Interpretation 1: He did not want to shame her in public
Summary:
Joseph suspected Mary of adultery or rape, but he did not want to shame her in public.
Arguments in favour of this view:
The statement that Joseph wanted to divorce Mary comes after the announcement that Mary, legally pledged to be married to Joseph, was found to be pregnant even though they were not yet living together as husband and wife. Apparently Joseph did not know about the visit by the angel Gabriel and his message to Mary, because she had not discussed this with him. John Calvin wrote that Joseph did not want to condemn Mary for her concealment of the origin of her pregnancy. God’s Spirit kept her from doing so in order to prevent Joseph from not believing her and therefore being able to mock and deeply hurt her.
Joseph could now only conclude that Mary had either committed adultery or had been raped but that she had kept quiet about it.
According to the Mosaic law, Mary should have been stoned to death (see Deuteronomy 22:23–24). But the Jews in those days, being under Roman occupation, were no longer allowed to carry out a death sentence by stoning. A divorce could only come into effect through an official divorce contract, drawn up in the presence of witnesses.
As a first reason that Joseph resolved to divorce her quietly, it is mentioned that he was a just man. For that reason, he could not condone Mary’s sin against the seventh commandment. He could no longer marry her, as she had become a defiled woman.
However, out of the goodness of his heart and perhaps pity for Mary, Joseph chose not to openly denounce Mary’s disgrace and considered a private divorce.
Arguments against this view:
This interpretation reads the words of Matthew 1:18,
from the Holy Spirit,
as if it is placed in parentheses, such that all the emphasis is on the fact that Mary was found to be pregnant. But those parentheses are not there in the original Greek. What became clear to Joseph and others around Mary was that she was pregnant not from Joseph but from the Holy Spirit.It is unlikely that Mary, being already betrothed to Joseph, concealed the angel Gabriel’s visit and his message to her from Joseph and perhaps from her wider family circle as well. She did talk about it with her uncle Zacharias and aunt Elizabeth (see Luke 1:39–53). And how should she have explained to Joseph her three-month stay with them?
The idea that in those days, under Roman occupation, the Jews were no longer allowed to carry out capital punishment by stoning is incorrect. More than thirty years later, while still under Roman occupation, the Sanhedrin proceeded to stone the Christian, Stephen (Acts 7:58–59), almost under the watchful eye of the Roman occupiers in the barracks from which they could look down on the city (cf. Acts 21:30–32). If he really did suspect Mary of infidelity or rape, Matthew’s characterization of Joseph as being a just man should have made him decide to have her stoned to death. After all, God’s law takes precedence over our human feelings. And in case of doubt, Joseph could have first applied the law of Numbers 5:11–31 to Mary.
When an angel comes to tell Joseph that he should indeed take Mary as his wife, he says that Joseph should not fear to marry Mary who is expecting a child from the Holy Spirit. In the Greek the word
holy
is here placed afterSpirit
:that which is conceived in her is from the Spirit, the holy.
Apparently, that is where Joseph’s difficulty lay: is there still room for him in the rest of Mary’s life, now that the Holy Spirit had claimed her in such a special way and wanted to use her for such a holy miracle? That is why he fears to take her as his wife.For this reason, he also cannot cast a stain on Mary by going through with a public divorce. Joseph is a just and righteous man—and this implies more than just being law-abiding; with Matthew it is the designation of someone who fears God and acts accordingly (see Matthew 10:41; Matthew 13:17, Matthew 13:43, Matthew 13:49; Matthew 23:29, Matthew 23:35; Matthew 25:37, Matthew 25:46). In this very exceptional situation, he is therefore determined to take a step back. He lets go of Mary, without the aggravation of open separation, because the LORD needs her now.
Interpretation 2: He wanted to make space for the work of the Lord with her
Summary:
Joseph knows quite soon after Gabriel’s visit to Mary (Luke 1:26–38) that she will have a child who is conceived by the Holy Spirit. And when that holy pregnancy does indeed appear to have come, he believes that he must now release Mary without the fuss of a public separation, because the LORD needs her.
Arguments in favour of this view:
See all the arguments against interpretation 2.
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 from the Holy Spirit.