medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
It may be worth observing that "Joseph" is a theological construct.
Joseph is portrayed by Matthew as a Wise man in the Old Testament tradition. That is to say, someone who is skilled in interpreting dreams. The great wise man of the Old Testament was Joseph, son of Jacob, he of the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Genesis relates four dreams which he interpreted. He has a dream of his own, in which his brothers’
sheaves bow down to his sheaves. He explains the meaning of the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker. He explains the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream, of the seven fat and the seven lean cows, and thus saves Egypt, and with it the race of Israel, from destruction by famine.
Matthew makes the husband of Mary the new Joseph, also the son of Jacob, and like his namesake a
dreamer. He has a dream in which he is told that Mary's child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit; he has another dream in which he is warned to flee to Egypt; and another dream in which he is told it is safe to return to the land of Egypt, and yet a fourth dream in which he is told to withdraw from Judea to Nazareth.
The Old Israel is tiny: just Jacob and his twelve sons, a family rather than a nation. You might call it an
infant nation. But God preserves it from annihilation through Joseph and his four dreams, and through a retreat to Egypt. The New Israel is tiny: just a baby in its mother's womb at the beginning of the story. But God preserves it from annihilation through a new Joseph and his four dreams, and again by a retreat to Egypt. It’s all very neat, and we may very well ask if, as a matter of historical fact, it really happened in that way. That I don’t know; but if we subtract from Matthew's portrait of Saint Joseph what is patently based on the
Joseph of Genesis, we have very little left.
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