Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph's first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and betrothed to Mary, and that references to Jesus' "brothers" were children of Joseph from a previous marriage.
Joseph and Asenath
Their relationship is first mentioned in Genesis 41:45. The Pharaoh is said to have given Joseph, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. It is later mentioned in Genesis 41:50 that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath.
The text is framed as an explanation by Jesus on the Mount of Olives concerning the life of Joseph, his stepfather. Agreeing with Mary's continued virginity, the text proclaims that Joseph had four sons (Judas, Justus, James, and Simon) and two daughters (Assia and Lydia) by a previous marriage.
After marrying Mary, he found her already pregnant and, “being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace” (Matthew 1:19), decided to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him that the child was the Son of God and was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
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Despite claims that Joseph Smith fathered children within plural marriage, genetic testing has so far been negative, though it is possible he fathered two or three children with plural wives.
Most of the ancient commentators of the Bible interpreted it as meaning that Joseph was law-abiding, and as such decided to divorce Mary in keeping with Mosaic Law when he found her pregnant by another. However, his righteousness was tempered by mercy and he thus kept the affair private.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus. When Jesus was found in the Temple at age twelve, the context suggests that he was the only son of Mary and Joseph.
The Gospel of Matthew reads “But [Joseph] did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25), seemingly implying that they did consummate their marriage at some point after Jesus was born.
The Bible offers no evidence that Joseph was older than Mary. “We know virtually nothing about Joseph, and no age is mentioned for either Joseph or Mary in the Gospels,” says Paula Fredriksen, professor emerita of scripture at Boston University, and author of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
The Gospel of Matthew explains that Joseph was a “righteous man, yet unwilling to expose [Mary] to shame” so he decided to “divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19). This indicates that although Joseph generally respected the law, he did not want to subject Mary to derision, judgment, and possible death.
By contrast, the apocryphal History of Joseph the Carpenter, from the 5th or 6th century, has a long account of Joseph's peaceful death, aged 111, in the presence of Jesus (aged about 19), Mary and angels. This scene starts to appear in art in the 17th century.
The apocryphal Protoevangelium of James gives the story of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne as the parents of Mary. This is largely followed in Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican tradition.
In the Bible, Pharaoh honors Joseph by giving him as a wife Asenath, “the daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On” (LXX: Heliopolis; Gen 41:45). She is the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50; 46:20).
Variations in transcriptions
The New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance (1998), which employed a critical literal translation based on the Alexandrian text-type Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland 27th edition, 1993), found 35 occurrences, 33 of which were translated as 'Joseph' and two as 'Joseph's'.
The High Priest ordered them to each bring a rod; he that owned the rod which would bear flowers was divinely ordained to become Mary's husband. After the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and caused Joseph's rod to blossom, he and Mary were wed according to Jewish custom.
"Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim," King said in a press release.
This play looks at a summary in Matthew 1:18-19. The summary discloses that Joseph learns of Mary's pregnancy and chooses to divorce her. The play, based on this summary, investigates how he may have learned of her pregnancy, that is, from Mary herself.
The Eastern Orthodox Greek Church held to the dormition of Mary. According to this, Mary had a natural death, and her soul was then received by Christ. Her body arose on the third day after her death. She was then taken up bodily into heaven.
Joseph is considered the patron of a happy death because the Bible implies that he died in the company of Jesus and Mary, before Jesus' ministry and death.
According to Christianity.com, Mary was 46 to 49 years old when Jesus died. Britannica states that she “flourished” from 25 B.C. to A.D. 75. Assuming this is in reference to her lifespan, according to Britannica, Mary was approximately 54 to 59 years old when Jesus died.
When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, even though they hadn't been wed, he “planned to dismiss her quietly” because he was “unwilling to expose her to public disgrace.” But before he could cancel the wedding, “an angel of the Lord” appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to ...
God interrupts Joseph's honorable plans to divorce Mary, and tells him through an angel in a dream not to fear taking her as a wife and that the child is from God. Jesus will fulfill Isaiah's prophecy that Immanuel, ''God with us,'' will be born to a virgin. Joseph obeys, demonstrating his faith in God.
Mary Magdalene as Jesus's Wife
She also featured prominently in the so-called Gnostic Gospels, a group of texts believed to have been written by early Christians as far back as the second century A.D., but not discovered until 1945, near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi.