Carson Village, Birmingham, Alabama
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” ~ Matthew 1:19-20
Precious little was done today, other than more research – on both our parts. Blaine, seeking the best possible places for us to live this summer and I, working on my Christmas week posts. The local weatherman promises downright cold temperatures beginning Christmas Eve. The high Christmas day? 39⁰! Oh, that it would come with snow! But that’s not looking too promising. Besides, it’s supposed to rain all day Christmas Eve. Hopefully the roads won’t be icy when we head to David’s Christmas morning.
We couldn’t even celebrate David’s birthday today because he was working. ☹
But we did get a few things done, and did some food prep for the next two days of celebration!
In my adult years, I’ve grown to admire Joseph. No one talks about him much, and Matthew and Luke are the only ones in all of scripture who even mention him, and even they leave a lot for us to read between the lines about this man God chose to father His Son. I wish there was more detail about him. We don’t even know what happened to him – why wasn’t he present at Jesus’ crucifixion? Was he dead by then? When did he die? How did he die? So many questions! The last time he’s mentioned is when Jesus was 12 and they accidently left Him behind in Jerusalem. Can you just imagine how terrified Joseph was at the thought of losing the Son of God?!?
Here’s what I’ve learned from my studies of this remarkable man:
While God spoke ‘face-to-face’ with Zechariah and Mary through angels, He chose to speak to Joseph in dreams. Four dreams that we know of – when God told him Mary was pregnant, when he was told to flee Bethlehem for Egypt, when he was told to leave Egypt and return home, and when he was told to avoid Judea. God seems to speak to his children in all different ways. How does He speak to you? Whatever method He chooses, I’m certain it’s in the way that enables you to hear Him best. Evidently for Joseph, it was through dreams. Just like the Joseph in the OT; the guy with the multi-colored coat. 😊
Joseph was pledged to be married to Mary when he got the news she was pregnant after her trip to visit Elizabeth. Being pledged back then was a binding contract. Just as binding as marriage. Essentially, they were married, just not living together or having sex. Mary being pregnant would be considered adultery and punishable by stoning. As her betrothed, Joseph would’ve had three options – 1. He could go ahead and have the marriage ceremony performed, knowing that the child wasn’t his, but acting as though it was 2. He could divorce her, which would still cause a scandal of unimaginable proportions, or 3. He could call for her to be stoned. We don’t know whether Mary told him her full story, or if she just told him, but however he found out, we learn that he was a righteous man and didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace. So he decided to divorce her quietly.
Below is a copy of a portion the commentary by Walvoord and Zuck for Matthew 1:18-23 because I found it very enlightening. I’ve only included the part for verses 18-19:
The fact that Jesus was born ‘of Mary’ only, as indicated in the genealogical record (vs 16), demanded further explanation. Matthew’s explanation can best be understood in the light of Hebrew marriage customs. Marriages were arranged for individuals by parents, and contracts were negotiated. After this was accomplished, the individuals were considered married and were called husband and wife. They did not, however, begin to live together. Instead, the woman continued to live with her parents and the man with his for one year. The waiting period was to demonstrate the faithfulness of the pledge of purity given concerning the bride. If she was found to be with child in this period, she obviously was not pure, but had been involved in an unfaithful sexual relationship. Therefore the marriage could be annulled. If, however, the one-year waiting period demonstrated the purity of the bride, the husband would then go to the house of the pride’s parents and in a grand processional march, lead his bride back to his home. There they would begin to live together as husband and wife and consummate their marriage physically. Matthew’s story should be read with this back ground in mind.
Mary and Joseph were in the one-year waiting period when Mary was found to be with child. They had never had sexual intercourse and Mary herself had been faithful (vs 20, 23). While little is said about Joseph, one can imagine how his heart must have broken. He genuinely loved Mary, and yet the word came that she was pregnant. His love for her was demonstrated by his actions. He chose not to create a public scandal by exposing her condition to the judges at the city gate. Such an act could have resulted in Mary’s death by stoning. Instead, he decided to divorce her quietly.
All this tells me that Joseph not only observed The Law, but he understood and practiced being the kind of person God expected him to be. He understood the Prophets who pointed out that God loves mercy more than sacrifice, and he took it to heart. (Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:8) This call to mercy carries over into the New Testament, as Jesus spoke of mercy several times, even quoting these verses by Hosea and Micah, and NT writers also speak of showing mercy to others. (Mt 5:7, James 2:12-13). Joseph’s decision on how to handle Mary’s perceived infidelity proves him to be merciful and compassionate. And assuredly, he would teach these traits to his children.
When an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, he called him “Joseph, son of David.” This is significant because it reminded Joseph that he was a descendent of King David’s and contributed to the fulfillment of several prophecies.
The angel then tells Joseph that he shouldn’t be afraid to take Mary home, because “what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” And he’s supposed to name the baby Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means ‘God saves.’
Like the righteous man he was, he did what the angel told him and took Mary home immediately. We don’t know how far into their one-year betrothal they were, but it doesn’t really matter. Knowing God, the timing was perfect.
And then Luke gives us more detail about the timing, and Joseph has to take Mary to Bethlehem. (We’ll talk about that on another day.) Joseph is a man who knows and follows God, so he would have known the prophecies about the Messiah – he probably especially studied once he knew who Mary was about to give birth to! He and Mary probably would have known that they had to be in Bethlehem when Jesus was born, and up until Caesar made his decree, they were probably wondering how God would make that happen.
Once in Bethlehem, Joseph is forced to find shelter in an animal enclosure so Mary could give birth. Knowing that Joseph loved Mary, surely he had “Why?” thoughts for God. But as a righteous man, I’m sure he relied on his faith.
And there, Jesus was born. And further confirmation came to them in the form of shepherds seeking them out, and excitedly telling them of their own angelic visitation.
Eight days later, as prescribed by the Law, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to have Him circumcised and officially named, probably at the local temple in Bethlehem. Thirty-three days after that, they traveled to Jerusalem (about 5 ½ miles) for Mary’s purification sacrifice which had to be made at the temple. And just as we talked about with Mary, the time there must’ve been quite enlightening for Joseph. Luke tells us that both parents “marveled at what was said about Him.” by Simeon and Anna.
After that, we don’t know where Joseph’s family was residing. We also don’t know how old Jesus was when the Magi came to visit, but Luke calls Jesus a child. It seems logical to me that Joseph would’ve wanted to take his family back home to Nazareth, but maybe they stayed in Bethlehem to avoid the scandal of a baby ‘born to soon’, or some other place close to Bethlehem that we don’t know about. But additional confirmation came when these Magi showed up in the Bethlehem area and shared their story. Wonder what the neighbors thought about these visitors?
When Herod issued the order to slaughter the babies (boys younger than two years), an angel again visited Joseph in a dream and told him to escape to Egypt, and to stay there until further notice. So he did. This trip also fulfilled prophecy by Hosea, “Out of Egypt I call my son”. How difficult would it be for you to hurriedly pack up all your stuff and head off to another country for an undisclosed amount of time? How much faith would it take? More than I have, for sure! But what we know about Joseph shows him to be a man of great faith and obedience.
Once they’d been in Egypt for a while (maybe as long as a year), an angel tells Joseph it’s safe to go home because Herod’s dead, but when he arrived in Judea, and he heard Herod’s son was now on the throne, Joseph was afraid. I’m certain, knowing Joseph’s character, he spent time pleading for answers from God. God spoke to him in the same manner as before, and the angel told him to head for Nazareth.
Other than the story Luke gives us of Jesus at the temple, we know nothing else about Joseph. But we can ascertain from what we know, what kind of man he was. And really, what else would we expect from a man of God’s choosing to raise His Son? Nothing extraordinary in the eyes of man, but certainly so, in the eyes of God. Joseph exhibited the qualities God most looks for – righteousness (right before God), obedience, mercy and love.