Answer # 39

Jesus' home was in Nazareth until age 30. After Jesus' birth in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1), Joseph brought his family to Nazareth so that Jesus would be called a Nazarene — a resident of Nazareth (verse 23). If Jesus had spent most of His childhood years away from Nazareth, He would not most likely have been known as a Nazarene.

In Luke 4:16 we read, "So He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up." This scripture could not say He was brought up in Nazareth if He had lived there only until the age of 12, and had spent the next 18 years somewhere else.