[Milton-L] Samson as suicide bomber

[Nancy Charlton]

A quick look at the KJV via electronic concordance shows one (1) use of "Nazarene": 
Matthew 2:23: 
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

However, there is no direct reference in the prophets, nor in the OT at all. "Nazareth" is used only in the NT, and "Nazarite" in the Numbers description of ritualistic usages, and in the Samson story in Judges. 

However, "Nazareth" derives from "netser," or "twig" and so the fulfillment is of Isaiah 11:1  "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:"

The handiest commentary I have, Matthew Henry on blueletterbible.org, explains that "Nazarene" was a term  both commendatory and opprobrious. The "Man" is the "Branch," but to be from insignificant Nazareth ("can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" asks the apostle Nathaniel (John 1:46) connoted reproach--hence, "despised and rejected (Isa 53:2,3)," "a worm and no man (Ps 22:6,7)," and "alien to his brethren (Ps 69:7,8)." But here is the really interesting thing in MH per this discussion: apropos of the "Branch," 

It speaks him to be the great Nazarite; of whom the legal Nazarites were a type and figure (especially Samson, Jdg. 13:5), and Joseph, who is called a Nazarite among his brethren (Gen. 49:26), and to whom that which was prescribed concerning the Nazarites, has reference, Num. 6:2, etc. Not that Christ was, strictly, a Nazarite, for he drank wine, and touched dead bodies; but he was eminently
so, both as he was singularly holy, and as he was by a solemn
designation and dedication set apart to the honour of God in the work
of our redemption, as Samson was to save Israel.

So far as I recall, Milton doesn't come right out and say that latter in either SA or PR, and I don't know whether it is in DDC or elsewhere in the prose, but I would surmise that this was a received view and had been so for a long time, so that the implication would have been obvious to his contemporary readers (ooops, that can of worms again!)

Also, Miss Thistlebottom here notes the spelling of "Nazarite."  Miss Th. also corrected a typo above which made her laugh: "despised and refected."

Nancy Charlton
Cornelius, Oregon
Where an olive branch should appear after Noah's flood-style rains

[repeated conversation snipped]

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