- published: 27 Nov 2014
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Joseph (Hebrew יוֹסֵף, "Yosef"; Greek: Ἰωσήφ) is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ (in distinction to God the Father, his "heavenly father"). In Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Christian traditions he is regarded as Saint Joseph.
The Pauline epistles, generally considered the earliest extant Christian records, make no reference to Jesus' father; nor does the Gospel of Mark, generally considered the first of the gospels. The first appearance of Joseph is therefore in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Each contains a genealogy of Jesus tracing his ancestry back to King David, but the two are from different sons of David; Matthew follows the major royal line from Solomon, while Luke follows a minor line from Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. Consequently all the names between David and Joseph are different. According to Matthew "Jacob was the father of Joseph," while according to Luke, Joseph, or possibly Jesus, is said to be "of Heli." Some scholars reconcile the genealogies by viewing the Solomonic lineage as Joseph's major royal line, and the Nathanic lineage in Luke to be Mary's minor line.