Did Joseph plan to "divorce" Mary?

Saturday, 19 May 2012 3 Comments

I stumbled again onto an old pet peeve of mine again on Christmas Eve.

It is found in the translation of the Christmas story. (Alas! It even appears in the new and improved ESV translation.)

In Matthew 1 we hear again how Joseph was engaged to Mary, ("betrothed" in the older English), but before they had a chance to BE married, Mary was found to have conceived. She was pregnant. This was by the Holy Spirit, of course, but Joseph did not know that until an angel appeared to him in a dream. He therefore decided to break the engagement. He wasn't going through with the marriage. Yet even so, he did not wish to throw Mary's disgrace back in her face, so he decided to do so quietly.

And thus we come to my peeve: The ESV, along with other notable translations, renders this phrase by saying that Joseph "resolved to divorce [Mary] quietly."

"Divorce." That is the word that is used to translate the breaking of an engagement. I have a problem with that.

First of all, it is a bad translation. Even if you wish to use the word "divorce" in the general sense to mean separation rather than the dissolving of a marriage, that is still not what the scripture says. It says literally that Joseph intended to "release" or "free" her. The prefix "from" is a part of the word, so it carries the sense of sending her away. The King James version translates that Joseph planned to "put her away," and the context makes it clear that they were not yet married.

What would be the best way to render this into modern American English? I don't know. I'm not really the linguistic expert here, but I could take a few stabs at it. We could say that Joseph resolved to "end the engagement." We could say that he planned to "break it off" with Mary. We could say that he planned to "call off the wedding." I suppose if we wanted to be provocative we could even say that he intended to "jilt" her.

My point being that the English language has no shortage of vocabulary to describe what Joseph was contemplating. It is really not a difficult verse to render. Why, then, do such notable translations (ESV and NIV to name a few) choose to render this with the word "divorce?"

I honestly don't know. The primary definition for divorce in the dictionary is the breaking of a marriage. Mary and Joseph were not yet married. And frankly, it irks me to hear it read publicly that Joseph was contemplating divorce in the very same sentence we are told that he was a righteous man.

(Oh well. I suppose I can seek the best construction and use this to encourage seminarians to study their Greek.)

If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them.

And Merry Christmas! (Since today is only the fourth day of Christmas!)

Comments

Lois Kagel Thursday, 29 December 2011 · Edit

Perhaps we try to impose our 21st century meanings on the Biblical story - i.e. - engaged, betrothed, divorce, etc. One would have to go back to the original Greek to see which words and conotations were intended. I thought that "betrothed" was synomous with marriage, as was the custom in those days - but they "had not come together yet", and that Joseph was hesitant to expose Mary as an adulteress. Being PG was a deal breaker, so Joseph thought, until the angel came to him in a dream.(If they weren't publically betrothed, I doubt that Mary's mother and father would have let her travel with Joseph, to the City of David! Back to the Greek!
David! (being PG was a "deal breaker~!)

Daniel Kempin Friday, 30 December 2011

That's a good point, Lois, and I suspect part of the background. I, too, have heard it taught--extensively, in fact--that betrothal was synonymous with marriage in Bible times.

This is simply not true. Or at least I have never seen a source to back it up beyond a statement of opinion. Was betrothal a serious and legally binding commitment? Yes. Was it a marriage? No. If so, the Bible would have said that Joseph was married to Mary, not betrothed. Just as the scripture says that they did go through with the marriage, (thus the journey together to Bethlehem), but did not consummate the marriage, (hardly public knowledge), until after the baby was born.

And kudos for your "Back to the Greek!" That is my entire point. The translation does not support what the greek text actually says.

Thanks for the great comment. Maybe I should follow up with my other pet peeve--the rampant teaching as fact that Mary was 12 or 13 years old when she was married . . .

G Paul Fernandez Thursday, 26 January 2012

The KJV uses the word "espoused" to describe the relationship between Joseph and Mary before the Annunciation and again at Bethlehem in Matthew 1 and 2, and in Luke 1 and 2. This word is currently defined by Webster as "married", however, the Latin word from which it was derived "sponsus, spondere" means: "to promise". It is not unusual for words to change shades of meaning in usage over time, or, for that matter to loose fine shades of meaning in translation. Since the English word did not yet exist in the first century AD, and the first vernacular translation of the Greek was done in Latin in forth century, (if I remember correctly) the Latin Vulgate version might be consulted for clarification.

In the Vulgate, the latin word 'disponsata' is consistently used in both Matthew and Luke. The latin translation of disponsata is 'betrothed or engaged'.

Regarding the divorce issue, the KJV translation of MATT 1:19 reads "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." In the Vulgate, the latin infinitives used in this verse are "traducere" which can mean "to parade in public"; and "dimittere" meaning "send away" or "dismiss".

From this study, it is clear to me that Joseph and Mary were indeed engaged, but not yet married, at the time when Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Also, that Joseph, upon being informed of the situation, was considering breaking off the engagement privately so as not to embarass Mary or her family. Divorce makes no sense in this context.

Since my Latin is weak, at best, and my only knowledge of Greek consists of the letters used in math and science, I will go no further. Hope it helps.