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JOSEPH

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 514 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOSEPH , in the New Testament, the See also:

husband of See also:Mary, the See also:mother of Jesus. He is represented as a descendant of the See also:house of See also:David, and his See also:genealogy appears in two divergent forms in Matt. i. 1—17 and See also:Luke iii. 23—38. The latter is probably much more See also:complete and accurate in details. The former, obviously artificial in structure (See also:notice 3 X 14 generations), traces the Davidic descent through See also:kings, and is governed by an apologetic purpose. Of Joseph's See also:personal See also:history practically nothing is recorded in the See also:Bible. The facts concerning him See also:common to the two See also:birth-narratives (Matt. i.—ii.; Luke i.—ii.) are: (a) that he was a descendant of David, (b) that Mary was already betrothed to him when she was found with See also:child of the See also:Holy See also:Ghost, and (c) that he lived at See also:Nazareth after the birth of See also:Christ; but these facts are handled differently in each See also:case. It is noticeable that, in See also:Matthew, Joseph is prominent (e.g. he receives an See also:annunciation from an See also:angel), while in Luke's narrative he is completely subordinated. Bp See also:Gore (The Incarnation, See also:Hampton lecture for 1891, p. 78) points out that Matthew narrates everything from Joseph's See also:side, Luke from Mary's, and infers that the narrative of the former may ultimately be based on Joseph's See also:account, that of the latter. on Mary's. The narratives seem to have been current (in a poetical See also:form) among the See also:early Jewish-See also:Christian community of See also:Palestine.

At Nazareth Joseph followed the See also:

trade of a See also:carpenter (Matt. xiii. 55). It is probable that he had died before the public See also:ministry of Christ; for no mention is made of him in passages See also:relating to this See also:period where the mother and brethren of Jesus are ' Joseph's See also:marriage with the daughter of the See also:priest of On might show that the tribes of See also:Ephraim and See also:Manasseh were believed to be See also:half-See also:Egyptian by descent, but it is notoriously difficult to determine how much is of ethnological value and how much belongs to See also:romance (viz. that of the individual Joseph). It introduced; and from See also:John xix. 26 it is clear that he was not alive at the See also:time of the Crucifixion. Joseph was the See also:father of several See also:children (Matt. xiii. 55), but according to ecclesiastical tradition by a former marriage. The See also:reading of Matt. i. 16, in the Sinaitic See also:Palimpsest (Joseph . . . . begat Jesus, who is called the Christ) also makes him the natural father of Jesus, and this was the view of certain early heretical sects, but it seems never to have been held in orthodox Christian circles. According to various apocryphal gospels (conveniently collected in B.

H. See also:

Cowper's The Apocryphal Gospels, 1881), when married to Mary he was a widower already 8o years of See also:age, and the father of four sons and two daughters; his first wife's name was See also:Salome and she was a connexion of the See also:family of John the Baptist. In the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church the 19th of See also:March has since 1642 been a feast in Joseph's See also:honour. Two other festivals in his honour have also been established (the Patronage of St Joseph, 3rd See also:Sunday after See also:Easter, and the See also:Betrothal of Mary and Joseph, 23rd of See also:January). In See also:December 187o St Joseph was proclaimed See also:Patron of the whole Church. (G. H. Bo.).

End of Article: JOSEPH

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