The Jews and a few other unbelievers have written scathing biographies on this man. But they were based on hearsay motivated by hatred. Unfortunately, the truth is, we have very, very little information about Joseph. Other than a few things which are revealed to us in the infallible Word of God, just about everything we might have to say is supposition and expostulation, flowing out of a few words here and there. So, I’m not claiming anything authoritative or conclusive this afternoon. I might be dead wrong in some of my suggestions, but they are offered in an attempt to be a blessing and to bring glory to God. Plus, I think that you’ll be able to say that they are not beyond the spirit of the Word.
This man is named seventeen times – only in the gospels – and in most cases it’s in a passing sort of way. For example we see his name in both genealogies, and six times here in Matthew 1. There are more than a dozen references to Joseph in describing our Lord’s childhood. Luke 2 – “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:)” “And (the shepherds) came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” “And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.” Some people referred to Jesus as “the son of Joseph,” but this was due to a lack of information at the time. “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” In contrast to these there is one significant statement found in Luke’s genealogy. “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli” – Luke 3:23.
To the best of my memory there is only a couple other incidental references to Joseph in the scriptures. For example after Jesus was left in Jerusalem, his parents went back to look for him. Something else is given to us in Matthew and Mark. Christ was preaching and teaching in Nazareth, stirring up the hearts of some of His neighbors. But the critics responded with – “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” Mark adds, “And they were offended at him.” Joseph was a carpenter, and the Gospel of Mark says that Jesus’ too was trained to be a carpenter. Other than what we might glean from reading between the lines, this is all the information that we have about Joseph. But there is one significant comment found there in Matthew 1:19, and I’d like to pursue it, because it is important.
And of course, the Bible tells us that the Lord Himself is “righteous” or “just.” Jesus used that word to describe God – “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.” And the Bible actually applies that word to the Lord Jesus as one of His titles. Peter for example, liked employing the word “dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) to Christ. “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.” Stephen repeated the idea – “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Paul used this terminology as well, when speaking about Christ.
With this as our background, we’d really like to say when it comes to men, that this is the word’s only meaning. But the truth is that the Biblical context determines its use. For example the Lord Jesus in speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees said, “ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” There is an outward, hypocritical appearance of righteousness. But as Isaiah tells us “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” In fact, Romans says, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” Ah, but here the scripture tells us that there was at least one righteous man – Joseph. In truth the Bible reveals that there are many others who are righteous.
How can it be that “there is none righteous,” and yet this man was righteous? There are two possible ways – one being the outward, useless variety. But there is another. Without trying to prove it again, let it be said that God has, on thousands of occasions, made unrighteous men and woman – righteous. In God’s perfect salvation, sinners are declared to be righteous in the sight of the Lord. The righteousness of Christ, the Son of God, is applied to the sinner by the sovereign grace of God. “What saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” By the grace and command of God, righteousness was imputed to Abraham when he put his faith in the promise of God. And at the same time, the sins of the sinner were applied to Christ, the substitutionary sacrifice. This is the Biblical doctrine of “justification.” Because of this salvation, those whom the Lord has saved can be legitimately described as “righteous.”
But here is where things can get confusing. There are people in the Bible who are described as “righteous” – apparently before they were saved. For example, in Acts 10 there is a Roman named Cornelius. The Jews who knew him described him as “a just man” (as righteous), but that was before he was taught about the sacrifice of Christ for his sin. When Peter preached unto him Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, and he believed on Christ. And about forty years before that, there was Simeon, an elderly man who spent his time in the Temple. When Jesus was still an infant this man was presented with the Christ. “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”
Were Cornelius, Simeon, and Joseph “dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) in some non-spiritual way, or were they made righteous – just – through an operation of the grace of God? I suppose the question goes back to whether or not there are righteous people in the Old Testament. Since Matthew’s description of Joseph was given to him by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I’m forced to say that this was not the inflated opinion of some friendly acquaintance, but a definitive statement from the omniscient God. Joseph was a “dikaios” (dik’-ah-yos) man – a righteous man. I believe that he was probably a saint of God in the same way as were Abraham, David, Daniel and hundreds of other Old Testament saints. And although it isn’t specifically declared, I’m sure that the same statement could be made about Mary.
And just because someone is “just” that doesn’t mean that life can’t take an apparent disastrous course. Job’s relationship to Jehovah and his righteousness didn’t prevent terrible troubles from falling on him. Just because a person’s heart is pure, it doesn’t mean that heart can’t be broken.
Despite the way that this marriage between Joseph and Mary had been arranged, it seems to me that there was already a love and respect between them. That Joseph chose not to take the straightest of legal action against his betrothed, suggests that he cared about this young woman. But at least initially, it seemed to him that she had been unfaithful. There was no joy or relief in his heart as he thought about putting her away – divorcing her. By the way “to put her away” is translated “divorce” in Matthew 5, as we shall see later. I would guess that at least for a little while, Joseph thought that he would die of grief over this situation, despite his relationship to the Lord.
And something else that his “righteousness” didn’t provide was accurate insight into the heart of God. As much as you and I might like to know what God knows, we’ll never know all of it. To paraphrase what the Lord once said to another “just” man – Samuel – “No man seeth as the Lord seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” Most of the time all that we have to look at are outward appearances. That was certainly the case between Joseph and Mary, but that outward appearance wasn’t the full story. Joseph’s imputed righteousness, wasn’t sufficient to give him access all the facts or to the mind of God.
These are important lessons, but perhaps just as important is this last point.
First, Joseph’s righteousness didn’t keep him from doing what appeared to be the right thing. Can you imagine the tension that existed in all of this? Mary, had been visited by an angel, and she properly believed the message which had been given to her. How quickly did she go to her fiancé to tell him that she was pregnant? And what was her attitude? Fear, timidity, joy, excitement? What did she expect from Joseph? Sympathy, joy, anger? Did she trust his professed faith and his apparent righteousness. Was his righteousness genuine, or was it the same hypocritical variety as the Pharisees?
Based only on what Mary told him, Joseph didn’t have many choices. She said that she was pregnant, and she probably repeated what the angel had told her. But this was extraordinary; this had never in happened before; this required a miracle. Could Joseph believe all this, simply because it came from another believer – a loved one? If she was lying, and she had been unfaithful, she might offer up some really fanciful excuse like this. Until he received some divine instructions, Joseph felt obligated to protect his own good name. He was “minded to put her away.”
At the same time, his righteousness was not the same kind as the Scribes and Pharisees. He was more attuned to the spirit of the law than to the letter of the law. His fiancé said that she was pregnant through the Holy Spirit, and she was not a person prone to lie. Initially, he couldn’t prove or disprove what she was saying. He wanted to believe her, but the outward appearances said that this was unlikely to be true. So he thought about putting her away, but privately, not with a desire for revenge or to destroy her. What he was doing appears to have been carried on with humility – rather than Pharisaic pride. If I had to guess, I’d say that he spent hours in prayer over this matter and his decision, just as Daniel had done years before when faced with the dilemma of eating or not eating the king’s meat.
“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. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.” What does a “righteous man” do when the Lord speaks to him? He does what he is told to do.
Is it significant that Matthew doesn’t describe any conversation between Joseph and the angel? Could it be that they discussed this matter, and that it simply isn’t recorded for us? Or was this a simple revelation where the man listened and wasn’t given opportunity to respond? When the Lord tells us something, whether it be by way of angel, burning bush, or through the pages of God’s Word, what the Lord has to say isn’t open to debate. Sure we must try the spirits to see whether they are of God, and Joseph might have doubted that this was an angel of the Lord. But what he was told matched perfectly with what Mary had told him, so he received it as it was, the message of God. One of Paul’s high praises for the people of Thessalonica was like this: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.”
What does a “just man” do? He obeys the command of God and trusts the Lord for an outcome which will glorify the name of Jehovah. Surely, Joseph understood what it meant to be the step-father of the coming Messiah. But I’m sure that he could also see that for the next 20 or 30 years is life was going to be unlike the life of any other man on earth. He was probably going to loose the love and respect of his unbelieving friends and relatives for not putting this woman away. Did he know that he and his family were going to ridiculed, laughed at and probably ostracized for the rest of their lives? Of course, he probably didn’t know how long he would live, leading his little family. Does the fact that after Jesus’ first few years of life, we hear no more of Joseph, mean that the stress of this situation brought his life to an early end?
Despite all that we don’t know about Joseph and his life, both before and after the birth of the Lord, I am of the opinion that he deserves a great deal of respect from all believers. Probably there are twice as many lessons from his life, as what I have shared with you this afternoon. I think that we should all praise God for the blessing that Joseph was to young Jesus of Nazareth.