Joseph (Husband of Mary)

Biblical Account

Joseph appears mainly in the accounts of Jesus' birth in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. Scripture does not record a single word spoken by him.

• Lineage and occupation: He was a descendant of David (Matthew 1:20; Luke 2:4). In the genealogies, Matthew names his father as Jacob (Matthew 1:16), while Luke names him as Heli (Luke 3:23). Because the people of Nazareth called Jesus "the carpenter's son" (Matthew 13:55), Joseph is understood to have been a carpenter. The Greek word translated "carpenter" refers broadly to a craftsman who works with wood or stone.
• Betrothal and dreams: Joseph was betrothed to Mary (Luke 1:27). Betrothal was a legal relationship that bound the parties to a promise of marriage. When he learned that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit, Joseph, "being a just man," sought to end the relationship quietly rather than make the matter public (Matthew 1:19). But after hearing the words of the angel of the Lord in a dream, he took Mary as his wife and called the child's name Jesus (Matthew 1:20–25).
• Birth and flight: He went with Mary to Bethlehem to be enrolled in the census (Luke 2:1–7). Later, warned in a dream of the threat from Herod, he fled to Egypt. After Herod's death he returned, but to avoid Herod's son Archelaus he settled in Nazareth (Matthew 2:13–23).
• Visits to the temple: At the rite of purification, he offered "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:24). In the year Jesus turned twelve, Joseph went up to Jerusalem with him for the Passover. On the way home, finding that Jesus was not among their company, he went back to look for him and found him in the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41–51).

After this, Joseph's activities are no longer recorded. All that remains are references to Jesus as "the son of Joseph" (Luke 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42).

Significance Within Scripture

Through Joseph, the Gospel of Matthew shows that Jesus legally belonged to the house of David. Joseph's naming of the child is commonly interpreted as signifying that he accepted Jesus as his son. Matthew repeatedly portrays him as carrying out exactly the instructions he received in dreams (Matthew 1:24; 2:14; 2:21). The offering in Luke 2:24 was one the Law permitted to the poor (Leviticus 12:8), and it is therefore read as a clue to the family's circumstances.

Interpretations and Debated Questions

• The brothers of Jesus: Protestants generally regard the "brethren" of Jesus mentioned in Matthew 13:55–56 and elsewhere as children later born to Joseph and Mary. One of them is James. The Catholic Church, which holds that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life, understands them to be relatives such as cousins. The Orthodox Church has a tradition that regards them as Joseph's children from an earlier marriage. Some of the Protestant Reformers also accepted Mary's perpetual virginity.
• The two genealogies: Various explanations have been offered for why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke differ. One view regards Luke's genealogy as Mary's line; another explains the difference by levirate marriage, a marriage in which a man continues the line of a brother who died without children.
• Later legends: The stories that Joseph was an elderly widower and that he was chosen as Mary's husband when his staff blossomed come from the second-century apocryphal Protoevangelium of James and similar works; they do not appear in Scripture. Nor does Scripture state directly that Joseph died before Jesus' public ministry. This idea is an inference drawn from Joseph's disappearance from the record and from the scene in which Jesus, on the cross, entrusted his mother to a disciple (John 19:26–27).
• Catholic veneration: The Catholic Church observes March 19 as the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. In 1870 Pope Pius IX proclaimed Joseph Patron of the Universal Church. Protestants do not follow the tradition of venerating saints.