The Righteousness Of Joseph:
Rising Above Legalism
I am fascinated by Joseph, the earthly human father of Jesus
Christ. Here is a man who broke away from the legal conventions of Jewish law
pertaining to marriage.
To clearly appreciate why
the Holy Scripture describes Joseph as a righteous man, we have to take a
closer look at the Jewish system of marriage. Jewish law like any legal system
governing marriages has remarkably strict formal requisites. This was the legal
milieu in which our Savior was conceived, and born, from a humble couple of
Jewish ancestry of the lineage of King David, admittedly the greatest king of
Israel.
The virgin birth of our
Lord and the blessedness of Mary His mother have been the focus of the
spotlight in this tableau that Joseph has so far been overshadowed.
The Bible declares Joseph
was a righteous man. With this affirmation it may be well to shift the spotlight
and see what kind of a man was Joseph, the husband of Mary. I mentioned the
Jewish custom on marriage at the outset because this is the mirror where we begin
to see up close the face of this man, husband and father.
We are told that the angel
came to a virgin named Mary, the favored one. The virginity of Mary is affirmed
in Scripture. She was sexually pure,
signifying that the human agency whom God chose to bring His Son into this
world was a pure vessel.
Now Mary the virgin was already
betrothed to Joseph when the angel delivered the news that she was with child
by the Holy Spirit. This news was shocking. Obviously Mary did not tell Joseph
that she was pregnant. But sooner the discovery became inevitable, as Joseph
was kept in the dark. His virgin bride, was pregnant a terribly scandalous
situation.
To fully appreciate the
impact of this unexplained pregnancy of Mary upon Joseph, we need to look into the basic formalities of Jewish marriage in
those days.
In those days marriage
consists of two stages: First stage is the betrothal. Second stage is the Marriage
Proper which happens one year later from betrothal.
In the betrothal stage, the
engagement is formalized by an agreement. This is initiated usually by the
father of the groom, and the respective parents of the bride and the groom meet
and negotiate the marriage settlement. When the agreement is done, the
Qiddushin or formal betrothal takes place.
This formal betrothal is as binding as marriage itself, although there
is no marriage ceremony that takes place yet.
The betrothal agreement,
however, is as binding as marriage itself, since the only way to get out of
this relationship is by divorce. If
Joseph had died between the betrothal and the marriage, Mary would have been
his legal widow.
It was at this stage of
formal engagement between Joseph and Mary, that Mary became pregnant with
child, as announced by the angel. They had to wait for a year for the marriage ceremony
to take place. The binding effect of Jewish
marriage already applies in the betrothal stage. The wedding celebration or
ceremony which would come later after a year, is only a recognition of the
formal agreement already established in the engagement.
This is the reason why in
Matthew, we read that “Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before
they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew
1:18), and in the succeeding verse
Joseph is described as Mary’s “husband” which seems to contradict the previous
statement that they were only “pledged to be married.”
There is no contradiction
here because Jewish law already considers them as husband and wife even at the
betrothal stage. This is the reason why Joseph had the perfect right to travel
with Mary to Bethlehem. They were considered as husband and wife, but the only prohibition
was that they should refrain from sexual relations until the second stage of
the marriage is completed, that is, the marriage ceremony.
The pregnancy of Mary at
this stage, was highly scandalous more
so with Joseph who surely knew that he was not the human agency who caused the
pregnancy of his wife. This is not only scandalous but evidence of adultery. This
was indeed a shocking revelation to Joseph. The only thing he knew about the
child Mary was carrying was he did not sire the child. And the only humanly
possible conclusion that could be drawn
from this situation was that Mary committed adultery. Jewish law at that time provided
for the harshest penalty for adultery
that is death by stoning. It is also a ground for divorce.
As we focus the spotlight
on Joseph what did he do to merit the Biblical declaration that he was righteous?
Let’s read Matthew, “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 after he had considered this 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.”
Here we see that even
before the angel appeared to Joseph and explained everything to him, his thought and action revealed his merciful heart, overflowing
with kindness and forgiveness. He did
not want to expose Mary if Mary had really done such a thing to defile their marital
union. Joseph was a merciful, forgiving, and compassionate man. He did not want
to humiliate Mary. He did not want to expose her publicly and condemn her even
at the risk of placing her under indictment for adultery. He did not want to
accuse her of a grievous sin. He did not want to hurt her, nor avenge the
dishonor. He chose not to exercise the full extent of
his legal rights, and instead suffered
to be wronged.
Here is a man who stands
out for his kindness, compassion, forgiving spirit, and love. A man of rare qualities
shining like a gem in this unforgiving world, where we frequently see condemnation,
hatred, and indecency.
