Joseph: A Loving, Just and Righteous Man

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, `Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto yourself Mary your wife: for That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a Son; and you shall call His name JESUS; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.'" (Matthew 1:18-21)

In Matthew chapter 1 we get a glimpse into the righteous and merciful character of Joseph in the passage we just read. God had really chosen a great man to be the earthly father to His Son when He picked Joseph. Matthew wrote, "And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately." Joseph was a righteous man. He knew he had never behaved untoward or inappropriately with the woman he planned to have for his wife, to be the mother of his children, but there she was, found to be with child! As far as Joseph knew, some other man had taken Mary and lay with her. Joseph must have felt crushed as any man in his situation would have felt.

How could this be? How could this have happened? Hadn't he and Mary grown to love each other during this time of courtship, this time of betrothal? Why had she agreed to be his wife if she had been harboring desires for some other man?

His heart aching, Joseph had a choice to make. Mary, in the culture of the time, really had no say so in the matter. Since she was merely a woman, she had no rights of which to speak. She had been her father's property, but since she had entered into the betrothal stage she was now the property of Joseph, and her fate rested literally in his hands.

According to the Law of Moses under which they lived, the penalty for Mary's seeming indiscretion was death. Deuteronomy 22:20-21 says, "But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house: so shall you put away the evil from the midst of you." Joseph was very much within his legal rights to have had Mary stoned to death. She was pregnant, as anyone could plainly see, and it was not his baby! But something about his character made Joseph choose a more merciful way to handle his heartbreak regarding his betrothed and beloved Mary who was found to be with child. He chose to put her away privately.

Maybe because he loved Mary so much is why this righteous man chose to do what he could to protect her life and her reputation. When Matthew writes that "Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately," what this means is that he was not willing to expose Mary to public humiliation, shame, and possible death. Additionally, it means that he was also planning secretly to keep her condition hidden from the public. He was willing to do this to not only protect her, but also the baby she carried as well, a baby he knew was not his own. He was going out on a limb and freeing her to go and be the wife to the man he believed Mary had loved clandestinely!

We know Joseph was planning intently how best to achieve his goal of protecting this young woman he loved, as well as the child within her womb she carried, for Matthew tells us "…he thought on these things,…." In the original Greek this conveys the meaning of thinking deeply about the situation. But little did Joseph know that he had just passed the test! Just as Abraham was at his lowest moment as he was about to offer his promised son, Isaac, on the altar, when the Lord intervened, so too, was Joseph at his lowest point. And just as his forefather Abraham had passed his test, Joseph, too, passed his test.

He was living the type of life that God hoped we all would live, a life that put the welfare and needs of others above his own, a life that lived the principle of mercy, a life that lived that agape love! Joseph was not only a just man, he was just the man to be the father to the Lord's only begotten Son! He was the example of true manhood from whom God wanted His Son to learn! And so God intervened at the lowest ebb in Joseph's life, and He sent an angel to comfort and reassure this loving and righteous man that all was indeed going to be fine! Mary had not betrayed him! Mary, too, was a righteous and holy woman, blessed of all women on the Earth to bear the Son of the Living God!
These lessons were not lost on Jesus. When He was confronted with a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery, He did not call for her death, as He could have, but instead He chose to call her to her repentance. Could He have been hearkening back to His own mother and the mercy His earthly father had shown her when she had been discovered to be with child? Possibly…. Is it any surprise, then, with having the example before Him we have in righteous, loving and honorable Joseph, that on two separate occasions Jesus chose to quote Hosea 6:6 when He said, "But go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" in Matthew 9:13 and "But if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless" in Matthew 12:7?

May we all learn the lesson of Joseph, and be as just and merciful as he was!