netzer passages of Isaiah.19
It is clear that Jewish Christians who followed a
Jewish lifestyle continued to be called Notzrim by the
Jewish and Aramaic/Arab communities, while they
were called τChristians‖ by the Greco-Roman
community, as in I Peter 4:16: τYet if anyone suffers
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him
glorify God in that name.‖ The Greek word
18Peter Schafer, Jesus in the Talmud (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2007.
19Some commentators such as Klausner identify the
disciple called Netzer to be Andrew, the first disciple of
Jesus to be martyred.
Χ ι ιανό (Christians) is a translation of the
Hebrew τMessiah follower,‖ (Meshiykhiyyim, ‫) שיחיים‬.
Arab Christians today also use this termσmasihiyun,
in addition to the older transliterated Greek term
τChristian‖ (krystiyan).
The scholar Ray Pritz, in his definitive work on
early Nazorean Jewish Christianity writes:
The Greek name, Christian, was first applied in
Antioch, probably the earliest mission to the non-
Jews, and it is well known that τChristian‖ was
originally used by non-Christians to designate
believers among the Gentiles, while τNazerenes‖ was
already used in Palestine to describe Jewish adherents
to the new messianic sect.20
Pritz concludes that over time, these Nazorean
Jewish Christian communities were confused by the
Church Fathers with heretical sects such as the
Ebionites and the Mandaeans. The true orthodox
Nazoreans continued to exist in scattered
communities in Galilee and east of the Jordan, along
with others in Syria and the northern Hijaz of the
Arabian peninsula, up until the fourth century,
possibly later.21
As centuries passed, the Greco-Roman Church
fathers accused the Nazorean Jewish Christians of
heresy because they continued to express their faith
in Jewish cultural terms ς accordingly the Greek
term τChristian‖ was always used for those they
classified as the τtrue‖ Church.
In the Qur‘anic material, the Nasara/Nasrani appear
as Christians who keep the Jewish dietary and
religious laws (circumcision and Sabbath). Several
scholars have offered hypotheses concerning their
doctrinal and ethnic identity. A Nasrani priest,
Waraqa Bin Nawfal, is said to have been a tutor and
companion of Muhammad. According to the
Islamic sources, Waraqa, a scholar of the τGospel of
20 Ray A. Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1988), 13.
21 Pritz, 8. See also Gordon Darnell Newby, A History of
the Jews of Arabia: From Ancient Times to Their Eclipse
Under Islam (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina
Press, 1988) 66-7. In recent years there has been a
proliferation of studies on the biblical origins of early
Qur an.
 6
the Hebrews‖ and the Old Testament, accepted
Muhammad‘s prophecy, although he remained a
Nasara (Christian). Khadija, Muhammad‘s first wife,
was said to be the cousin of Waraqa, and the first
convert to Islam.22
As the Muslim conquers spread north and west,
penetrating into the Greco-Roman provinces, they
extended the Quranic name naṣārā to the Christians
of that region. Most of these Greek Christianos and
Syriac Krystiyans would likely have accepted this
appellation in order to receive Islamic acceptance
as ’ahlu l-kitāb (τpeople of the book‖).
Many of the Greek and Latin Christians continue to
refer to themselves as Nasrani when speaking in
Arabic among Muslims. Churches of the East ς
generally the Assyrians (Chaldeans) and Syrian
Orthodox ς have have often continued to call
themselves Nasara/Nasrani. in Syriac/Aramaic and
Arabic. Thus, it is more than ironic that the modern
Jewish and Muslim terms for Christians preserve
this earliest identifier of the earliest disciples of
Jesusσthe Jewish community of τwatchers‖ and
τkeepers‖ from Nazareth.
In modern times, the Wahhabis eradicated the
Jewish communities in Arabia. Most of the rest of
the Arabic speaking Jews (the τSaturday People‖)
were expelled from the modern Arab states
following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Today, it is only the τSunday People,‖ the Nasara,
who bear the name of the God of Israel in the Arab
World.
The Hebrew Prophets Concerning “The
Notzrim” and “the Last Days”
Interestingly, while the modern Israeli Jew uses the
term Notzrim to refer to all Christians, everywhere,
they are also likely unaware of the ancient Jewish
Messianic roots of that term.
22We thank our friend Dr. Tony Maalouf, scholar of Islam
and early Arab Christianity, for making us aware of the
work by Juzif Qazzi translated into English as Joseph Azzi,
The Priest and the Prophet: The Christian Priest Waraka
Ibn Warfal’s Profound Influence Upon Muhammad, the
Prophet of Islam (Pen Publishers, 2005).
Including also the prophetic scriptures of the New
Testament spoken and written by those Hebrew
prophetsσthe early Jewish Christians, between 25
and 30 percent of the entire Bible consists of
prophetic writings. The great proportion of these
prophecies have been fulfilled. However, some
remain unfulfilled, those pertaining to the τlast days‖
(the acharet ha-yamim) culminating the present age of
empires and nations.
These events of the τlast days‖ focus on the nation
of Israel and its enemies during a period of great
wickedness, slaughter, and global devastation. The
Notzrim/Nasara are important actors in the
apocalyptic literature, specifically Jeremiah, chapters
30 and 31. Chapter 30 foretells the regathering of
the assembly of the Israel, the establishment of their
own government, and the rebuilding of their cities
on their ancient ruined landσ in a continued state
of unbelief.
Jeremiah 30:24 (NIV) reads:
The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he fully accomplishes
the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
you will understand this.
God will then act as a τwhirlwind‖ on behalf of
Israel and in judgment upon the wicked. The
LORD will draw Israel‘s heart to Him during these
times. Some during the Second Temple Period were
awaiting the Messiah to fulfill this prophecy, and
were disappointed because Jesus did not judge the
nations and establish His kingdom.
Although some Christians believe that these
prophecies concerning Israel have already been
fulfilled through Jesus and the generation that
witnessed his coming and the establishment of the
τChurch of Christ,‖ the Apostle Paul recognized
that a new period of history had begun, with Israel
to be dispersed again and set aside τfor a time‖
because of their unbelief concerning their Messiah.
This was the mysterion, or the great mystery, that had
been revealed to him, a mystery which fueled his
outreach to the Jews and gentiles beyond the
 7
borders of Israel. This new people is the Notzrim,
constituted by believing Jews and Gentiles who
believe in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. These receive
the salvation of their souls through his atoning
sacrifice, and follow τThe Way‖ of the Nazarene.
These Notzrim are to preserve the Word of God,
share the Good News, keep watch, and warn Israel
and the Nations of the Coming Judgment.
Chapter 31 of Jeremiah (NIV) continues:
1τAt that time,‖ declares the Lord, τI will be the
God of all the families of Israel, and they will be
my people.‖
2 This is what the Lord says:
τThe people who survive the sword
will find favor in the wilderness;
I will come to give rest to Israel.‖ …
6 There will be a day when watchmen (Notzrim,
‫ )נצרים‬cry out on the hills of Ephraim,
‗Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.‘ ‖
7 This is what the Lord says:
τSing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‗Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.‘
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the
north and gather them from the ends of the
earth. Among them will be the blind and the
lame, expectant mothers and women in labor;
a great throng will return.
9They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel‘s father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
10 τHear the word of the Lord, you nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‗He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.‘
Some rabbis, eager to obscure the prophetic
meaning of this community, interpreted τNotzrim”
as angelic τwatchers‖ who guard Israel in the last
days and who will gather them in to worship in the
fully restored Zion.
However, another prophetic reference to the
Notzrim, Isaiah 49:6 (KJV), makes such an
interpretation less likely:
It is insufficient that you be a servant to me only,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the
preserved (‫ )נצירי‬ones of Israel! But I will (also)
appoint thee for a light to the nations, that my
salvation may reach as far as the end of the earth.‖
It is interesting that in this passage the τpreserved
ones‖ is derived from the same Hebrew root
τnetzer‖: those of the τbranch‖ who are the
τkeepers and watchers.‖ In both passages the
Notzrim can be seen as part of τall the families of
Israel‖σ that is, the believing Jews, along with a
believing remnant from Ephraim, the dispersed
τLost Tribes‖ and their descendants among the
nations σ who will participate in Israel‘s restoration.
As the Apostle Paul revealed, other Notzrim—the
gentile followers of the Nazarene— join the τtribes of
Jacob‖ and the τremnant of Israel‖ with the
formerly τlost‖ families of Israel in the last days.
Together, they constitute the τnew people‖ who are
drawn out of Israel and the Nations to serve God
during this Age23 a process which is completed with
full restoration of Divine blessing in the Messianic
Kingdom Age to come.
The preservation of Israel through all generations
and the regathering and restoration of dispersed
Israel in our own times testify to believing Jews and
Christians the faithfulness of the God of Israel to
his promises recorded in the Bible. It helps us to
understand that in our days, that the nation of Israel
is still in unbelief, depending upon her own strength
for her salvation. However, the rise of the modern
state of Israel has also been a provocation to
Muslims and a powerful sign to others who are
seeking God in a time of great suffering in the
Middle East. Many of these seekers are turning to
Jesus because of the hatefulness of the modern
Islamist ideology, which has completely severed the
God of Islam from the God of Abraham, Isaac,
Ishmael, and Jacob.
23Ephesians 3:6. (NIV) This mystery is that through the
gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body, and sharers together in
the promise in Christ Jesus.
 8
The Current Persecution of the
Notzrim/Nasara (Christians) of the Middle
East
The persecution and flight of the modern Nasara is
an aspect of the testimony and the preservation of
representatives of the God of Israel and Israel‘s
Messiah to the enemies of Israel and to the gawking
and hapless nations of the world. These Christians
of the Middle East, and those Muslims who feel
drawn to identify with them in solidarity, testify to
the truth concerning the Messiah among Jews and
Christians. In addition to their spiritual membership
within τall the families of Israel,‖ these ancient
communities have deep connections with the Bible
as well.
Returning to the Jeremiah 31, we see that the events
of restoration and redemption of τthe last days‖
follow an extended period of mourning and weeping.
15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in
Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel
weeping for her children refused to be comforted
for her children, because they were not.
Rachel, Jacob‘s favored wife, had but two children ς
Benjamin and Joseph. The tribe of Benjamin
remained faithful to Judah and a significant remnant
was preserved from the Babylonian conquest and
survives in the modern Jewish people. Joseph‘s
sons Ephraim and Manasseh became great tribes in
the Northern Kingdom of Israel but were mostly
carried away and scattered by the Assyrians, with
only a small remnant finding shelter with Judah.
The rest of the lost tribes are scattered into many
remote enclaves, some of which assimilated into the
ancient Christian and Muslim communities of the
Middle East.
Matthew quotes this passage from Jeremiah as a
prophetic backdrop for Herod the Great‘s slaughter
of the innocents of Bethlehem, in thwarted attempt
to prevent the prophesied coming of Israel‘s
Messiah. The forces of evil and hostility directed
against both the Jews and the Notzrim/Nasara of the
Middle East rages as we write these words.
Preparations for another slaughter of the innocents
is being prepared by the enemies of Rachel‘s
children ς those who have been regathered in Israel,
and those scattered but still τpreserved ones‖ who
are followers of the Messiah of Israel, or may soon
be drawn to believe in Him.
The God of Israel has promised that true and
lasting peace will come to the Holy Land. 16
Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from
weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work
shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they
shall come again from the land of the
enemy.17And there is hope in thine end, saith
the LORD, that thy children shall come again to
their own border. (Jeremiah 31:16-17 KJV).
May the whole spiritual assembly of believers in
Jesus the Messiah of Israel, be τkeepers‖ of the
Gospel of Grace and Truth, patient and wise
τwatchers,‖ who participate responsibly in His will
and work in the world and in history. As the
Apostle Peter wrote, to the scattered Notzrim of his
day, to encourage and instruct them (and us) in
preparation for the τlast days‖ when Jesus the
Nazarene, the Messiah of Israel, will return in power
and majesty to fulfill the ancient prophecies
concerning the τlast days.‖24
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we
need for a godly life through our knowledge of
him who called us by his own glory and
goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his
very great and precious promises, so that through
them you may participate in the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption in the world
caused by evil desires. … 16 For we did not
follow cleverly devised stories when we told you
about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in
power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
… 19 We also have the prophetic message as
something completely reliable, and you will do
well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in
a dark place, until the day dawns and the
morning star rises in your hearts.
24 II Peter 1: 2-4, 16, 19-21 NIV