Matthew 1:19

Matthew 1:19. Joseph, according to the Jewish law, her husband. Comp. Matthew 1:20; Genesis 29:21; Deuteronomy 22:24.

A just man, a man of uprightness. His conduct does not compel us to accept the sense: a kind man. He was influenced by justice. Mary had possibly told him of the revelation made to her: he was just in giving her a hearing, and then, in consequence, in not wishing to make her a public example. At the same time, justice led him, as a Jew, to the intention of putting her away, though privately. The former phrase is the more remarkable, since such Justice is rarely exercised to one in the situation of Mary. So high a regard for the honor and reputation of a woman is most rare in Eastern countries. Mary's strong faith may have influenced him also.

Not willing expresses the mere wish; was minded, the intention; a distinction not always recognized in discussing this passage.

Privately. In the conflict between his sense of right and his regard for Mary, he chose the middle way of private divorce. The eternal Son of God exposed himself, at his very entrance into the world, to the suspicion of illegitimacy! One chosen to be His mother was suspected of un-faithfulness by her husband! The two kinds of divorce among the Jews. The private divorce here spoken of consisted in giving the wife a bill of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-3; Matthew 19:8). without assigning a reason for it. The public divorce would have involved the charge of adultery, and consequent punishment, stoning to death. By preferring the former, Joseph exhibited not only kindness but self-sacrifice, since her condition, when publicly known, would be reckoned his disgrace.