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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: 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.
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