Undercover Adam
And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her way secretly. Matthew 1:19
To Disgrace – We don’t have much trouble identifying the Hebraic pattern in the gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word” is deliberately arranged to parallel “In the beginning God” from Genesis 1:1. But we are not so quick to see that Matthew also uses a Hebrew frame of reference. But looking a little deeper into the structure of his gospel, we will discover that he wrote assuming that the readers would be very familiar with the Genesis account. Just like John, Matthew’s audience knew the Scripture – the Tanakh – and they would have recognized immediately that these gospel accounts were designed to create a seamless continuity between the text of the Tanakh and the writings of the apostles. Much later, this style of writing came to be called “writing with Scripture.” It was a common practice of the rabbis.
Let’s look at the account of Joseph and see how Matthew disguises something about Adam. Mary is Joseph’s ‘ezer kenegdo, just like Havvah is Adam’s ‘ezer kenegdo. Just like Havvah, Mary appears to have betrayed Joseph. At least that is Joseph’s perspective. The next verse suggests that Joseph was enraged at the news of her pregnancy. Yes, I know, the translation doesn’t say that, but the Greek text does. We translate enthumethentos as “considering” or “meditating on” or “thinking about,” but everywhere else in Scripture the root word thumos is about anger or wrath. In fact, this makes a lot more sense. Joseph was mad about what appeared to have happened. Who wouldn’t be? Just like Adam, Joseph feels betrayed. But there is one big difference in the Joseph story. Joseph forgives!
Joseph is a just man. That’s what the Greek text says (dikaios). This does not mean that he was scrupulously legal. It means that he understood compassion. He loved Mary. Before he even knew the whole story, he didn’t want her to be disgraced. The Greek text actually says that he didn’t want her to be publicly shamed (paradeigmatisai). Literally, this means to make a public example of. Joseph had every right to expose her offense. But his rights didn’t come before her self-esteem. That’s dikaios. To treat the apparently unlovable, the ones who have done us harm, with tender compassion. Joseph is not Adam. Adam not only doesn’t forgive, he names his ‘ezer kenegdo with a name that forever humiliates her. Joseph puts aside his pride and loves Mary. Adam gets even.
There are two powerful lessons here. The first is the easy one. If we don’t read the gospels as Jews, we won’t see all that’s really there. We will read these stories as if they are new events, not pattern repetitions. So, lesson number one – we have a lot to learn.
Lesson number two is the reason why Matthew includes this small description of Joseph. Joseph is Adam undercover, but this Adam demonstrates the power of forgiveness just as the first Adam exhibited the tragedy of revenge. What does this mean for us? Ah, we have two role models before us – Adam or Joseph. Which will you be today? Will you be just, or will you be justified?
Topical Index: Joseph, Adam, just, dikaios, public shame, Matthew 1:19
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“Joseph is Adam undercover”
Hi Skip,
I’m a little slow on the uptake tonight, just trying to figure out your juxtaposition.
How if Joseph is undercover (like Joseph Conrad’s Secret Agent) in what sense is Adam “out in the open?”
Oh yeah, before he found the fig leaf 🙂
Shalom Michael …. quick two cents:
Joseph is under cover in the context that he is connected by “way of pattern” to Adam and Genesis.
Just as Adam and Eve were the first parents for humanity … so too from a pattern perspective can Joseph and Mary be viewed as the first parents for the “new humanity” …
So Adam and Eve’s relationship to Genesis is “out in the open” … while Joseph and Mary’s relationship to Genesis are implied by the context of Scriptural Pattern.
As Skip points out … the use of patterns and application thereof respective to understanding The Word is quite important in a Hebraic view!
From a broad sense the actions of Joseph towards Mary really do imply something different … something that is being renewed … even man’s attitude towards his help-mate! 🙂
Skip … if I am misspeaking … just say so … Michael … I know you asked for a Skip response but it seemed appropriate to chime in … if I am too presumptuous then please accept my apology!
Thanks Drew! Very interesting 🙂
That is SO cool! You’re right, I would never have realized the parallels between Joseph and Adam. What a difference forgiveness makes!
I also think that realizing that Joseph was angry when he found out about Mary’s pregnancy helps me to see him as more human. It’s easy to lose sight of that. I know they were real people, but because they’re part of such a monumental story they become almost like superheroes (I was going to say celebrities, but our celebrities don’t really match what I was trying to say, sadly). Real, but not real. Seeing emotion in them brings them back to earth.
Thanks again!
Amanda Y
“There are two powerful lessons here. The first is the easy one. If we don’t read the gospels as Jews, we won’t see all that’s really there.”
On the discussion of this first lesson to be learned, I like what David H. Stern, “Jewish New Testament Commentary” writes about the name of Yeshua’s mother.
“Miryam – in English this Hebrew name is usually rendered by the spelling ‘Miriam’ in the Tanakh and ‘Mary’ in the New Testament. This unfounded and artificial distinction produced by translators subtly drives a wedge between Yeshua’s mother and her own Jewishness. The original Miriam was the sister of Moshe Rabbenu (‘Moses, our teacher’; Exodus 2:4-8) and a prophet (Exodus 15:20); in some respects she is seen as a role-model for the Jewish woman leader of today. But the name ‘Mary’ evokes in the reader’s thinking an otherworldly image of ‘Madonna and Child,’ complete with haloes, beatific smiles and angels in array, instead of the New Testament’s portrayal of a down-to-earth Jewish lady in an Israel village managing her wifely, maternal and other social responsibilities with care, love and faith.”
This observance may seem to be not all that significant. Never the less, for me, any intentional or unintentional clouding of the total picture that God intended to paint by His Word should be avoided and corrected. Blessings this day…
Funny you bring this up now, Fred. My daughter-in-law asked me the other day if I had any name suggestions for their baby girl coming in July. One that I looked up on the Hebrew names site was Mary. It did refer to Miriam, but I did not want the association of ‘bitterness.’ (However, one who would know where/who the ROCK is, would be a valuable member of the community!) I must look into this further . . .
“Fred, Mary, and Miriam”
Hi Fred,
I must say that I find your comments on Mary and Miriam somewhat coincidental.
Not to mention your picture, which looks like a very young version of a guy name Fred Jameson.
I spent most of the seventies studying comparative literature under Fred Jameson and needless to say he had a very big influence on my life.
During that time, I lived on the beach in Del Mar just north of UCSD, surfing when I wasn’t studying and sharing a large house with a woman named Mary and her two young children.
When I finished school in 1980, I moved to San Francisco where I worked for a number of years before meeting my wife.
My wife’s best friend from school days lives in England, but our families became friends and we have visited each other every so often over the years.
My wife’s best friend is named Miriam.
Indeed Michael, it never ceases to amaze me how the paths of His own often seem to cross in the most inexplicable ways. Even though I have been for the last 30+ years a North Carolina resident, I was born, raised in southern California, and lived for a time in East San Diego; taking my youngest daughter body-surfing with me when she was only five years old to some of the same beaches that you probably frequented. Furthermore, prior to that experience, I used to train harness horses and lived at the track at Del Mar – is it a small world?
Anyway, blessings my brother as we forage ahead seeking the face of our God.
“train harness horses and lived at the track at Del Mar”
Hi Fred,
That’s funny, Mary’s sister Ann was married to an old trainer, whose name I cannot recall.
In any case, I lived on the alley at 23rd and Ocean Front across the street from the track.
Mary had an oldest daughter named Michelle, and then Nancy who lived in North Carolina.
My best friend at school was named Michelle and she studied French literature with Fred.
When I met her husband David, who was studying neurophysiology, I told him that I had just been to the track and that I had a system for playing the horses.
He started arguing with me that there was no system for playing the horses and we have been best friends since.
When I got out of school, I moved to San Francisco and they coincidentally moved to Berkeley along with many of our friends in the literature department.
Most of them became lawyers and I got a job at the BoA, where I started studying computer code and system theory under an Indian man who had a PhD in physics from one of those prestigious English universities like the one Skip attended.
It’s a small world 🙂
Blessings
Hi Skip, Great Study! I’m hoping you are going to do us a favour and take a look at the last little bit of this verse… because, of course, in order to “put her away”, Joseph would have had to go to the Beth Din… so it wasn’t going to be ‘secret’ as we understand the term! Any ideas?
Hi Skip, I’m new to God’s Table and I have to say I love reading it every morning. Today’s read was very interesting but I must be missing something because I don’t understand how Havvah’s name indicates that Adam refused to forgive her. I read Ken Bailey’s commentary on Joseph “the just” and found that very enlightening, but need help with Havvah. Thanks for this word study every day! Myrna
Shalom,
A word to our dear brother Carl … two days … no posts?
Just hoping and praying that all is well for you!
Looking forward to seeing your ever faithful uplifting posts which continually praise HE WHO is worthy of all our love, attention and worship … Praise Yeshua!