Professor’s Corner: Christmas & Joseph’s Obedience

KJV Matthew 1:18-22 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. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Last week I introduced the study of “Christmas & Mary’s Humility” by saying it was a message about humility. In order to support this focus, I emphasized Luke 1:38, which is an unforgettable verse describing Mary’s humble response to the Announcement of the birth of Christ by the archangel angel Gabriel…

KJV Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Mary, you’ll remember, identified herself as a slave of the Lord, and then uttered the unforgettable words, “Be it unto me according to Thy Word.” I suggested this was an incredible example of humility for us all to follow.

This week I would like to introduce our study by saying it is a message mainly about obedience: “Christmas & Joseph’s Obedience.” One cannot read the story of the birth of Christ from the standpoint of Joseph and not be struck by Joseph’s obedience, especially when considering all the embarrassment he would have endured over Mary’s pregnancy. In spite of considerable difficulties and without hesitation, Joseph simply did what God through the angel told Him to do.

Listen to these memorable words from chapter two of Matthew’s gospel, again from the old King James version:

KJV Matthew 2:13-14 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

Joseph was commanded, and he simply obeyed. He didn’t question the angel. He didn’t ask God “why.” He simply did what he was told to do. That we all might be just as obedient to God’s Word today!

Scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about Joseph, as compared to Mary, but the facts that the Bible does reveal about him do tell us, I believe, enough to get a fairly detailed picture in our minds about this man, who was – when properly understood, it must be added – the earthy father of Jesus. Jesus had no earthly father biologically, of course. If Joseph had been Jesus’ biological father he would have passed on the sin nature to Jesus, and we know that Jesus was perfectly sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus had no human father; God was His Father.

Here are some things we know about Joseph. Verses 3-5 in Luke 2 give us several key details:

KJV Luke 2:3-5 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

For one thing, Joseph was in the royal line of King David. Maybe you have never thought about it before, but if there were Jewish kings when Jesus was born, which extrabiblical sources lead us to believe there were, being in the royal line of David as he was, Joseph could have been a king, unrecognized as he was (cf. Luke 2:24; turtledoves would have been a sign of privation).

From Luke 2, we learn that Joseph lived in the little city of Nazareth in Galilee, in the northern part of Israel. So we know where Joseph was from. And Matthew 13:55 tells us what Joseph did for a living. As you know, he was a carpenter by trade (cf. Mark 6:3). So, we may intelligently assume he was a hard-working man. Even though we are not provided a great deal of information, in but a few verses we are given a rough sketch of Joseph that is revealing.

The name “Joseph” in Greek is Ἰωσήφ (ee-o-safe [pronounced rapidly Yo-safe]). In Hebrew it is יֹוסף (yo-seph). There is no “J” in either Greek or Hebrew. We get the “J” from Latin. “Jesus” is more correctly “Yea-sous,” from the Greek Ἰησοῦς, or going back to the Hebrew, “Ye-shu- ah” (ֵיׁשּוע ). (I hope you enjoy seeing the actual Greek and Hebrew words in these studies.) I
studied the name “Joseph” and found that there were various scholarly opinions about what the biblical name means. It most probably means one of the following: “Yahweh has added,” “May God add,” “he added,” “he increased,” or even “he removed.”

Mathew tells us that it was Joseph who named Jesus:

KJV Matthew 1:20-21 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Time will not allow me to go into to more detail about Joseph, but suffice it to say that by what the Bible does tell us, Joseph was most definitely a good man. Look a Matthew 1:19 again:

KJV Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

This brief description tells us a lot about the man Joseph. “Just” in Greek is the same word as “righteous” (cf. the NAS translation), a word that points to being morally upright, honorable, straight with the Lord. The fact that the Scripture says “man” without an adjective (such as “young”) strongly suggests that Joseph was at least thirty years old. In the ancient Jewish culture, a male was not likely to be called “righteous” before the age of thirty. Whereas Mary was by all accounts a young teenager, probably no older than sixteen, Joseph was likely close to twice her age when Jesus was born.

But note also about Joseph the words “not willing to make her a public example.” Without imposing our modern ideas upon the text I believe we may accurately assume from what the Bible tells us that Joseph was indeed a good man, compassionate, sensitive to the welfare of others. Because of the shame he would have suffered from his culture then over his delicate relationship with the young virgin Mary, his heart would have been broken, his manly pride crushed, his soul in agony, we see Joseph nevertheless foremost concerned with how Mary would be perceived and received by society. With all these reasons to not be, Joseph was obedient to the Word of the Lord.

When everything written in Scripture about Joseph is studied, it is inarguable that he is presented as a sterling example of righteousness and obedience. May we all reflect upon these two prominent qualities and benefit greatly by that meditation in our own lives this Christmas.

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm