Joseph's Righteousness in Mt 1:18-25 (original) (raw)

The Righteousness of Joseph: Interpreting Matt 1.18–25 in Light of Judean Legal Papyri

New Testament Studies

This article seeks to explain Matthew's description of Joseph as righteous (δίκαιος) by investigating Matt 1.18–25 within its ancient context, especially Judean practices of marriage and divorce as illuminated by Judean legal papyri from the Dead Sea region in the first and second centuries ce and from the Judean politeuma of Herakleopolis in the mid-second century bce. The examination will demonstrate the importance of these papyri for understanding the narrative in Matt 1.18–25 in its original social setting where honour was a dominant value, especially the extent to which it reveals Joseph to be an exemplar of Matthean righteousness.

The Characterisation of Joseph by Matthew (Matt 1–2; 13:55)

The Biblical Annals

The article presents the figure of Joseph and his place in the narrative by the first evangelist in Matt 1–2. Apart from the arguments for the unifying function of Mary’s spouse in the whole Infancy Narrative, the most important features of Joseph highlighted by Matthew are emphasised. Those include the attitude of the righteous man, the fact of belonging to the royal family of King David, the bond and similarity to the actions of the patriarchs, as well as the silent and ascetic nature of the spouse and parent. Despite many similarities to the Lukan narrative, the first evangelist stresses different aspects in his characterisation of Joseph. Using the tools proposed by Cornelis Bennema, the author of the paper also assesses the degree of characterisation of the person under study, his role in the narrative and his representative value for the modern reader.

Biblical Joseph: An Example of Godly Lifestyle in a Contemporary World

2019

This article is titled “Biblical Joseph: An Example of Godly lifestyle in the contemporary World” The rise of modernism, liberalism, idealism, corruption, cultism and radicalism have led to the destruction of societal norms and values by those who propagate them. Modernism and the quest for riches and prosperity has made some Christians to deviate from the way of Christ to follow after the way of Balaam and Jezebel. Nowadays the cravings for materialism at the expense of taking the cross and follow Jesus has dominated the church to the extent that the quest for godliness has been eroded away by undue craves for material wealth. There is no more integrity among the some Christians today. It is unfortunate that some Christians cannot exhibit the courage like that of Joseph who endured all sufferings to stand for godliness and integrity. Sadly enough the craving for materialism had made some Christians to become ensnared to the unwholesome practice of prostitution, theft, fraud, violence and even insurgence, kidnapping, robbery, defrauding people through yahoo business on the internet and many others vices. This essay is about the story of Joseph in Genesis account, the purpose of this paper is to challenge the contemporary believers to emulate the character of Joseph especially now that corruption is rife in various organizations and parastatals including Christian churches and institutions and live in godliness no matter what is cost. This paper adopts narrative strategy to achieve the aims and objectives of this paper. The writer discovers that Joseph is a natural human being that is principled and will not lower his integrity for any reasons. He prefers to suffer for the sins he did not commit despite the fact that evidence were found in his hand. Joseph maintained his integrity and reliability. Thus this paper recommends that every Christian should hold on to their integrity and be reliable no matter the circumstances they may find themselves. Also they should see suffering as a tool for promotion and on no account should they try to justify themselves on matters they are involved. This paper is divided into five sections. Section one introduces the paper, section two look at what some authors has said about Joseph, section three discusses the challenged faced by Joseph as a biblical model, section four discusses his leadership ability and lessons for the contemporary believers while section five gives the conclusion, summary and recommendations

TITLE: BIBLICAL JOSEPH: AN EXAMPLE OF GODLY LIFESTYLE IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

article is titled “Biblical Joseph: An Example of Godly lifestyle in the contemporary World” The rise of modernism, liberalism, idealism, corruption, cultism and radicalism have led to the destruction of societal norms and values by those who propagate them. Modernism and the quest for riches and prosperity has made some Christians to deviate from the way of Christ to follow after the way of Balaam and Jezebel. Nowadays the cravings for materialism at the expense of taking the cross and follow Jesus has dominated the church to the extent that the quest for godliness has been eroded away by undue craves for material wealth. There is no more integrity among some Christians today. It is unfortunate that some Christians cannot exhibit the courage like that of Joseph who endured all sufferings to stand for godliness and integrity. Sadly enough the craving for materialism had made some Christians to become ensnared to the unwholesome practice of prostitution, theft, fraud, violence and even insurgence, kidnapping, robbery, defrauding people through yahoo business on the internet and many others vices. This essay is about the story of Joseph in Genesis account, the purpose of this paper is to challenge the contemporary believers to emulate the character of Joseph especially now that corruption is rife in various organizations and parastatals including Christian churches and institutions and live in godliness no matter what is cost. This paper adopts narrative strategy to achieve the aims and objectives of this paper. The writer discovers that Joseph is a natural human being that is principled and will not lower his integrity for any reasons. He prefers to suffer for the sins he did not commit despite the fact that evidence were found in his hand. Joseph maintained his integrity and reliability. Thus this paper recommends that every Christian should hold on to their integrity and be reliable no matter the circumstances they may find themselves. Also they should see suffering as a tool for promotion and on no account should they try to justify themselves on matters in which they are involved. This paper is divided into five sections. Section one introduces the paper, section two look at what some authors has said about Joseph, section three discusses the challenged faced by Joseph as a biblical model, section four discusses his leadership ability and lessons for the contemporary believers while section five gives the conclusion and recommendations for the audience This article is titled “Biblical Joseph: An Example of Godly lifestyle in the contemporary World” The rise of modernism, liberalism, idealism, corruption, cultism and radicalism have led to the destruction of societal norms and values by those who propagate them. Modernism and the quest for riches and prosperity has made some Christians to deviate from the way of Christ to follow after the way of Balaam and Jezebel. Nowadays the cravings for materialism at the expense of taking the cross and follow Jesus has dominated the church to the extent that the quest for godliness has been eroded away by undue craves for material wealth. There is no more integrity among some Christians today. It is unfortunate that some Christians cannot exhibit the courage like that of Joseph who endured all sufferings to stand for godliness and integrity. Sadly enough the craving for materialism had made some Christians to become ensnared to the unwholesome practice of prostitution, theft, fraud, violence and even insurgence, kidnapping, robbery, defrauding people through yahoo business on the internet and many others vices. This essay is about the story of Joseph in Genesis account, the purpose of this paper is to challenge the contemporary believers to emulate the character of Joseph especially now that corruption is rife in various organizations and parastatals including Christian churches and institutions and live in godliness no matter what is cost. This paper adopts narrative strategy to achieve the aims and objectives of this paper. The writer discovers that Joseph is a natural human being that is principled and will not lower his integrity for any reasons. He prefers to suffer for the sins he did not commit despite the fact that evidence were found in his hand. Joseph maintained his integrity and reliability. Thus this paper recommends that every Christian should hold on to their integrity and be reliable no matter the circumstances they may find themselves. Also they should see suffering as a tool for promotion and on no account should they try to justify themselves on matters in which they are involved. This paper is divided into five sections. Section one introduces the paper, section two look at what some authors has said about Joseph, section three discusses the challenged faced by Joseph as a biblical model, section four discusses his leadership ability and lessons for the contemporary believers while section five gives the conclusion and recommendations for the audience

HOW IS JOSEPH S CHARACTER TO BE VIEWED.docx

Karen Armstrong view's on Joseph are entirely favourable but neither does she dismiss the protagonist altogether. She seems to suggest that Jacob's preference for Rachel's children has the potential to create trouble in this – according to her – 'dysfunctional' family. 'After spending some time in the field with his brothers, [Joseph] 'brought a bad report of them to their father'. (37:2) Nobody likes a sneak, and Joseph is unlikely to thrive amid the tensions of this family […] Jospeh then compounded the already dangerous situation by bragging about his dreams. He told his brothers that he had seen their sheaves of corn bowing down before him: even the sun, moon and stars had prostrated themselves before him.' (1) Karen Armstrong seems to use a mixture of moralizing and psychoanalysis to assess Joseph. Whilst there is some merit in this approach, it certainly cannot answer for all the symbolic of Joseph's character. His dream seems to show that Joseph is favoured by the Eternal, that he is a channel for divine energies that even the Cosmos, symbolised by the sun, the moon and the stars, bow to him. 'Joseph's dreams were a prediction of the future, but they also centered somewhat obsessively on himself. Joseph had believed from the outset that he was born to greatness, and he continued throughout his life to assume that he was unquestionably the leading character in the scenario that unfolded around him and that he was directing events.' (2)