THE ANGEL’S APPEARANCE TO JOSEPH

"The Dream of Joseph" circa 1640 AD by Georges de La Tour.

(Nazareth B.C. 5)

Matthew 1:18-25a

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. [Secretly or privately. The NIV translates this as: “He had in mind to divorce her quietly.”]

There is some interesting information in the last sentence. If Joseph did not want to expose her to public disgrace, Mary's condition was probably not widely known. Perhaps it was confided and confined to her immediate family and Joseph. At any rate, Joseph had every right to divorce her under the Law. He would have cited Deuteronomy 24:1, "If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house..." (NIV) This certificate of divorce was called a "Get" and would have been considered merciful on Joseph's part considering the punishment available for adultery. A Get would have accomplished three things. One, it would have severed any marital obligations between Joseph and Mary; two, it would have freed Mary to marry another man if she wished and it would have legitimized any child born to that marriage. Here are the basic rules for a Get:

(1) The parties appear before a rabbi learned in the laws of divorce, a scribe, and two witnesses.

(2) The husband requests that the scribe write the GET for his wife, which the scribe then proceeds to do using a special quill pen.

(3) The husband declares that he is giving the GET of his own free will, and the wife concerning its receipt makes a similar declaration.

 (4) At this point, the GET is then signed by the two witnesses.

 (5) The parties are again questioned as to whether they are giving and accepting the GET voluntarily.

 (6) The husband takes the GET and drops it directly into his wife’s cupped hands, stating: "This is your GET and accept this as your GET, you shall therewith be divorced from me, you are untied free and permitted to any man".

 (7) She then places the GET under her arm and symbolically leaves by turning and moving several steps away.

 (8) The divorcée then returns and the GET is taken from her by the officiating rabbi who tears the GET crosswise; and

 (9) finally, the divorced woman is given a Divorce Certificate to prove her divorced status, and the process is over.

It says Joseph wanted to do this quietly. He would not have been required to place blame in order to obtain a Get, he could simply claim his displeasure in Mary. He would not necessarily had to spell out what the indecency was he found in her. Obviously, her condition would become apparent. Perhaps the plan also included sending her away somewhere. Mary and Joseph were betrothed, which was as binding as marriage, but did not include consummation. If Mary were seen as pregnant, people would assume either Joseph and Mary had not remained pure in their betrothal or Mary had committed adultery. Joseph would probably have desired to avoid either accusation.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS [Hebrew: Joshua, which means God is Salvation]: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” [Isaiah 7:14]

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took to him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

There are some who claim Mary and Joseph never had sex or children of their own. Here in Matthew 1:25 is the first of several passages in Scripture that refute that idea. They restrained from consummation of their marriage vows until sometime after the birth of Jesus. If Mary and Joseph had denied their bodies to each other as man and wife, they would have been committing sin against each other and the commands of God. (See Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:25-33 for example.) 

This also took great faith on Joseph's part, because by doing so he would bring some condemnation on himself for not restraining himself and his wife during the betrothal period. I am sure people were no different then than now and much whispering went on around the town speculating on just how and by whom Mary had become pregnant. Probably the rumor that she had been either raped or had an affair with a Roman soldier began here.

P.S.: In de La Tour's painting, Joseph appears as quite old. Often we see Joseph portrayed as much older than Mary and although it is possible he was a few years her senior, it seems more likely he and she were both quite young given the customs of the time. Mary may even been as young as twelve or thirteen and Joseph himself may have been a teenager. We really don't know their actual age at this time from any authentic source.

So why have classical artists often painted Joseph as this old man?

There are apocryphal writings, such as "The Story of Joseph the Carpenter", that contend Joseph had been married prior to Mary and was of quite an advanced age. According to these traditions, Joseph married one Melcha (sometimes called Escha) when he was forty years old and they lived together 49 years before she died. During their marriage, Joseph and Melcha had six children, two daughters and four sons, the youngest of whom was known as James the Less.

Now a year after Melcha died, for reasons I really don't know, these priests send a message throughout Judea for a worthy man to Marry this twelve or thirteen year old girl named Mary. So Joseph, this ninety-year man, makes the trek to Jerusalem to apply as the groom and gets selected.

This idea caught on that Joseph was this very old man at the time of Christ's birth. I think one of the reasons this story was perpetuated came from the belief of some that Mary remained eternally a virgin after Jesus was born. There is a belief in some churches that Mary and Joseph never had any sexual relationship in their marriage, a situation I stated was a sin and violation of God's will. However, those who hold that this was the case faced the problem when Scripture mentions Jesus' brothers and sisters on occasion. This story then resolves the problem by claiming Joseph had a previous marriage and Jesus had half-siblings. Joseph would have been free to marry Mary because his first wife had died. (The same apocryphal stories claim Joseph died at the age of 111, which would have his demise coming halfway between Jesus' presentation at the Temple at age twelve and His ministry beginning at age 30.)

This whole idea that Mary remained a virgin and never had marital relations with Joseph is not Scriptural at all. The elaboration of a previous marriage for Joseph just shows the lengths some will go to rather than accepting what Scripture clearly tells us. Scripture tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters who were the children of Joseph and Mary. Matthew tells us, "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son." (NIV) The form of that last statement indicates that after the birth of Jesus they did have normal marital relationships.