benja burns

Two questions:

1. What's the deal with the words 'nazarene' and 'nazarite'?
2. Did the town of Nazareth exist when Jesus was born and was it within Roman tax jurisdiction?

Thanks.

Toto

Please read up on the prior discussions of this, starting with these two recent threads:

Nazareth questions

Nazareth was a small village of no importance

A few questions on Nazareth (check for spin's comments near the end on the Nazareth / Nazorite confusion)

Diogenes the Cynic

Just to answer Question 2 (and I'm not about to enter that lingusitic quagmire about the many variations of "Naz.." "Notz..." etc.) no one really knows if Nazareth existed, or if it did exist where it was located. If it did exist it would not have been subject to Roman census or tax during the reign of Herod the Great.