Joseph's Story (A Christmas Message)

Yehosef’s (Joseph’s) Story

Come Christmastime, we hear so much about the miracles that God lavished on Miriam, Mary. We read a lot about Elizabeth and her son, John, and there’s a lot of focus on the women. We sing about wise men and shepherds, Bethlehem and angels, a star and a manger. In the scant few carols that even mention Joseph, they do so only because he was engaged to Mary. How little we hear about Jehosef – whom the Gentile world calls Joseph – destined to be stepfather to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Joseph. In Hebrew, the name means “He (He being Yahweh) will add.” We can be sure that Joseph did indeed add much to the life of his stepson in turn. His calling was the most important task ever given to a man. He could have rejected this responsibility, but He didn’t. Instead, Joseph chose to be the daddy he didn’t have to be.

Few of his words are recorded in Scripture. The words of great men are often immortalized, but the reserved and quiet man will not be remembered by many. Still, a quiet man’s greatness is generally revealed through his actions. God created Joseph as a quiet but faithful man. He does not seek to be noticed, he seeks to please God. Truly great men show their greatness not with words but with character.

Many men are like Joseph. Like Mary, an unremarkable girl from an unremarkable town, who went about her business unnoticed by many until God stepped in, God chooses them for a reason. They may never display great works, but God chose them to serve with the hope within them. That is the most important task.

Luke 1:26-27 says, “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”

Joseph is not seen again until chapter 2, in vv. 3-6,

“So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.”

Even though the words in Scripture tell us very little about Joseph, examining the events surrounding him tells us a great deal about him. He only receives a direct mention in 16 verses. He receives no mention by Mark at all, nor is he in Acts or any of the Epistles. He disappears from Scripture after the incident in the temple when Yeshua was 12; there’s no mention of him during the passion or at the cross. Most scholars agree that he probably died around the time Christ began His ministry. Personally, I’ve wondered if the earthly father had to be removed so the Heavenly Father could take over. No way to know.

There have been a great many artistic portrayals of Joseph and his family over the centuries, most of them by European masters. They depict Joseph as an old white man, usually with a grey or greying beard. Traditions originated during the Dark Ages taught that Joseph was an older man and a widower with children from a previous marriage. The Catholic Church pushes that narrative, along with their depictions and beliefs about Mary, as you read in the previous post, that ignores and denies the Scriptural truth that she had other children. Joseph, as a Hebrew, would have had dark or black hair, a Mediterranean skin tone, and dark eyes – and he was actually 17 or 18 at the time of the Nativity according to numerous and reputable Hebrew historical writings – the normal time for young Hebrew men at the time to marry and start a family. The early Catholic Church “sanitized” much of Christian history so as to not offend certain sensibilities of its people, and even today continues to rewrite it. But that is another story!

Now, think about what Joseph must’ve gone through, knowing the baby was not his. This tells us a lot about his character. Mary knew she hadn’t been unfaithful, but Joseph didn’t. Matthew 1:19 tells of Joseph’s righteousness and goodness. He would never condone or excuse adultery. So he chose to put Mary away quietly. How many in the modern world choose that route? Most would shout, post angry rants on Facebook, and make a grand spectacle over what a blankety-blank she is! But no, Joseph was a man of integrity, choosing to spare her any indignity.

Matthew 1:18-20, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Joseph put Mary’s needs and honor before his own, and this is one of the major lessons Christ later taught – others first, self last…  sacrificial love. In that culture, Joseph could have gone public with the divorce, gone to the town square and told everybody what was what in any manner he wished. Mary would have been humiliated, her family disgraced, Joseph would have had his bridal money refunded, and under the Law of Moses, had Mary stoned. Wow. Yet...

Joseph did none of that. He decided to make it look like he changed his mind. He would be seen as the bad guy, not Mary. HE would be to blame; HE would wear the shame and disgrace. All of this occurred before the angel appeared to reassure him about the marriage.

Brethren, here is an application for us to make. Joseph showed Mary mercy, love, and tenderness. He put her first, made sure she was okay. Ephesians 5:25 tells men to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. These are the lessons Christ taught His followers for 3½ years, the life-lessons that make up the New Testament. The basis for many of Christ’s commandments are rooted in character traits that would have been instilled in Him by Joseph.

In Joseph, we see some of the highest ideals of character, humility, servanthood, forgiveness, fatherhood, grace, mercy, love, and faith. Today, those attributes are culturally unpopular, mocked, and seen as weaknesses. No matter how bad the world gets, these values must never be allowed to slide into obscurity. As for me, I would much rather offend people than offend God.

Growing up, how often did Yeshua witness these traits? Matthew 13:55 tells us that Joseph was a carpenter. Israel had little knowledge of iron; it was the Bronze Age in their culture. Carpenters made most things a household would need: tables, chairs, wagons, wheels, farm tools, wells and buckets, sprockets & gears – you name it. In this culture, boys followed in the footsteps of their fathers. It was traditional and expected as a gesture of honor and respect in Hebrew society. And godly fathers were diligent is the bringing up of their children as commanded by the Shema in Deuteronomy 6. Mark states that Yeshua was a carpenter, too. That means He probably worked in that trade from boyhood until the start of His ministry. As such, we can learn a lot about Joseph from observing his stepson. Luke 2:41-50 shows that Yeshua knew his ‘real’ Father – capital F – from a young age, and 51 & 52 touches on His adolescence as he grew up. Where do most men gain wisdom, learn about the world, the right way to treat others, the value of hard work, and good morals and ethics? From their dads, of course. While Yeshua was both fully God and fully man, He would have learned His human qualities from Joseph. Joseph was an honorable man, highly moral and ethical in his business, he truly loved and adored Mary, and obviously knew Scripture since we’re told in Luke 4:16 that the family went to synagogue regularly. Today, we know that 85% of human personality is determined by the age of 5, so how His parents cared for him early on influenced who Messiah became as a man. One particular item that is not recorded in Scripture, but has been the subject of much speculation over the centuries was the event surrounding Yeshua’s appearance, and subsequent teaching, in the temple. It has long been the Hebrew tradition and duty that boys go through their bar-mitzvah ceremony at the age of 12. Many think that it is likely that His parents presented Him in the temple at this age specifically for that purpose. They were diligent in presenting Him in the temple at 8 days of age for another covenantal ceremony, so the supposition for age 12 is believed quite possible.

Nehemiah 8:2-3, So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 

Like Mary, Joseph also made that annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Nazareth. By the way, one of the reasons Nazareth was largely unknown, aside from a questionable reputation, was that it was small town. The population, according to the census, was only between 200 and 400 people at this time. Anyway, Nehemiah outlines the duty of people to make the trip, and from the language in Luke, we know both Mary and Joseph were present. The duty to help his stepson understand what he was hearing would have fallen upon Joseph. We also know that they stayed for the entire seven days, despite only being required to stay two, because the Bible tells us that they “finished their days” there. The Hebrew language means that they stayed for the full 7-day festival. Hebrew law states that most festivals must cover at least one Sabbath. It is also likely that after the coming of age, and Yeshua making clear that He must be about His Father’s business, that Joseph now knew that this was the completion of his spiritual duties, and that it was time to step aside. It’s quite possible that this is the reason he disappears from Scripture after this time.   

When Christ taught followers not to lust after women and to ‘do unto others,’ do you suppose He learned those virtues from observing how His dad conducted his business and personal life? Everyone here reflects at least some of what we learned from our fathers; we depend on that as it helps define who we are. It would have been no less for Christ – He learned how to be a man from Joseph before He was ready to fulfill His heavenly purpose. What He learned from Joseph shaped His life and His ministry, and although none of us was asked to be the father of the Messiah, we are expected to raise children of God – can I get an amen?!

Let’s take a Bible Study look at a related topic for a moment, and consider how wonderfully God works things out:

Jeremiah 22:24-30, “As I live,” says the Lord, “though Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans. So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return. “Is this man Jeconiah a despised, broken idol— A vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, And cast into a land which they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: ‘Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.’”

In this, we have a subtle, but key, point: God’s own curse prevents anyone from the bloodline of David from sitting on the throne! Those who heretofore had an earthly legal right to the throne were barred from it by this curse on Jeconiah. Joseph was a direct descendant of Jeconiah, thus inherited legal right to throne, but could not occupy it because of the curse. Had He been Joseph’s biological son, Yeshua also would have been forbidden to occupy David’s throne! God solved the humanly insolvable problem through the virgin birth, appointing Joseph to be the stepfather. Matt 1:16’s genealogy of Christ does not say that “Joseph begat” Him. Matthew’s words state that Yeshua was humanly born of Mary. Now, we learned last week that Mary was also of the line of David, so how….      It’s actually simple: Joseph was descended from Jeconiah, but Mary was not.    God is in the details, and His word proves itself again and again!

Some mock Christians and the impossibility of virgin birth. With the Septuagint, written 200 years before Christ, the Hebrew scholars clearly used the word that means virgin – NOT a less definitive word used in some watered-down modern translations that merely say ‘maiden’ or ‘young girl.’ Alexander the Great was spreading the Greek language; that was the reason the Septuagint was written. In it, Isaiah 7:14 was very clear in using the word for ‘virgin’ 700 years before Christ and 500 years before the Septuagint. The Greek word used in Septuagint is ‘parthenos’ and it has only one meaning. It’s also the origin of the name ‘Parthenon” – a Greek temple to a virgin goddess.

Liberals and Age of Enlightenment so-called ‘scholars’ have been working to erase the notion of virgin birth in order to plausibly deny prophecy, and by orthodox Jews who deny Messiahship of Yeshua.     They    will    not    succeed.     It may be that Joseph’s words were not recorded in Scripture because it was his character that mattered. One of the mistakes people often make is to not be satisfied with what God has said – or has not said. God’s silence on a matter does not give us the right to sort it out on our own, inventing things to fill in the gaps where God stays silent. For instance, much of the Apocrypha was written during the inter-testamental period, and more was written after His revelations to the apostles ended with John in 96.

Some of the apocryphal narratives concerning Joseph are extravagantly fictitious, narratives written from the 2^nd through 4^th centuries, once again by people who had some crazy need to embellish the stories and confuse believers. One absurd allegation says that he lived to be 111, which is profoundly disproven by the Bible. There are very good reasons why these apocryphal books were excluded from the final canon of Scripture in 397! Biblically, reliable information about Joseph is found only in the Gospels.

One interesting item in modern politics and the church was Pope Pius XII in 1955. He declared the 1^st May as “St. Joseph the Worker Day” as a direct counter-celebration to the communist May Day, the Russian new year. Anti-communist fervor was in full swing at that time – some of you may remember the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and other events of the era. Earlier anti-Russian and anti-communist sentiment is what led to gross misunderstandings by Scofield in his End Times studies and beliefs. After World War 1, Americans and Europeans burned hot against the new communist regime that formed the USSR. Orthodox and Byzantine Christians were caught directly in that because of their churches now falling under the Soviet bloc. But isn’t it curious how all that led to a modern-day recognition of the work of Joseph!

In closing, Mary was an ordinary Hebrew girl who had favor with God and, like Joseph, was from the line of David. Joseph was a humble carpenter, but he was a man whom God knew. God’s angel didn’t appear just once – but did so four times. God took care of Joseph, and Joseph took care of Yeshua. No man played a more important role in Yeshua’s life than Joseph. He protected Him, provided for Him, taught Him, mentored Him, and although not His biological father, Joseph adopted his stepson in the same way his stepson adopts us – through mercy, love, and the desire for a familial relationship. And that, my friends, is why Christianity is not a ‘religion.’

The story of Joseph should speak to everyone about the influence one has on children – the development of their character and their perception of life. Joseph answered God’s call. He obeyed God. He lived that way. Brethren, we are called to do no less. Grace and peace to you, my friends.    

Shalom Aleichem