The Bible says that Joseph received four dreams from God. In these dreams an angel told him what to do. The evangelist Matthew describes the difficult situations in which Joseph found himself and how God spoke to him in a dream and gave him orders. Joseph did what God told him to do in the dream. So he married Mary. After the birth of Jesus, he fled to Egypt with the child and Mary. When he heard through a dream that it was safe again in Israel, he returned. Halfway he hesitated, but an angel spoke to him again in a dream and Joseph obeyed and went with Mary and Jesus to Nazareth.
Joseph and Mary
The evangelist Matthew tells that Joseph was betrothed to Mary. Her parents had promised Joseph that he would marry her. She was a virgin, a Jewish girl of about twelve years old. When agreements were made between families about the marriage of their children, the betrothal was almost like a kind of marriage. When Mary turns out to be pregnant, Joseph has two options. He can divorce her through the court, or he can divorce her with two witnesses present.
The righteous Joseph
Matthew calls Joseph a righteous man. He is a tzadik , a devout Jew, who scrupulously adheres to the Jewish rules of life. Based on those rules, he cannot live with Maria if she is pregnant by someone else. Jozef then chooses not to officially divorce her, through the court or with witnesses present. He doesn’t want to put her in a bad light. So he chooses to secretly leave her. Then Joseph has a dream in which an angel of the Lord speaks to him.
Joseph’s first dream
In Joseph’s first dream, an angel of the Lord speaks to him. An angel is a messenger from God. According to the Bible, God comes close to people through angels, especially to a person during the highs or lows of existence. God uses dreams to bridge the distance between Him and people. Through a dream, God lets Joseph know that Mary has not committed any offense. She has not broken the law of God, but the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The ancestry of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary was already betrothed to Joseph but was not yet living with him, she turned out to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, who was a righteous man, did not want to bring her into disrepute and thought about putting her away secretly. As he was considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for the child she bears has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son. Call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” […] Joseph woke up and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him: he took her to be his wife, but he did not have sexual intercourse with her until she had borne her son. And he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-21, 24-25)
Joseph’s second dream
When Jesus was born, wise men from the East came to pay him tribute. The wise men or magicians had informed King Herod of the newly born king’s child. Herod wanted to secure his position as king at all costs and as a precaution he murdered all boys from the age of two in and around Bethlehem (Matthew 2: 16). Shortly before, God had warned Joseph in a dream and he was able to bring Jesus and Mary to safety by fleeing to Egypt.
Shortly after they had thus fled, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, ‘Get up and flee with the child and his mother to Egypt. Stay there until I call you again, because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him.’ Joseph got up and went out that same night with the child and his mother into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-14)
Joseph’s third dream
When the tyrant Herod died, Joseph had a dream for the third time in which an angel of God spoke to him. This time the angel instructed him to go to Israel with the child, Jesus, and Mary, because it was safe again. The people who wanted to kill the child are no longer alive.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream in Egypt. The angel said, “Get up, take the child and his mother to Israel. For those who wanted to kill the child have died.” Joseph got up and left for Israel with the child and his mother. (Matthew 2:19-21)
Joseph’s fourth dream
Returning to Israel, Joseph learned that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judea. This Archelaus ruled from 4 BC to 6 AD. He followed in the footsteps of his father Herod in cruelty. The Roman emperor Augustus awarded Archelaus the title of ethnarch. This meant that Archelaus, if he behaved well, would later become king. But the charges against him were so numerous that the emperor exiled him to Gaul in 6 AD. Archelaus died there. Because of Archelaus’s great cruelty, it is no wonder that Joseph hesitated to
enter Archelaus’ territory . Once again Joseph is addressed in a dream and is instructed to go to Galilee. Joseph, Mary and Jesus then went to live in Nazareth.
But when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he did not dare to travel further. Following instructions in a dream, he fled to Galilee. He dwelt in the city of Nazareth, and it was fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’ (Matthew 2:22-22)
Similarities between Joseph from Genesis and Joseph according to Matthew
Joseph, Mary’s husband, receives messages from God through dreams. The Joseph from the book of Genesis also receives dreams. Joseph’s two dreams are about his future relationship with his brothers. He not only receives dreams, he also gives the interpretation of the dreams, from the cupbearer and the baker and from the Pharaoh (Genesis 37-50). Although the story of the Joseph in Matthew is a standalone story, there are important parallels between these two Josephs.
The name Joseph
The name of the Joseph in Matthew is reminiscent of the Joseph from the Bible book of Genesis. The name Joseph is of Hebrew origin and means ‘Yahweh add, give increase’. Rachel gives her first son this name in gratitude that God had ‘opened her womb’. It took a long time before she had her first child. In the name Joseph she expresses the wish that God would give her another son (Genesis 30: 22-24).
The father’s name
Both the Joseph from Genesis and the one from Matthew have a father named Jacob. In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, Matthew mentions Jacob as the father of Joseph (Matthew 1:16). In the Bible, this name is inextricably linked to Jacob the patriarch, who received Joseph as a son by Rachel.
The dreams
Both the Joseph in Matthew and the Joseph in Genesis dream. Joseph of Mary receives a total of four dreams with a message from God. In Genesis, Joseph has dreams that reveal his future (Genesis 37:5-9). They are not dreams in which an angel speaks to him, but they are more symbolic dreams. Joseph dreams about sheaves of wheat and the heavenly bodies bowing down to him. These dreams came true when his brothers came to Egypt and bowed down to him (Genesis 42:6-9).
Death threats
In Genesis, Joseph’s brothers want to kill him (Genesis 37:18-20). The brothers are jealous of his beautiful clothes and the dreams he has. Matthew describes how Herod wants to kill the child Jesus. The child entrusted to the care of Joseph, Mary’s husband (Matthew 2: 13,16).
To Egypt
Joseph’s flight with Mary and the child Jesus in the New Testament (Matthew 2) is an immediate reminder of the fact that in the Old Testament Joseph was rescued from the pit and sold to slavers who took him to Egypt. Joseph first lived there as a slave, later as a prisoner and finally became viceroy.
The righteous Joseph
Both Josephs are righteous. They do not go against the marriage laws of the country. In Genesis, Joseph resists repeated attempts by Potiphar’s wife to seduce him. Ultimately, he receives an unjustified prison sentence for it (Gen 39). In Matthew, Joseph is a righteous and upright man. He has no physical intercourse with Mary before marriage. He doesn’t want to bring her into disrepute.
read more
- Joseph’s two dreams (Genesis 37) and their meaning
- The explanation and meaning of dreams in the Bible
- The star of Bethlehem and the wise men or magicians from the East
- Symbolism of numbers in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus