Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus His mother, Mary, that is, having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of [the] Holy Spirit.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But Joseph, her husband, being [a] righteous [man], and unwilling to expose her publicly, purposed to have put her away secretly;
Matthew moves straight from a genealogy to a crisis in one home. Mary is expecting a child, and the man engaged to her must decide what to do. The verse calls Joseph "just." It then shows him choosing the quietest way out. How do those two things fit together?
The verse calls Joseph her husband, though the wedding had not yet happened. Jewish custom explains why.
The Jews saw this as just as binding as marriage. Only a divorce could end it. The law gave certain rules about an engaged woman (Exodus 21:8-9; Deuteronomy 20:7; Deuteronomy 28:30). Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, was engaged to Joseph. He thought about divorcing her quietly, but the angel of the Lord told him the truth about her condition.
Matthew names Joseph as her husband. One writer explains what hung on that legal link.
Two family lines came down unbroken to those days — the house of Solomon and the house of Nathan. Mary stood for Nathan's family, and Joseph for Solomon's. Naming Mary without her link to her husband would have left no legal right to the throne of David. The Messiah had to be born not merely of a virgin, nor of a virgin daughter of David, but of a woman legally joined to Joseph — in the eye of the law, really his wife. Yet if Joseph had been the real father, there could have been no Saviour at all.
The Greek uses one word for Joseph's wish and another for his settled decision. The distinction is visible elsewhere in the New Testament.
They occur together in Matthew 1:19: Joseph, not desiring to expose Mary publicly, purposed to have put her away secretly. The same pair appears in 1 Timothy 5. Of the younger widows who are not put on the list, verse 11 uses the first word: their desire is to marry. Verse 14 uses the second word for Paul's deliberate judgment and will that they should marry: "I will therefore."
So the second word marks a resolve, not a mood. Joseph had settled on a course.
His uprightness did not let him ignore what he believed had happened. It also shaped how he would act.
At first it was thought that a great sin had been committed. Joseph was a man of honourable principles, as the Scripture explains, so he decided to separate himself from it at all cost to his own feelings. Yet he would do it privately, to avoid causing unnecessary pain and scandal to one whom he loved. But when God reveals the truth to him, he acts in direct and simple obedience and purity.
The phrase "put her to shame" points to a real legal outcome. One commentator traces it to the law's penalty for an unfaithful bride, and names who stopped the process.
I think the word meant the public exposure that would have followed if Joseph had acted on Deuteronomy 22. Humanly speaking, the appearances would have led him there, if God had not stopped this just man by sending Gabriel. Through the angel's blessed message God enabled him to judge righteous judgment.
Joseph's plan was honourable, but it rested on wrong facts. Only God could correct it. Commentators differ on his state of mind. One writer sees perplexity rather than certainty: Joseph "thinks of a half measure" until the dream "resolves his doubt and changes his purpose" — Numerical Bible Notes.
What Joseph did not do is as striking as what he planned.
You must bear in mind that Joseph and Mary had been engaged a long time... Yet he was not hasty or rash. He did not have the jealous nature that many a man would boast of. He did not act with the rashness that others would even admire in such a case. It is good to think matters over well when a difficulty crosses your path.
That pause left room for the angel's message. The word "just" also says something about his whole life. One writer sets Joseph beside the other Joseph in the Gospels, who buried Jesus. Scripture calls both men just, "which clearly shows that they had walked in the fear of God" — J. T. Mawson.
- Just — his righteousness is why he acts. It is not the enemy of his kindness. It made him refuse both the sin and the scandal.
- Bound — among the Jews an engagement was as binding as marriage, and only a divorce could end it. That same legal tie gave Jesus His title to David's throne.
- Restrained — two different words mark what Joseph would not do and what he decided to do. No public shame; a quiet release.
- Unhurried — he was neither jealous nor rash. The space he left for thought is the space God filled with the angel's message.
- Corrected — his honourable plan rested on wrong facts. God's message turned a just man's judgment into righteous judgment.