Post by Mark on Oct 19, 2009 7:45:49 GMT -8
Joseph and Mary were "espoused" to be married. This is similar to the idea of being engaged. There is a ceremony, not really so much unlike putting earnest money down on a house (sorry ladies) and the rules are established as to how the people involved (groom, bride and parents) are to proceed for this deal to go through.
One of the givens is that bride isn’t supposed to have sex with anyone in the mean time.
The marriage ceremony is described by Ray Vanderlaan in the Focus On The Family video series called "That The World May Know" as a big party where the entire community is invited. At some point during the party, the bride and groom attempt to sneak off; but they are followed by all the guys who wait outside the door of the bride chamber for the groom to come out and announce, "We’re married!"
For Joseph there was a sudden hick-up in this ritual. The text says that she was "found to be pregnant." In Greek, it is a little more obvious: she was starting to show.
This changes the whole picture in our relationship between Joseph and Mary and what they were going through separately. In Luke 1:31, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, "you shall conceive." Joseph was given no warning, nor clued in on these events for the first two and a half to three months. Mary kept these things all to herself. Imagine the inner turmoil she must have gone through.
Joseph, on the other hand, demonstrated his compassion toward her in a way that few men would even today. The compound word "en-thumos" does not suggest logical consideration of the options; but emotionally grueling over the issue. How could she have betrayed him? Had she been raped and not willing to say anything? How could he trust her as his wife? How could God let this sort of thing happen?
It’s strange when we begin to think about these things in such terms as what young men and young women go through even today.
Yet, there was a factor in this relationship that doesn’t normally occur. A divine being met with Joseph in a dream to confirm that this woman who he had hoped to marry had not been unfaithful to him; but rather that Joseph’s life was to be part of an amazing plan.
The name "Yeshua" (Jesus) was a common enough name in the day. It was, in fact, the same name as the first military leader of Israel (Joshua). It literally means, "God will save." Yet, the commonness of the name would make little encouragement that this child was particularly special. However, the description that the angel provided, "that He shall save His people from their sins" may well have brought to mind a prophecy in the book of Zechariah about another Joshua:
Take of [them of] the captivity, [even] of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set [them] upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name [is] The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
(Zechariah 6:10-13 KJV)
Within the Jewish faith, the promise of the Messiah hinges primarily upon an obscure text in Deuteronomy 18:
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
(Deuteronomy 18:15-16 KJV)
References to this Prophet are more specifically defined throughout the Tanakh (we believe) in such a way as to validate Yeshua as that promised form the beginning. However, over time, Judaism has redefined itself so as to purposely discredit Yeshua as the Messiah: most notably, Rashi’s changing the Isaiah texts defining the "coming Messiah" as to represent the nation of Israel instead a specific person, and the fading of teachings such as the personal Messiah (Messiah ben Joseph as the Suffering Messiah preceding Messiah ben David as the conquering King). So much has elements of modern Judaism morphed that the need for repentance from sin, the need of atonement for reconciliation, and the establishment of relationship with God based on faith is considered by many as allegorical or legendary mysticism.
Our first Century accounts describe a people looking for the personal Messiah who came in the person of Yeshua Natzarette just in the manner that many of them had anticipated Him coming:
One of the two which heard John [speak], and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
(John 1:40-41 KJV)
The dots are connected for us by Matthew in that he references Isaiah 7:14, that "a virgin shall bring forth a son…." Antagonists are quick to point out the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 does not use the word "bethoo-law" which means "virgin" specifically but "almah" which is generic as referring to a young woman or girl. They are arguing with their own scholars as the Jewish sages responsible for the Greek Septuagint of the Tanakh translates the "almah" (young woman) as "parthenos" (a virgin). The issue taken by those who would necessarily refute the virgin birth based upon the specific noun usage is nonsensical. The prophecy is that a very *friendly* person will have a baby? What sort of prophecy is that? The attempt to discredit Yeshua’s claim by denying the virgin birth is at best a grasping at straws. Usage demands that by the context that this "almah" is indeed a virgin. Why is almah used instead of bethoo-law? It is because an old woman who has never had sexual relations would also be defined as such. Almah distinguishes the age of the woman who will have this child, not her sexual experience.
One of the givens is that bride isn’t supposed to have sex with anyone in the mean time.
The marriage ceremony is described by Ray Vanderlaan in the Focus On The Family video series called "That The World May Know" as a big party where the entire community is invited. At some point during the party, the bride and groom attempt to sneak off; but they are followed by all the guys who wait outside the door of the bride chamber for the groom to come out and announce, "We’re married!"
For Joseph there was a sudden hick-up in this ritual. The text says that she was "found to be pregnant." In Greek, it is a little more obvious: she was starting to show.
This changes the whole picture in our relationship between Joseph and Mary and what they were going through separately. In Luke 1:31, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, "you shall conceive." Joseph was given no warning, nor clued in on these events for the first two and a half to three months. Mary kept these things all to herself. Imagine the inner turmoil she must have gone through.
Joseph, on the other hand, demonstrated his compassion toward her in a way that few men would even today. The compound word "en-thumos" does not suggest logical consideration of the options; but emotionally grueling over the issue. How could she have betrayed him? Had she been raped and not willing to say anything? How could he trust her as his wife? How could God let this sort of thing happen?
It’s strange when we begin to think about these things in such terms as what young men and young women go through even today.
Yet, there was a factor in this relationship that doesn’t normally occur. A divine being met with Joseph in a dream to confirm that this woman who he had hoped to marry had not been unfaithful to him; but rather that Joseph’s life was to be part of an amazing plan.
The name "Yeshua" (Jesus) was a common enough name in the day. It was, in fact, the same name as the first military leader of Israel (Joshua). It literally means, "God will save." Yet, the commonness of the name would make little encouragement that this child was particularly special. However, the description that the angel provided, "that He shall save His people from their sins" may well have brought to mind a prophecy in the book of Zechariah about another Joshua:
Take of [them of] the captivity, [even] of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set [them] upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name [is] The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
(Zechariah 6:10-13 KJV)
Within the Jewish faith, the promise of the Messiah hinges primarily upon an obscure text in Deuteronomy 18:
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
(Deuteronomy 18:15-16 KJV)
References to this Prophet are more specifically defined throughout the Tanakh (we believe) in such a way as to validate Yeshua as that promised form the beginning. However, over time, Judaism has redefined itself so as to purposely discredit Yeshua as the Messiah: most notably, Rashi’s changing the Isaiah texts defining the "coming Messiah" as to represent the nation of Israel instead a specific person, and the fading of teachings such as the personal Messiah (Messiah ben Joseph as the Suffering Messiah preceding Messiah ben David as the conquering King). So much has elements of modern Judaism morphed that the need for repentance from sin, the need of atonement for reconciliation, and the establishment of relationship with God based on faith is considered by many as allegorical or legendary mysticism.
Our first Century accounts describe a people looking for the personal Messiah who came in the person of Yeshua Natzarette just in the manner that many of them had anticipated Him coming:
One of the two which heard John [speak], and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
(John 1:40-41 KJV)
The dots are connected for us by Matthew in that he references Isaiah 7:14, that "a virgin shall bring forth a son…." Antagonists are quick to point out the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 does not use the word "bethoo-law" which means "virgin" specifically but "almah" which is generic as referring to a young woman or girl. They are arguing with their own scholars as the Jewish sages responsible for the Greek Septuagint of the Tanakh translates the "almah" (young woman) as "parthenos" (a virgin). The issue taken by those who would necessarily refute the virgin birth based upon the specific noun usage is nonsensical. The prophecy is that a very *friendly* person will have a baby? What sort of prophecy is that? The attempt to discredit Yeshua’s claim by denying the virgin birth is at best a grasping at straws. Usage demands that by the context that this "almah" is indeed a virgin. Why is almah used instead of bethoo-law? It is because an old woman who has never had sexual relations would also be defined as such. Almah distinguishes the age of the woman who will have this child, not her sexual experience.
