Matthew has introduced his Gospel with Jesus being the fulfilment of the Davidic and Abrahamic Covenant promises and gives a genealogy from Abraham to Joseph to demonstrate the human lineage and that Jesus will be a descendant of David’s kingly line.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit;
Matthew begins verse 18 with an explanation of how Jesus’ birth came about. This requires explanation because to the original audience this is a brand new concept. We take for granted our Christian legacy, we have two thousand years of writings and elaborations on the subject but to the Jew’s of the first century this was novel and it should be, because Jesus is novel.
First century Jewish marriages are divided into to stages, a betrothal which proceeds the consummation and the, for the lack of a better term, “full marriage” where the couple who have entered covenant with each other live together. In the first stage of the marriage process, Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. This in itself is a mystery and we accept it on faith, it is before they live together that this occurs in the “fuller” stage of marriage. Joseph becomes aware of this.
19 and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.
Despite not consummating the marriage, Joseph is still referred to as “her husband” this is important, even in the first stage of the Jewish marriage process without the consummation, he is still considered the husband.
Joseph is a just man and since he is not aware of the divine mystery that has occurred seeks to settle this situation quietly because he does not want to shame Mary. In this culture, as is similar to our own, if a women had conceived a child from a man who is not her husband, it would call for some public shaming. Worse than our own culture, the ancient Jews would practice the public punishing act of stoning the committers of adultery. So Joseph, being just, does not want to humiliate her not see her killed for adultery so he “resolves” to send her away quietly. This would be some subtle way of ending the marriage process without any public announcement.
20 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;
While Joseph is considering how to send Mary away quietly, an Angel appears to him in a dream. On a typological note this is very interesting, Joseph receives messages through dreams very much like the Joseph of the Book of Genesis receives messages through dreams. The Angel calls to him by the title “Joseph, Son of David” this is Joseph’s position in salvation history, not a sense to diminish his role but actually to raise it. He is the one who will bestow the royal lineage through the marriage covenant with Mary to Jesus. The Angel settles Joseph’s worries, the child is not from another man but of the Holy Spirit, he should not fear to take Mary as his wife.
21 she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The Angel continues telling Joseph that Mary will bear a son and he is charged with calling him Jesus. This is not a throw away detail, in this time period and culture it was the fathers responsibility to name the child and they would take a name from their family line to bestow upon the child. In this case the Angel says for Joseph to name the child “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The Hebrew name “Yeshua” from which the anglicised latinized name Jesus comes from, means “God is my Salvation” or “God Saves”. This phrasing, if you pay attention, is a declaration of divinity in Chapter 1 of Matthew. He is basically saying “He is called God Saves but he is God and he will save his people”. Another explicit declaration is that this saving is from sins, not a worldly saving from the Romans or a restoration of the earthly kingdom, they are being saved from much deeper bonds.
22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew narrates for his audience that this event with Joseph and the incarnation occurs to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. Matthew here quotes from the Septuagint, as will most of the authors of the New Testament books over eighty percent of the time as the more modern translations like the Masoretic text do not say “virgin”. It looks very much like the Masoretes changed this translation when they wrote out their manuscripts between the seventh and tenth centuries AD to get away from this implication, who knows what else they changed to avoid Jesus but that’s my own speculation.
Matthew also tells us and his original audience what the name “Emmanuel” means and as he explains, it means “God with us” a further declaration of Jesus’ divinity. He is God with us.
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Joseph wakes up from his sleep and does exactly as the Angel told him, understanding that it was God, (“The Lord”) who commanded this through the Angel. He takes Mary to be his wife now that he knows, at least what has been revealed to him, of the divine plan for salvation.
The lectionary actually ends at verse 24 but for sake of context we will also talk about verse 25.”but knew her not until she had borne a son” This phrase is often misunderstood as implying that Joseph and Mary had marital relations after Jesus’ birth.
However, “until” (Greek: ἕως οὗ, heōs hou) does not indicate change afterward. The term simply emphasizes what was true up to a certain point without making any claims about what happened after. For example:
2 Samuel 6:23: “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death”
Does not imply she had children afterward.
Matthew 28:20: “I am with you always, to (heōs) the close of the age”
Does not imply Jesus will abandon his disciples after the age ends.
Joseph fulfills his legal role as Jesus’ father by naming Him, as instructed by the angel (Matthew 1:21). This act underscores Jesus’ divine mission—“he will save his people from their sins”—and Joseph’s integral role in God’s plan for salvation.
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