Matthew 1:19

19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Matthew 1:19 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 1:19

Then Joseph her husband
To whom she had been betrothed, and who was her husband, and she his wife according to the Jewish law, ( Deuteronomy 22:23 Deuteronomy 22:24 ) though not yet come together,

being a just man,
observant of the law of God, particularly that which respected adultery, being wholly good and chaste, like the Patriarch of the same name; a character just the reverse of that which the Jews give him, in their scandalous ^F2 book of the life of Jesus; where, in the most malicious manner, they represent him as an unchaste and an unrighteous person:

and not willing to make her a public example,
or to deliver her, i.e. to the civil magistrate, according to Munster's Hebrew edition. The Greek word signifies to punish by way of example to others, to deter them from sinning; and with the ancients it ^F3 denoted the greatest and severest punishment. Here it means either bringing her before the civil magistrate, in order to her being punished according to the law in ( Deuteronomy 22:23 Deuteronomy 22:24 ) which requires the person to be brought out to the gate of the city and stoned with stones, which was making a public example indeed; or divorcing her in a very public manner, and thereby expose her to open shame and disgrace. To prevent which, he being tender and compassionate, though strictly just and good,

was minded to put her away privily:
he deliberately consulted and determined within himself to dismiss her, or put her away by giving her a bill of divorce, in a very private manner; which was sometimes done by putting it into the woman's hand or bosom, see ( Deuteronomy 24:1 ) . In Munster's Hebrew Gospel it is rendered, "it was in his heart to forsake her privately."

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Teldos Jesu, p. 3.
F3 A. Gellii Noct. Attic. l. 6. c. 14.

Matthew 1:19 In-Context

17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek to divorce her.