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Joseph (father of Jesus)

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From Urantia Wiki, the encyclopedia of The Urantia Book

Joseph is “the human father of Jesus (Joshua ben Joseph)” in The Urantia Book 122:1.1. He was the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus and his eight brothers and sisters 126:2.2. The book calls him Jesus’ father without qualification, and it rejects the doctrine of the virgin birth 119:7.5 122:4.4. A carpenter who rose to become a building contractor 122:1.1, he was killed in a construction accident when Jesus was fourteen 126:2.1-2. The book says that he died, like Mary, without ever learning that his son was “the Universe Creator incarnate in mortal flesh” 124:4.4.

Ancestry

According to the book, Joseph was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews,” with many non-Jewish strains on the female side. His ancestry ran back through Abraham to the Sumerians and Nodites, and through the blue race to Andon and Fonta 122:1.1. His immediate ancestors were “mechanics—builders, carpenters, masons, and smiths,” and his family belonged to “a long and illustrious line of the nobility of the common people” 122:1.1.

Here the book departs from the Gospels. Matthew and Luke both trace Jesus through Joseph to King David Mt 1:1-16; Lk 3:23-38. The book says that “David and Solomon were not in the direct line of Joseph’s ancestry” 122:1.1. Joseph was counted in the “house of David” only because, six generations back, an orphaned paternal ancestor had been adopted by one Zadoc, a descendant of David 122:4.3. It calls the genealogies built after Jesus’ life “not genuine” 122:4.4.

Marriage and the child of promise

As a young man Joseph was hired by Mary’s father to build an addition to his house, and their courtship began when Mary brought him a cup of water at a noon meal 122:5.8. He married her at her home near Nazareth at twenty-one, after a courtship of almost two years 122:5.9, in March 8 B.C. 122:7.1. He and two of his brothers built their one-room stone house in Nazareth 122:5.9 122:6.2.

When Mary told him about Gabriel’s visit, Joseph “was much troubled and could not sleep for many nights.” At first he doubted, then struggled to see “How could the offspring of human beings be a child of divine destiny?” 122:3.2. He was reconciled only after a dream in which a celestial messenger told him that the son “shall become a great light in the world” and would come first to his own people, “but they will hardly receive him” 122:4.1. Matthew also gives Joseph a dream Mt 1:20-21,24, but in Matthew the angel resolves his worry about Mary’s pregnancy, which it attributes to the Holy Spirit Mt 1:18-20. In the book the dream concerns the child’s mission, and nothing in it mentions David or a Jewish deliverer 122:4.2.

Joseph did not expect a political Messiah. On the road to Bethlehem he held to “the concept of a spiritual teacher,” while Mary held to the idea of a deliverer of the Hebrew nation 122:7.5. He was “not in harmony” with Simeon and Anna’s effort at the temple to proclaim Jesus the Messiah 122:9.28. The book says he “leaned more toward the spiritual concept of the expected Messiah,” and that most of his family later became believers in Jesus’ teaching, while few of Mary’s did 122:5.10.

Bethlehem, Egypt and the return

Joseph went to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. He tried to keep Mary at home, but she would not stay behind 122:7.2-3. The couple were poor. Joseph had borne the cost of building their home and was also supporting his parents, because his father had recently been disabled; so Mary rode their one beast of burden while he walked 122:7.4. Finding no room in the town, he settled Mary in a room of the caravan stables 122:7.7, and he enrolled the day after Jesus was born 122:8.3. Persuaded by Mary and by Zacharias that Jesus should grow up in the City of David, he stayed in Bethlehem for more than a year, doing some carpentry 122:8.4. By then their savings were nearly gone, and at Mary’s purification he made the offering of the poor, two young pigeons 122:10.2 Lk 2:22-24.

Warned of Herod’s planned massacre, Joseph took the family to Alexandria the night before it happened 122:10.4 Mt 2:13-14. There he worked first as a carpenter and then as foreman on a public building, which gave him the idea of becoming a contractor 123:0.1. In 4 B.C. he persuaded Mary that they should go back to Nazareth and not stay in Bethlehem. He did not believe their son was to be a kingly deliverer, and he knew his own Davidic descent was by adoption 123:0.5-6.

Builder and father

In Nazareth Joseph first opened a shop near the caravan lot, making yokes and plows and working in leather, rope and canvas 123:1.6. In 1 B.C. he left the shop to his brothers and became a builder. “Before the year was over, the family income had more than trebled,” and the family did not feel poverty again until after his death 123:3.7. He built at Cana, Magdala, Nain, Sepphoris, Capernaum, Endor and elsewhere, and Jesus often went along on these trips 123:3.8.

From Jesus’ fifth birthday Joseph was in charge of his education, as Galilean custom required 123:2.13. Fluent in both Aramaic and Greek, he taught the boy Greek from a copy of the Scriptures given to the family in Egypt 123:3.1. He took him on Sabbath walks up the hill near their home 123:5.12. Rather than simply give orders, he would “sit down with the boy and fully explain the real and underlying reasons” for family discipline 123:3.9. When Jesus, not yet six, asked what caused an earthquake, Joseph answered honestly, “My son, I really do not know,” and the book marks this as the first great shock of Jesus’ young life 123:3.2. Joseph and Mary resisted the temptation to favor their child of promise, and the book says “they deserve great credit” for raising him 124:4.4 124:4.4.

He held firmly to the law. Mary wanted to let Jesus model in clay at home, but Joseph ruled by the rabbinical reading of the second commandment 124:1.5. Yet when twelve-year-old Jesus pointed out that kissing the parchment on the doorpost was a kind of idolatry, Joseph took the parchment down 124:4.7. The only time Jesus saw his father angry came on the Passover journey, when the boy suggested building an amphitheater in Nazareth. Joseph seized him by the shoulder and said, “My son, never again let me hear you give utterance to such an evil thought as long as you live” 124:3.8. When his parents found Jesus in the temple days later, “Joseph was speechless” and “looked reprovingly at him but said nothing” 125:6.5.

Death

On Tuesday, 25 September A.D. 8, a runner from Sepphoris brought word that Joseph had been badly hurt by a falling derrick while working on the governor’s residence. He died before Mary could reach him and was buried in Nazareth the next day 126:2.1. The book remembers him as “an unusual husband and father,” and says his family felt it all the more because “he died ere they could speak to him or hear his farewell blessing” 126:2.8.

When his brothers appealed to Herod Antipas over wages owed him, Herod ruled that nothing was due, and the book says Jesus never trusted Herod again 126:5.7. Years later, at Jesus’ trial, Herod did not remember the lad who had stood before him at Sepphoris asking for justice for his father 185:4.1.

The Gospels say little about Joseph. He drops out of the narrative after the boyhood visit to the temple Lk 2:41-51, and later Jesus is called “the carpenter’s son” Mt 13:55. The book’s account of his trade, character and death is its own.

Personality and appearance

Joseph was a mild-mannered man, extremely conscientious, and in every way faithful to the religious conventions and practices of his people. He talked little but thought much.122:5.1

The plight of the Jewish people saddened him. Cheerful as a youth among eight brothers and sisters, he suffered “periods of mild spiritual discouragement” in his early married years, which eased once he prospered as a contractor shortly before his death 122:5.1. He was “a thinker,” in contrast to Mary the planner, and both were educated far above the average for their station 122:5.5. In religion he held “vigorously to the Eastern, or Babylonian, views” 122:5.11.

From Joseph, the book says, Jesus got “much of his unusual gentleness and marvelous sympathetic understanding of human nature” 122:5.3, along with “his strict training in the usages of the Jewish ceremonials and his unusual acquaintance with the Hebrew scriptures” 122:5.4. It adds: “Had Joseph lived, he undoubtedly would have become a firm believer in the divine mission of his eldest son” 122:5.6.

Physically, the book describes him only as “a black-eyed brunet” 122:5.5.

Index of references

The human father of Jesus

Attitude

  • The only time Jesus ever saw his father angry with him was when, in their room at the inn, he suggested building an amphitheater at Nazareth, evoking an uncharacteristic outburst from Joseph. 124:3.8
  • Joseph explained reasons for family discipline to Jesus, ensuring his intelligent and willing cooperation with parental wishes. 123:3.9
  • Joseph faithfully discharged parental responsibilities, resisting temptation to show favoritism towards Jesus as a child of promise and son of destiny. 124:3.2 124:4.4
  • Joseph adhered zealously to Babylonian Jewish beliefs while Mary embraced the Hellenistic approach. 122:5.11
  • Joseph's spiritual concept of the Messiah differed from Mary's family's belief in him as a political ruler, leading to hesitancy in allowing Jesus to be taken to Jerusalem for education. 122:5.10 123:0.5 123:6.8
  • Joseph was a mild-mannered man, conscientious and faithful to religious practices, who experienced mild spiritual discouragement before his untimely death. 122:5.1
  • From the time Jesus was five years old until he was ten, Joseph never failed fully to discuss Jesus’ questions. 123:2.3
  • Joseph was troubled by Mary's secret visitation from Gabriel and only came to believe in it after a vivid dream revealed the divine destiny of their unborn child, who was to be a light to all mankind. 122:3.2 122:4

Background and heritage

  • Joseph's family embraced Jesus' teachings, while Mary's relatives were hesitant until after his departure; Joseph favored a spiritual Messiah, in contrast to Mary's family who envisioned a political ruler; Mary's ancestry had historical ties to the Maccabean movement. 122:5.10
  • Gabriel chose Joseph and Mary from among three couples for the incarnation of the bestowal child. 122:0.3 122:1.3
  • Joseph, despite his periods of mild spiritual discouragement, was a faithful and conscientious man, deeply saddened by the Jewish people's plight, who thought much but spoke little among his eight brothers and sisters. 122:5.1
  • Jesus was born of woman and raised in the ordinary manner by Joseph (father of Jesus) who was an average person of his day and generation. 119:7.7
  • Joseph, a black-eyed brunet, married Mary, a brown-eyed well-nigh blond type, both of whom were highly educated and skilled in critical thinking and planning. 122:5.5
  • Joseph's genealogies traced back to the noble lines of the Sumerians, Nodites, and Abraham, among others. (122:1.1,3) 122:4.3-4 123:0.5
  • Joseph and Mary, both well-educated for their time, were educated far above average and displayed different strengths, with Joseph being a thinker and Mary a planner, skilled in adaptation and practical execution. 122:5.5
  • Joseph, fluent in both Aramaic and Greek, passed on his knowledge to his son Jesus, providing him with a strong foundation in both languages. 123:3.1

Joseph and Jesus

  • Three months after Joseph and Mary's marriage in March, 8 B.C., Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth in June of the same year. 122:2.2 122:5.8-9
  • Joseph was so poor at the birth of Jesus that he had little money left and only offered two young pigeons for Mary's purification. 122:10.2
  • Joseph, who supported his parents and had a recently disabled father, embarked on a journey with Mary, a poor Jewish couple, as she rode on their one beast of burden while he walked ahead, leading the way to Bethlehem. 122:7.4
  • Joseph and Mary, poor and with only one beast of burden, traveled to Bethlehem with Mary riding the animal while Joseph led it. (122:7.4,7) 125:3.2
  • Joseph conferred with Zacharias in Jerusalem about the destiny of Jesus as the Jewish deliverer and John as his chief aide. 122:8.4
  • Mary's persuasion led Joseph to stay in Bethlehem for a year, as they believed Jesus would succeed David as the Jewish deliverer. 122:8.4
  • Joseph's admission of not knowing the cause of an earthquake marked the beginning of Jesus realizing his earthly parents were not all-wise. 123:3.2-3
  • Jesus’ first Passover in Jerusalem with his parents was a pivotal moment in his life, as he showed signs of spiritual enlightenment and a desire to understand and challenge the teachings of the temple authorities. 125
  • Joseph found Jesus teaching in the temple, as Mary confronted him about his disappearance. 125:6.4-8
  • Joseph ordered Jesus not to draw, despite his artistic talent and passion, causing a great trial for the determined young boy. 124:1.4-5
  • Joseph arranged to set aside the income from his Nazareth and Capernaum property to finance Jesus' education in Jerusalem starting on his fifteenth birthday in August. 126:1.4
  • Jesus, at age twelve, convinced Joseph to remove the parchment from the doorpost due to idolatrous nature of the custom. 124:4.7
  • Joseph enjoyed Sabbath walks with Jesus in Nazareth, where they climbed to a high hill for a panoramic view of Galilee, influencing Jesus with stories of Hebrew prophets and Greco-Roman cities in the Decapolis and beyond. 123:5.12
  • Joseph and Mary struggled with Jesus' unconventional approach to prayer, as he insisted on speaking to his heavenly Father in a familiar, casual manner rather than the more traditional solemn and reverent way. 123:3.6
  • It is unfortunate that Joseph could not have lived to see the fulfillment of his concept of Jesus’ mission. 124:4.6

Work

  • Joseph and Jacob, partners in masonry, were facing financial hardship as Jesus took charge of the family's affairs. 126:3.1
  • Joseph became a builder and trebled his family income, bringing them out of poverty. 122:1.1 122:5.1 123:3.7
  • Joseph was employed as foreman in Alexandria, supporting his family and gaining experience as a contractor. 123:0.1
  • Joseph worked in Sepphoris, responsible for building a new public building. 124:5.5
  • Jesus worked at home in the family shop after the supply shop was taken over by his uncle, sending James to the camel lot to stay informed about current events. 126:5.8

Bible parallels

Passages that the paragraphs cited above parallel, quote or reinterpret, from Duane Faw’s Paramony cross-references. Hover a reference to read it.

See also

  • Jesus:family
Jesus
Categories: People and personalities · Paper 122