Tags
Adoption, Advent, angels, Christmas, David, Dreams, Geneaology, Jesus, Jewish Law, Joseph, Luke, Mary, Matthew, Roman Law, Stock of Jesse
- Angel appears in dreams to Joseph twice
- Matthew 1:18-25 (Angel tells Joseph not to shun Mary)
- Matthew 2:13-23 (Angel tells Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt to flee Herod)
- What we know about Joseph
- Mentioned only a handful of times
- With respect to the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, flight to Egypt, return to Galilee.
- In Luke 2:48 — the episode regarding Jesus teaching at the temple at age twelve. Interestingly, Joseph is not mentioned by name (rather it speaks of Jesus’ parents) in this account nor does he say anything to Jesus. Mary calls Joseph “Jesus’ father”; however, Jesus corrects her when He emphasizes who His real Father is. This is the last we hear of Joseph.
- Mentioned only a handful of times
- Luke 3:23 mentions that Joseph was Jesus’ father.
- Descendant of David, according to Matthew’s genealogy, which is important, because Isaiah 11:1-4 says that the Messiah will come from the “stock of Jesse.”
- Two genealogies given for Jesus
- Matthew 1:1-17
- It was customary to mention the genealogy through the father.
- Starts with Abraham and goes forward to Joseph.
- Carries the legal line of Jesus’ relation to David.
- Matthew is writing to a predominantly Jewish audience, which would expect genealogy to be traced through the father.
- Luke 3:23-38
- Starts with Mary and goes back to Adam
- Carried the biological line of Jesus’ relation to David.
- Avoids the problem of the curse on Jechonias (Jeremiah 22:30) in Joseph’s lineage, which said that none of Jechonias’ descendents would sit on the throne of David.
- Joseph was a carpenter.
- The Greek word is tekton, which was used of a versatile and skilled builder or craftsman who worked with various materials including wood and stone.
- Jesus would have learned the trade from Joseph.
- Joseph was probably older than Mary.
- We don’t know for certain how old Joseph was or what the age difference between them was, but can safely assume he was old enough to provide the dowry.
- Based on the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James, Joseph is thought to have been a widower of about age 90 who had other children.
- Was considered to be Jesus’ father.
- Not Present for Jesus’ Public Ministry.
- Because he is not mentioned in Jesus’ adult life, it is presumed that he died before Jesus began his public ministry. We have no details on when or how he died.
- There may be an indication in Scripture that Joseph would never live to see Jesus’ public ministry. When the elderly man Simeon spoke to Joseph and Mary about their newborn son in Luke 2:33-35, he blesses Mary and Joseph and directly tells only Mary that “a sword will pierce your own soul too.” He predicted that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul concerning Jesus but Simeon said nothing about Joseph. This may be an indication that Joseph would not be around to see Jesus rejected and crucified by the people whom He came to save.
- Matthew 1:1-17
- Two genealogies given for Jesus
- Adoption
- In Rome
- Two types of adoption, both limited to citizens
- Adoptio – moving a child from one family to another
- Adrogatio — effectively fused two families together. The individual together with his property passed into the power of the adopter but in practical terms they retained their wealth and property and took on another name.
- Not enough aristrocratic children, and it wasn’t easy to elevate more families to the elite.
- Not sure why, but possibly because of low fertility rates among the elite or because the men were away for long periods of military service.
- Caesar, for example, only had one legitimate heir, his daughter Julia, even though he had three marriages and multiple affairs.
- Two types of adoption, both limited to citizens
- In Rome
- Most adoptees were adult males.
- Adoption could be stated in a will, as Caesar did when in his will he announced that he had adopted his nephew Octavian.
- Roman adoption was all about securing property and dynasties.
- In the Roman worldview, sonship did not primarily point backward to begetting, but forward to inheritance, often through the medium of adoption.
- In law, rhetoric, and social practice, adoption was a crucial technique for sustaining the peculiarly Roman perspective on fathers and sons, in which every Roman was under the patria potestas or “paternal power” of the eldest male in the family. Adopted sons were chosen for the job and then assimilated into new families as natural sons through text and image. An adopted son became literally “affiliated” with his adoptive family.
- Romans began to live not only under the potestas of their proximate fathers, but also under the emperor, who was pater patriae—the “father of the fatherland.”
- Caesar was called “son of God” because he was thought to be divine. (Jesus claiming this title would be seen as a threat to the Roman government.)
- In Greece
- In Greece a man might during his lifetime, or by will, to take effect after his death, adopt any male citizen into the privileges of his son, but with the invariable condition that the adopted son accepted the legal obligations and religious duties of a real son.
- Limited to citizens.
- For the Hebrew people
- The custom prevailed among Greeks, Romans and other ancient peoples, but it does not appear in Jewish law.
- The adrogatio of the older Roman law is unknown to both Biblical and Talmudic law. But the feeling that the man and woman who bring up a child, and more especially those who teach the child virtue and the fear of God, should be honored as parents is strongly expressed in the Talmud.
- The Mosaic institution of the Levirate, by which the surviving brother is enjoined to marry his deceased brother’s wife in order to give him a male heir, shows that adoption in the Roman sense did not exist among the ancient Hebrews.
- “Among the Jews, adoption had no importance, and hardly any existence. The perpetuity of the family, when a man died childless, was secured in another way, viz., the levirate. Only sons by blood were esteemed in the Hebrew view.”
- Jewish law instead created the institution which they called “A person Who Raises Another’s Child.” Unlike either Roman law, this institution does not change the legal parents of the person whose custody has changed. One who raises another’s child is an agent of the natural parent; and like any agency rule in Jewish law, if the agent fails to accomplish the task delegated, the obligation reverts to the principal. Thus, the biblical obligations, duties and prohibitions of parenthood still apply between the natural parents and the child whose custody they no longer have.
- The law showers high praise on a person who raises another’s child.
- Adoption in the Bible
- Three specific mentions in Old Testament
- In New Testament Greek word translated “adoption” is huiothesia, and it occurs only five times in the New Testament, all in the epistles of Paul ( 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5) which were addressed to churches outside Palestine.
- Not without precedent
- Barren wives are found giving to their husbands their female slaves with the view of adopting any children borne by the latter. (Sarah and Rachel, for example)
- Clothing given to signify a covenantal relationship.
- Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha to indicate that he had adopted him as his spiritual heir
- Ruth and Boaz
- The Lord talking to Israel in Ezekiel
- Parallels between Joseph, Jacob’s son, and Joseph, Jesus’ father
- Both had fathers named Jacob.
- Both had unusual family situations, for which they were required to extend great forgiveness.
- Both had to flee their homes and go to Egypt.
- Both had the ability to understand their dreams and were saved by them.
- Both avoided physical temptation: Joseph refused Potiphar’s wife and Joseph was not physically intimate with Mary before the birth of Jesus.
- Both experienced poverty. (Joseph was a slave in Egypt and Joseph and Mary offered two turtle doves at Jesus’ presentation at the temple, which was the offering required of those who were poor.)
- Questions for Reflection
- Do you have any new insights into Joseph? If so, what are they?
- Why did the angel appear to Joseph in a dream and not in person?
- Would the story be different if the angel had appeared to Joseph?
- How did Joseph know the angel was real and not just his imagination?
- How does Joseph’s relationship to Jesus help us understand Jesus’ relationship to us?
- Is it significant that there are so many parallels between the two Josephs? Why or why not?
- Where do you see yourself in this story?
- What is God asking of you or inspiring in you as a result of this story?
Information taken from and gratefully acknowledged:
- Abide in Christ
- Bible.org
- Blue Letter Bible
- Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
- Dallas Theological Seminary
- Dr. Jan Verbruggen
- Epsicopal Church
- Inquisitr
- Jewish Law
- JewishEncyclopedia.com
- Kaufmann Kohler
- Lewis N. Dembitz
- Michael Peppard
- Oremus Bible Browser
- Rev. Dr. Amy E. Richter
- Rev. Francis J. Peffley
- Rev. Judith Carrick
- Rev. Karen M. Ward
- sbhistorygeek
- Truth or Tradition?
- United Church of God
- Western Seminary
- Yahoo! Answers