Joseph - The Earthly Father of Jesus Christ Updated December 08, 2015. Profile of Joseph the Father of Jesus Christ: God chose Joseph to be the earthly father of Jesus. The Bible tells us in the Gospel of Matthew , that Joseph was a righteous man. His actions toward Mary , his fiance, revealed he was a kind and sensitive man. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning. Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. Joseph willingly obeyed God, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality made him God's choice for the Messiah's earthly father.

The Bible does not reveal much detail about Joseph's role as father to Jesus Christ , but we know from Matthew, chapter one, that he was an excellent earthly example of integrity and righteousness. Joseph is last mentioned in Scripture when Jesus was 12 years old. We know that he passed on the carpentry trade to his son and raised him in the Jewish traditions and spiritual observances. Joseph's Accomplishments: Joseph was the earthly father of Jesus, the man entrusted to raise the Son of God . Joseph was also a carpenter, or skilled craftsman. He obeyed God in the face of severe humiliation. He did the right thing before God, in the right manner. Joseph's Strengths: Joseph was a man of strong conviction who lived out his beliefs in his actions. He was described in the Bible as a righteous man . Even when personally wronged, he had the quality of being sensitive to someone else's shame. He responded to God in obedience and he practiced self-control. Joseph is a wonderful biblical examples of integrity and godly character . Life Lessons: God honored Joseph's integrity by entrusting him with a great responsibility. It is not easy to entrust your children to someone else.

Imagine God looking down to choose a man to raise his own son? Joseph had God's trust. Mercy always triumphs. Joseph could have acted severely toward Mary's apparent indiscretion, but he chose to offer love and mercy, even when he thought he had been wronged. Walking in obedience to God may result in humiliation and disgrace before men. When we obey God, even in the face of adversity and public shame, he leads and guides us. Hometown: Children - Jesus , James, Joses, Judas, Simon and daughters The ancestors of Joseph are listed in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-37. Key Verses: Matthew 1:19-20 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit .

(NIV) Luke 2:39-40 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. (NIV) JUST WHO WERE THE PARENTS OF JESUS? The Pacific Blue Group Inc. In the opening sentence of a New Testament parable, Jesus stated: A man of noble birth was on a long journey abroad, to have himself appointed king, and return. (Luke 19:12) Herein lies part of a profound Gospel truth revealing the substance of historical information that the church has strived for 2000 years to conceal. In this tale of long ago misconceptions and mistaken identities must be clarified so that the original story may be seen to rest upon a true and sure foundation. For this purpose we begin with the examination of church writings purporting to record the birth of Jesus Christ. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke stated that Jesus Christ was the first born of Mary and Joseph and he had four younger brothers and at least two sisters (Mark 6:3).

Roman Catholics are obliged to hold the opinion that the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ were the children of Joseph by a former marriage. This conclusion originally stemmed from the Gospel of James (the Protevanglium) that related to the age of Joseph at the birth of Jesus. However, it was clearly recorded that Joseph had sex with Mary after the birth of Jesus. The statement in the Gospel of Matthew that Joseph 'knew her not until she had born a son' (Matt. 1:25) eliminated the church's claim that Mary was a perpetual virgin. From the statements in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew it was clear that the brothers and sisters of Jesus were subsequent children of Mary in the fullest sense. Joseph returned to Galilee with the intention of marrying Mary. The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke clearly explained that they were 'betrothed' before Joseph's departure. This was the equivalent of being `engaged' in modern-day terminology. However, upon his return some months later, it was plainly apparent that Mary `was with child' (Luke 2:5) and it 'could not be hid from Joseph'. The Gospel of Matthew elaborated extensively upon the feelings of Joseph when he saw the violated condition of his bride-to-be.

He was uneasy and being unwilling to defame her, he privately discussed ending their engagement (Matt. 1:19). From the description in the Gospels, it was clear that Joseph was not the biological father of Mary's child. So, who was? The evidence of the Rabbis The Jewish records of the Rabbis are of extreme importance in determining Gospel origins and the value of the church presentation of the virgin birth story of Jesus Christ. A common appellation for Jesus in the Talmud was Yeshu'a ben Panthera, an allusion to the widespread Jewish belief during the earliest centuries of the Christian era that Jesus was the result of an illegitimate union between his mother and a Roman soldier named Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera. The Talmud enshrines within its pages Jewish oral law. It is divided into two parts, the Mishna and the Gemara. The first discusses such subjects as festivals and sacred things. The Gemara, is basically a commentary on these subjects. When the Talmud was written is not known. Some authorities suggest a date of 150-160, around the same time the Christian Gospels began to emerge, while others say 450.

The Talmud writers mentioned Jesus' name twenty times and quite specifically documented that he was born an illegitimate son of a Roman soldier called Panthera, nicknamed the "Panther". Panthera's existence was confirmed by the discovery of a mysterious tombstone at Bingerbr�ck in Germany. The engraving etched in the headstone read: Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera, an archer, native of Sidon, Phoenicia, who in 9AD was transferred to service in Rhineland (Germany). 1 This inscription added fuel to the theory that Jesus was the illegitimate son of Mary and the soldier Panthera. Classical scholar Professor Morton Smith of the Columbia University USA, described the tombstone as possibly `our only genuine relic of the holy family.' 2 In many Jewish references, Jesus was often referred to as 'ben Panthera', 'ben' meaning, 'son of'. However cautious one ought to be in accepting anything about Jesus from Jewish sources, in the matter of Jesus 'ben Panthera', the writers seem more consistent than the men we now call the church fathers. Scholars, for centuries, have discussed at length why Jesus was so regularly called ben Panthera.

Adamantius Origen, an early Christian historian and church father (185-251), recorded the following verses about Mary from the research records of a highly regarded Second Century historian and author named Celsus (c. 178): Mary was turned out by her husband, a carpenter by profession, after she had been convicted of unfaithfulness. Cut off by her spouse, she gave birth to Jesus, a bastard; that Jesus, on account of his poverty was hired out to go to Egypt; that while there he acquired certain (magical) powers which Egyptians pride themselves on possessing. 3 Later, in passage 1:32, Origen supported the Jewish records and confirmed that the paramour of the mother of Jesus was a Roman soldier called Panthera, a name he repeated in verse 1:69. Sometime during the 17th Century, those sentences were erased from the oldest Vatican manuscripts and other codices under church control. 4 The traditional church writings of St Epiphanius, the Bishop of Salamis (315-403) again confirmed the ben Panthera story and his information was of a startling nature.

This champion of Christian orthodoxy and saint of Roman Catholicism frankly stated: Jesus was the son of a certain Julius whose surname was Panthera. 5 This was an extraordinary declaration simply recorded in ancient records as accepted church history. The ben Panthera legend was so widespread that two early stalwarts of the Christian church inserted the name in the genealogies of Jesus and Mary as a matter of fact. Enlarging on that statement, this passage from the Talmud: Rabbi Shiemon ben Azzai has said: I found' in Jerusalem a book of genealogies; therein was written that Such-an-one (Jesus) is the bastard son of an adulteress. 6 'Such-an-one' was one of the well-known substitutes for Jesus in the Talmud, as has been proved and admitted on either side. Shiemon ben Azzai flourished at the end of the First and beginning of the Second Century. He was one of four famous Rabbis, who according to Talmudic tradition 'entered Paradise'. He was a Chassid (the pious Jews of Palestine), most probably an Essene and remained a celibate and rigid ascetic until his death.

The story of Mary's pregnancy by a Roman soldier also appeared in the sacred book of the Moslems, the Koran. It stated that 'a full-grown man' forced his attentions on Mary, and in her fear of the disgrace that would follow she left the area and bore Jesus in secret. This story was supported in the Gospel of Luke, with the description of the departure of Joseph and Mary from their home prior to the birth. Rape was a common event in Palestine during the Roman occupation and soldiers were notorious for their treatment of young women. It would be unthinkable for Mary to admit such an event had occurred for, under the Law of Moses, a betrothed virgin who had sex with any man during the period of her betrothal, was to be stoned to death by the men of the city (Deut. 22:21). Simply put, Mary faced the death penalty unless she could prove her innocence. 7 The mother's name There was another, lesser-known name Jesus was called during those early years and that was 'Yeshu'a ben Stada' (Son of Stada). This name was recorded in the records of the Sanhedrin and also in the Talmud.

What can also be found in the Gemara, and has embarrassed Christian authorities for centuries, was this: Ben Stada was Ben Panthera, Rabbi Chisda said; The husband was Stada, the lover Panthera. Another said; the husband was Paphos ben Jehuda; Stada was his mother ... and she was unfaithful to her husband. 8 These apparently contradictory assertions can be ironed out when read in context. In summary, Stada was Yeshu'a (Jesus) ben Panthera's mother. The Gemera goes on to record that Yeshu'a ben Panthera 'was hanged on the day before the Passover'. That is to say, apparently, that after stoning, ben Panthera's body was hung or exposed on a vertical stake. Crucifixion was an unused mode of execution amongst the Jews who favored stoning as the main form of capital punishment. To shorten the cruelty of death by stoning, the victim was first rendered unconscious by a soporific drink, and subsequently the stoned body was exposed on a vertical stake as a warning to others.

They found an old book The name 'ben Stada' given to Jesus in the Talmud, was found paralleled in the ancient Mehgheehlla Scroll that was discovered by Russian physician D.B. de Waltoff near Lake Tiberius in 1882 and 'is now called simply the Safed Scroll. In this old text, there were two brothers called Yeshai and Judas ben Halachmee who were the illegitimate twin sons born of a fifteen year old girl called Stadea. The closeness of the name Stada in the Talmud to the Stadea in the Safed Scroll is extraordinary and the slight difference in spelling can be explained by variations in translations. The interesting point here is that the name ben Halachmee was the name of Stadea's later husband, not the biological father of her sons. Unfortunately, no mention was made of the real father's name but ben Halachmee was the name given to Stadea's illegitimate twin boys. According to the Safed Scroll, Yeshai and his brother Judas ben Halachmee were taken in, raised and educated by the religious order of Essene monks.

The Essenes were a perennial Jewish colony that particularly flourished in Judea for some centuries previous to the time ascribed to the New Testament stories. Subsequently one of the boys became a student of Rabbi Hillel's school of philosophy and the other became the leader of the Essenes. An older Essene named Joseph was assigned as Yeshai's 'religious father' and guardian. The Safed Scroll suggested that eventually, Yeshai ben Halachmee's outspoken religious views angered the Jewish priests. He was tried by a Roman court on a charge of inciting the people to rebel against the Roman Government. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, but escaped, left the area and traveled to India. The Mehgheehlla Scroll mirrored aspects of the hidden story in the Gospels and provided external evidence that the conclusion reached in this volume was known in ancient tradition. Who was Stada/Stadea One of the most popular aspects of etymology is the history of names those words or phrases which uniquely identify persons, animals, places, concepts or things. The earlier forms of a name are often uncertain and different dialect pronunciations have led to divergent spellings of the same name.

The social pressure to use a standard spelling did not emerge until the 18th Century and earlier writers saw no problem presenting a person's name in a variety of ways. In one study, for example, over 130 variants of the name 'Mainwaring' were found among the parchments belonging to that family. Many Hebrew names in the Old Testament were believed to bear a special significance, as originally individual subjects were called by a name expressive of some characteristic, e.g. Edom, red; Esau, hairy; Jacob, supplanter and Sarai (Sara) from the base word, 'Sharat'. A similar concept applied in Jewish writings and for a long time confused researchers. 9 Like Roman and Hebrew tradition, the names of the characters 'often appear in distorted form in Rabbinic literature' and were sometimes an attempt to disguise their true personality. 10 This type of understanding provided the key to researchers that enabled them to unlock the true essence of what was really being relayed in ancient writings. 'Names research' is an open-ended and complex domain, and one which is particularly greedy of the researcher's time.

In any study on the New Testament, however, it must be remembered that the first Gospels were written in Hebrew 11 and this was a vital point in determining who Stadea really was. 'The name (Stadea) has various forms and may have been borrowed from a fanciful name that meant a scholar; or had a regional identity like Stabiae or Statila, or a woman of good family.'' 12 According to Jewish writings, Stadea was 'the descendent of princes and rulers' 13 and her royal heritage provided a clue to her real name. The Talmud further stated that Yeshu'a (Jesus) ben Panthera's mother 'was also called Miriam, yes but she was nicknamed Stada ... Stat-da, this one has turned away, being unfaithful [Statda] to her husband'. 14 St Jerome explained the difficulty that he had in translating the earliest Gospels into Latin 15 and added that the `original Hebrew' versions of Matthew's Gospel and the earliest Luke Gospels were written in the Chaldaic language but with Hebrew letters. The `original Hebrew' version of the name 'Mary' was 'Mariamne'.

16 Therefore, 'Mary' in the English-language Gospels of today was originally written 'Mariamne' in the Hebrew versions and was sometimes translated 'Miriam'. 17 Mary unknown in early church history What was actually recorded of Mary/Mariamne in the only accepted Christian writings provided scant information indeed about the woman the church now call the mother-of-God. In the Gospels she was rarely mentioned. In fact, she was not mentioned by name in the oldest version of the Mark Gospel in the oldest Bibles. Nor was she mentioned in the oldest version of the John Gospel. The church said, 'the reader of the Gospels is at first surprised to find so little about Mary ... this obscurity has been studied at length'. 18 Both the Gospels of Mark and John first introduced Jesus as an adult. Only in contrived narratives does Mary play an important role in the biblical texts and, excluding these, she was mentioned only briefly on three occasions. The church presbyters were also silent on Mary. There was nothing recorded of her external to the church for more than four centuries after the time she was said to have lived. She had no ancestry or background except in spurious apocrypha.

The earliest documented reference to Mary was found in the Mark Gospel of the Sinai Bible (Mark 3:32).This narrative referred to her as simply the earthly mother of several sons and daughters. The reference was actually about a group of people who addressed Jesus and said, 'Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you'. Here was a profound truth. Modern Bibles show the three words `and your sisters', to have been removed or indexed to a footnote. From here onwards, Mary almost vanished from the church texts, and apart from an obscure final reference to her in the Acts of the Apostles (1:14) she disappeared forever from the New Testament. However, when the name `Mary' in the Gospels was replaced with the original Hebrew version, 'Mariamne', an historic aspect arose. Combining the evidence available, the position advanced in this book is that Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Gospels, Stadea of the Jewish writings, and Mariamne of the House of Herod were one and the same person.

At the time of the development of the Gospels, Mariamne was the younger sister of Herodias and the two girls were an integral part of the vast 'family of Herodes' (Herod today). They were the much loved granddaughters of King Herod and he 'cared for them with great devotion'. 19 Their mother, Berenice, later remarried and moved with her teenage daughters to live in Rome, where she gained the friendship of Emperor Augustus. 20 Mariamne and Herodias Herod were of noble birth through King Herod (c. 73-74BC) and his wife, Mariamne I. Mariamne Herod's father was Aristobulus, the son of Herod the Great, and her mother Berenice was the daughter of Herod's sister, Salome. Mariamne also had two brothers named Herod II, king of Chalcis, and Agrippa, who became Agrippa I. King Herod himself descended from a noble line of kings through his Nabatean mother, Cypros of Petra. The Nabateans were a Semitic people and the earliest sources regarded them as Arabs.

Today they are generally referred to as Nabatean Arabs. Owing to its secure location, Petra was adopted by the Nabatean kings as their capital city which became incorporated into the Roman Empire in 106. The Nabatean Arabs passed out of history with the advent of Islam. 21 The House of Herod was founded by the marriage of Cypros of Petra to Antipater (Antipas), the Idumean, to whom Cypros bore four sons, Herod being one. The name Herod subsequently became the title of seven rulers mentioned in the New Testament and in Roman history. King Herod was known to the Romans as 'The Great' but in the eyes of the people over whom he ruled however, he was always known as 'The Impious', despite his costly restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. In 7BC he strangled to death two of his sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, drawing a comment from Roman Emperor Augustus (27BC-14AD) that it was safer to be one of Herod's pigs than one of his sons.

Another son was later born to Herod and, for his safety, his mother dispatched him to the care of her family in Ariminum, a city near Ravenna in Northern Italy. 22 He was Prince Joseph, the Joseph of Arimathea in the Gospels, and he later became the unseen power behind his father's throne. Herod the Great was a Roman citizen, governor of Galilee by 47BC and then King of Judea from 37 to 4BC. He was one of the major figures in politics of Palestine in the early years of the Roman Empire. Mariamne Herod's ancestors can be traced back on her grandmother's (Mariamne I) side to the Hasmonean 'priest-kings' and 'hereditary priests' from the tribe of Benjamin. She, her sister, and her brothers were descendants of the legitimate Hasmonean dynasty and 'carried the Hasmonean blood'.

23 They also carried the blood of the Nabatean Arabs, so much so that King Aretas IV, who was legally confirmed a Nabatean Arab king by Emperor Augustus 24 divorced his wife to marry Herodias (who died after 41AD) to maintain the Nabatean bloodline, but she declined him. It was Herodias who was involved in the Gospel story of the beheading of John the Baptist, for which she received a level of notoriety and defamation similar to that of Mary Magdalene. The available records reflect an intricate tangle of marriages, intermarriages and divorces between the Herods and the Romans. In the account of the Gospel of Mark (6:17), for example, Herodias later married Herod Philip I, her own uncle, by whom she had a daughter, Salome. Salome was named after her Hasmodean ancestor Salome Alexandra, herself a priestess-king. 25 Later in time, Herod 'Without-land' Antipas apparently fell in love with Herodias and proposed to her. Seeing that his fortunes were rising faster than her husband's, Herodias accepted his hand.

She longed for social distinction, and accordingly left her husband and initially entered into an adulteress union with Herod Antipas, who was also her uncle. 26 She was not married to Antipas at this time but married him at a much later stage (c. 38). When Herodias saw how well her brother Agrippa I had fared in Rome, whence he returned a king, she urged her husband Herod Antipas to go to Caesar and obtain the royal title, for she believed his claim to it was far greater than that of her brother. Antipas was not king, but only Tetrarch of Galilee. 27 Contrary to his better judgment he went, and soon learned that Agrippa I by messengers had accused him before Emperor Caligula of conspiracy against the Romans. The Emperor banished Herod Antipas to Lyons, Gaul (France) in 41 and although he permitted Herodias to return to her home in Rome, she chose to accompany her husband into exile.

It was recorded that the male offspring of the House of Herod were forced to become circumcised Jews in the reign of John Hyrcanus, a Hasmonean of the earlier Maccabean period. In other words, the Herod family adopted the religion of Judaism. The religious movement of the Essenes was also connected to the Hasmonean bloodline through the High Priest, Mattathias, the father of the military king, Judas Maccabeus. We know that Herod the Great was favorable towards the Essenes, maybe because they made it their invariable practice to refrain from disobedience to the political authority. The Jewish historical writer, Philo, recorded that they had never clashed with any ruler of Palestine, however tyrannical, until his lifetime in the mid first century. This was a passive attitude which could not fail to commend itself to King Herod, and it was reported he even went so far as to exempt the Essenes, like the Pharisees, from the oath of loyalty to himself.

In the reconstruction of the story, and drawing upon the concept of the Safed Scroll, the pregnant Stadea (Mariamne Herod, n�e Mary) secretly went to one of the Essene communities until the time of the birth, and bore twin boys. Numerous groups of Essenes existed 'all over, as they were a very numerous sect' 28 and were found in secluded country areas as well as cities. Upon the birth of the twins, she then moved into the palace of Emperor Augustus and there she lived until the boys were old enough to receive schooling. It was due to their solidarity and the family affinity that the young Mariamne Herod had her illegitimate twin boys educated within the Essene community. The Essene hierarchy were her blood relatives and expounded similar principles and traditions to the Herodian philosophy. 'They perpetuated their sect by adopting children ... above all, the Essenes were the educators of the nobility, their instruction being varied and extensive. 29 To avoid confusion in developing the premise provided in this work, Mary, the mother of Jesus in the New Testament, shall be called Mariamne Herod except when quoting from the Gospels.

The Roman father of the twins As with ancient Hebrew, Christian and Jewish names, it is also difficult to be exactly sure of the real names of many of the Roman characters with which we are dealing and many irregularities arise. The allocation of names was unlike today's Western procedure and a great many were purposely compounded with the names of Caesars, deities, and hybrid variations such as Caracalla, Emperor of Rome 211-217. Caracalla was a name derived from a long tunic worn by the Gauls, which he adopted as his favorite dress after he became emperor. His proper name was M.Aurelius Antoninus. The name Caesar developed from Caesarian, being the nature of the birth of Julius Caesar. Sometimes a new name was afterwards substituted for the original one, just as Plato was originally called Aristocles. The Jewish name of the First Century historian Joseph ben Matthias became Titus Flavius Josephus when he took Roman citizenship late in life. A popular loan-name among Roman men was Silvanius 30 that developed from the Roman god 'of uncultivated land beyond the boundaries of tillage'.

A man with the name of Silvanius was depicted as 'uncanny and dangerous'. In many cases, the name was not given until the person was grown up and was then adapted from personal qualities such as Modestus, for example, and from servile condition Servus, or the name of an historical celebrity, Cornelia being one instance. In another Roman tradition, the name was sometimes a reference to peculiar circumstances at birth: e.g. Lucius-born by day; Quintusthe fifth born and Decimus-the tenth born. As a rule, the eldest received the 'proenomen' (Christian name) of his father, and this helps to determine exactly who Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera, as it appears on the headstone at Bingerbr�ck in Germany, really was. The name Tiberius Julius is the first part of the full name of Tiberius, Emperor of Rome, 31 the adopted son and heir of Emperor Augustus. Whether Tiberius was a native of Sidon in Phoenicia as recorded on the headstone, is difficult to establish, for there are conflicting references to his birthplace.

From a very early age Tiberius' parents were in fear of their lives through the uncertainty of the civil war, where wrong political allegiances could result in an early death. His childhood and youth were beset with hardships and difficulties, because Claudius Nero and Livia [his parents] took him wherever they went in their flight from Octavius ... He was next hurried all over Sicily ... His parents finally fled to Greece but were still in pursuit ... escaping with him from Sparta at night. 32 The Monumentum Ancrya 33 reported that at one stage the family sailed from Phoenicia to Egypt to avoid persecution. With such persistent pursuers it was probable that the family lived at Sidon in Phoenicia and left when they were found, but this information was not publicly recorded. The words that are important in establishing whether or not the headstone actually referred to Emperor Tiberius are 'Panthera' and 'Abdes'. In order to understand this inscription, it shall be shown that the headstone was composed well after the time of the events in question and therefore benefited from the hindsight of history.

There appeared to be a very deliberate plan in place in the manufacture of this headstone, and whoever was responsible for its construction knew the essence of what is revealed in this book. Its unknown creator encoded vital information in the form of a cipher and anagram, which when decoded revealed the identity of the father of Mariamne Herods' twin boys. In many cases a name was a reflection of that person's character and that view of ancient understanding can be used to trace an individual's life and illuminate that person's intimate character peculiarities. That was the case with Tiberius Julius' nickname, Panther. Variations were Panter-Panetier Panterer (Roman) which all meant 'adulterer' 34 and Tiberius was a man noted for his sexual excesses. This was an indication of how historical characters received their confusing multiplicity of names, for their names carne to reflect their nature and the events that surrounded their lives. Not even Tiberius' friends would deny that he often committed adultery, but said in justification that he did so for reasons of state, not simple passion he wanted to discover what his enemies were doing by becoming intimate with their wives or daughters.

35 The reputation of being a womanizer stuck to Tiberius, and as an elderly man he was said to have still harbored 'a passion for deflowering young girls, indulging in his sensual propensities on the island of Capri'. The name of 'Panther' may have originally developed from a little-known ancient Roman city of debauchery called Pantherin or Pantherine. 'Panther' may have also been attached to Tiberius Julius because of his beastly nature for the cat-like tactics he used in stalking and pouncing on his opponents in wars against the Dalmatians and Pannonians. 'In the old Physiologus [an anonymous Second Century book of fifty allegories], the panther was the type of Christ, but later, when the savage nature of the beast became more widely known, it became symbolical of evil and hypocritical flattery.' 36 From the year of his adoption by Augustus, circa 4AD, to the death of that emperor, Tiberius was in command of the Roman armies and because of his wicked nature, his troops named him 'the savage beast'. 37 Modern historians described him as a bloody tyrant.

There may be another clue in the name 'Panther' associated with the lusty, untamed, horned Greek god Pan, who amused himself with the chase of nymphs. He was forever in love with one nymph or another, but always rejected because of his foul nature. Pan dwelt in forests and was dreaded by those whose occupations caused them to pass through the woods by day or night. Hence sudden fright without any visible cause was ascribed to Pan, and called a 'Panic' terror. This blackened his image so that he was seen to correspond to the Devil himself. The name 'Pan' may have originally developed from the earlier Greek myth of Pan-darus, the term meaning 'to shoot an arrow'. Pan was the bowman (archer) of the Zodiac which is also the sign of Sagittarius, encompassing parts of the months of November and December, and it was no surprise to find that Tiberius, an archer in his youth' 38 was born in November.

There does seem to be some historical doubt as to accuracy of the time and place of his birth and this may account for the modern birth date given to him - 16 November 39 - falling slightly outside the prescribed range of the current Sagittarius dates, 26 November/23 December. It should be recognized, however, that the calendar has been adjusted over the course of 2000 years. Sometime shortly before the 17th Century, the Latin Sacred College quietly restored fifteen years to the Roman calendar. The net result of that, and earlier alterations, shows a present difference between Oriental and Western chronologies of sixty-three years, when both are compared from any certainly known astronomical date for example, Halley's Comet. The Roman leaders were renowned for their personification of earlier gods and the story of Julius Caesar acting out the role as Zeus was well recorded. 'Then there was Augustus' private banquet, known as "The Feast of the Divine Twelve", which caused a public scandal.

The guests carne dressed as gods or goddesses, Augustus himself representing Apollo.' 40 Apollo was the son of Zeus, who was the equivalent to Jupiter in the Roman pantheon, with the 'Divine Twelve' representing the gods of the zodiac. Zeus was also the father of Hermes and Pan was Hermes' son. The great importance of the gods in Roman history at the time was seen when Emperor Augustus enlarged the temple of Apollo near Nicopolis, built in recognition of the victory at Actium. 41 This was the victory over Mark Antony that cleared the way for his Imperial Dictatorship. 'Abdes' was the third name found on the tombstone and applied to Tiberius Julius Panthera. The origin of 'Abdes' may be connected with Emperor Augustus' liking for ciphers and this may be what the originator of the tombstone was alluding to when he applied it to Tiberius. It was said of Emperor Augustus that: Instead of paying strict regard to orthography, as formulated by the grammarians, he inclined towards phonetic spelling... When Augustus wrote in cipher he simply substituted the next letter of the alphabet for the one required, except that he wrote AA for X.

42 By applying both of these rules to the word Abdes on the German headstone, a hidden code is thus revealed: Abdes = Ab-des = Bc-des = BC days Note: The extra twist for the reader is to apply the cipher rule forward as the person creating it, not backwards as would have been the case to decipher. The person or persons who created the headstone cipher could have only done so after the Sixth Century when the Julian calendar was first instituted. The proposed suggestion is that the cipher was designed to draw attention to the fact that circumstances surrounding the fathering and birth of Mariamne Herod's twin boys occurred BC rather than AD. Presumably the inscription on the tombstone was placed there to convey a special message, for it is unlikely to have been put there 600 years or more after the actual event to honor the site of an actual body, if there ever was a body buried at the site. The inscription stated that Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera was transferred to service in Rhineland (Germany) in the year 9AD.

The young Tiberius was indeed in that area at that time: Tiberius was given another three years of tribunicial power, with the task of pacifying Germany... There followed the Ilyrian revolt, which he was sent to suppress ... Tiberius conducted it for three years ... but, though often called back to Rome ... Tiberius was well paid for his stubbornness, by finally reducing the whole of Illyricum - an enormous stretch of country enclosed by Northern Italy, Noricum, the Danube, Thrace, Macedonia, and the Adriatic sea-to complete submission. 43 This timely victory prevented the victorious Germans, who had defeated three legions of Rome under Varus in 9AD, from linking up with the Pannonians. 'Proposals were made for decreeing him (Tiberius) the surname Pannonicus, or the "Unconquered", or "the Devoted"; but Emperor Augustus vetoed all these in turn, promising on each occasion that Tiberius would be satisfied with that of "Augustus", which he intended to bequeath him' .

44 The evidence is compelling in locating Tiberius for service in the area of the Rhineland in 9AD. However, to switch the era from AD to BC as the 'Abdes' cipher suggested, the person named on the headstone was in the Rhineland in 9BC, not 9AD, and Tiberius was located there on active duty at that time also. Suetonius recorded that 'in the third [instance] he took some 40,000 German prisoners, whom he brought across the Rhine and settled in new homes on the Gallic bank', 45 the years verified as 7 and 9BC. Although Tiberius was in active duty in that area at that time, 'he visited Rome several times'. 46 The date, nevertheless, was curious for locating the tombstone at Bingerbr�ck at all, because it did not say that Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera died and was buried there, only that he was on service in the Rhineland. The evidence of the assertion was supposed that this time of 9BC was a coded message revealing the year the twin boys were born to Mariamne Herod.

At that time she would have been fifteen years of age. The territory known as Germany today was never identified with this title until at least the time of Napoleon, when the 'Confederation of the Rhine' was formed in July 1806. From that time on, the area began to be called Rhineland. This knowledge brings the placing of the tombstone forward some 1200 additional years from the First Century designation and nearly 1800 years after the death of Tiberius. On further examination, a remarkable materialization of information appeared, for on a modern map of Germany we find that Bingerbr�ck is located on the Rhine River in the Rhineland Palatinate, a district of southwest Germany west of the Rhine, which belonged to Bavaria until 1945. Formerly, portions of the neighboring territory (Upper Palatinate) constituted an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, now part of Rhineland Palatinate State.

The Latin word Palatinate was a different sense of the word Palatine, whereas Palatinus meant 'of the Imperial House' and the electorate indicated the state contained one of the German princes entitled to elect the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. 47 Palatine is one of the Seven Hills of Rome where the Emperor of the Roman Empire resided in the Imperial House, whom, according to the above, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire succeeded and now resides in the Vatican. The interesting matter is that in earlier times, there was built on the Palatine hill the shrine to 'The Heavenly Twins' and it still remains there to this day. Conclusion The cipher on the Bingerbr�ck headstone connected the ancient Panthera tradition of the Rabbinic writings with the First Century Roman emperor, Tiberius. The conclusion drawn is that by reason of her mother's friendship with Emperor Augustus, the teenage Mariamne Herod met Tiberius when he returned to Rome to see his emperor father early in 9BC, and her twin sons were conceived by rape or adultery by him at that time. It was possible Mariamne Herod was then married, for the traditions of the time accepted the early marriage of young girls.

The oldest daughter of Agrippa I, for example, was married at the age of thirteen. 48 Mariamne Herod named her sons Judas and Yeshu'a and the populous subsequently nicknamed them 'ben Panthera' (son of Panthera) after their 'adulterer' father. The name Yeshu'a carne to be pronounced and spoken as Jesus in English language translations and, to avoid confusion, shall be used as such throughout this work. Unraveling the headstone cipher has now completed a full circle, beginning with the illegitimate birth of twin boys to Mariamne Herod, the Virgin Mary of the Gospels, and ending with their father being the 33 year old Tiberius who was to later become Emperor of Rome in 14AD. The two boys, although illegitimate by birth, were the legitimate kingly heirs to the throne - the next in line to the imperial purple toga - and that is exactly what the Gospels of the New Testament recorded. This leads to an underlying truth hidden below the surface level of the Gospel story and one that the church has suppressed for seventeen hundred years.

The Gospel of Mark suggested Judas and Jesus were commonly regarded as illegitimate by the people of their time. The fact that they were each identified as a 'son of Mary' (Mark 6:3), not 'son of Joseph', was interpreted by scholars to mean Judas and Jesus were regarded at the time as Mary's illegitimate sons. In the Gospel of John (8:41) the scribes and Pharisees challenged Jesus about his birth, 'we are not born of fornication', again revealing that the general populous knew that Jesus' birth, and thus Judas', was illegitimate. Related, in Luke (4:22) was Jesus' irritated reaction to the words, 'Is not this Joseph's son?' Why would Jesus (or maybe it was Judas speaking) react to this seemingly harmless question? The answer was documented in the oldest Greek texts of the New Testament, which read, 'not son of Joseph, this one'. The scriptural and historical data being presented in this work shows that the New Testament was never an authentic record, but was, in its entirety, a corpus of corrupted documents specifically constructed to induce a particular belief (John 20:30-31).

This conclusion rests firmly on known facts and the ensuing chapters analyze ancient Roman, British and church reports that support this assertion. Joseph the Father of Jesus Joseph the Father of Jesus QUESTION: What happened to Joseph the father of Jesus ANSWER: We know very little about the years of Jesus prior to His public ministry. The gospels are without notation of any childhood events beyond Christ's birth except one reference that is found in Luke. It is the very last time that Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, is ever mentioned. Luke 2:41 reads: "Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, 'Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.' 'Why were you searching for me?' he asked. 'Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?' But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." It is supposed that Joseph, the father of Jesus, died during the quiet years of Jesus' life. We do know that he trained Jesus in his trade, as that of a carpenter. He do know that Joseph and Mary had children after Jesus was born: James, Joses, Simon, and others. Perhaps the cause or timing of his death is not nearly as important as the strength of character he displayed. In first hearing about Mary's pregnancy, Joseph did not want to subject Mary to public scorn. After hearing from the angel who confirmed Mary's incredulous story, Joseph obediently accepted the role as surrogate father for the baby Jesus, the Christ child.

Matthew 1:24-25 says, "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." The last reference about Joseph in Luke confirms that Joseph was a devout follower of the customs of his religion with his observance of Passover. It implies that Joseph made certain of good spiritual training for the children in his family. Joseph proved his integrity and willingness to be obedient to God's direction and guidance. biblical basis - What evidence is there that Jesus was a carpenter? - Christianity Stack Exchange What evidence is there that Jesus was a carpenter? up vote 35 down vote favorite 1 I was about to say this in another discussion somewhere else, and wondered: do we know that? As in "it's mentioned or at least hinted at in $book $chapter:$verse"? Or is it just a very likely conjecture? up vote 16 down vote accepted A discussion here talks about the various possibilities.

To quote a small part that summarizes well: Jesus' adopted father Joseph was a carpenter (Matthew 13:55 & Mark 6:3). The Greek word is Teckton which means builder. Now, some say he worked with wood; building tools, doors, shelves, tables etc. = carpenter. Others say because of the region and the resources were rock, and most everything was built from rock, then he built millstones, winepresses, houses, etc. = stonemason. There is no real evidence to clarify exactly what Joseph was a builder of, but we know that he was a Teckton = Builder. Now, in the Jewish culture of that time (1st century) it was required of the father to teach the son their trade at age 12, and find a wife for them around the age of 20. Joseph being very Jewish would have adhered to this practice and began teaching Jesus at 12 his trade of being a builder (Teckton). This page from the same site offers additional explanation for the stonemason theory: Given that Israel's buildings were constructed of stones and rocks, Jesus likely worked as a stonemason rather than a carpenter.

He probably spent hours helping his father shape and cut stones. The above quoted site is provided by That the World May Know Ministries, and offers a DVD series entitled Faith Lessons, featuring the founder Ray Vander Laan which offers documentary-style on-location Bible studies suitable for small groups. I believe the one that addresses this issue is Life and Ministry of the Messiah , or possibly Walk as Jesus Walked . It has been several years since I've watched these, and I don't have access to them now to confirm. 8 +1 I think the idea of Him being a stonemason makes a whole lot more sense in the light of scriptures like Mark 12:10 (Christ is the stone the builders rejected), 1 Cor 10:4 (the Rock was Christ), Matt 7:24 (wise man building his house upon a rock), Rom 9:33 (a rock of offense to those who don't want to believe), etc. – Dave DeLong Dec 12 '11 at 19:40 1 I'm not saying Jesus wasn't taught the trade of Joseph.

But I just thought it was funny you should use the example "It was required of the father to teach the son their trade at age 12, and find a wife for them around the age of 20" as a reason. Obviously he didn't find a wife for Jesus at 20. :) – 2tim424 May 4 '13 at 3:26 @Flimzy A "discussion here" link is broken. – Steve Sep 29 '13 at 13:06 5 @2tim424 Most scholars believe the Joseph died at some point during Jesus's life (hence his absence during Jesus's ministry). We don't know for sure when Jospeh died, but we have at least one textual reference to Joseph being alive when Jesus was 12. – called2voyage Oct 2 '13 at 18:01 up vote 22 down vote We know that Joseph was a τέκτων (tekton)- traditionally a carpenter but literally, any craftsman who worked with his hands, from Matthew 13:55 (Is this not the carpenter's son?).

Traditionally, boys would follow in their father's occupation, hence the tradition that Jesus was a carpenter. Additionally in Mark 6:3, we get the same word describing Jesus himself. (Is this not the carpenter?). Mark is probably the older source ( the Farrer hypothesis ) from which Matthew is drawing. With Matthew's desire to portray Jesus as king, it makes sense that he would prefer to move such a menial task to the dad and let people just assume that Jesus would have been trained up in the family trade. up vote 16 down vote Yes, Jesus is called a carpenter in Mark 6:3 NIV1984 : Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Update: based on comments below, some explanation of the word carpenter. First, that is the word used in various translations, e.g. Amplified , Good News , New American Standard Bible and King James . Secondly, it is true that the meaning has been questioned in some commentaries, where it has been suggested that the word could also mean, craftsman.

So, we cannot be 100% sure, but since the church has historically considered Jesus to have been a carpenter, and most or all translations use that, it seems probable. The issue is that the word translated as "carpenter" isn't actually that specific in the original language. – Flimzy Dec 9 '11 at 21:10 @Flimzy: that is certainly an issue, but I'm answering the question as posed, particularly the second sentence. Since this answer quotes the one verse that mentions Jesus' profession, I hardly think it is worth a downvote. – Wikis Dec 9 '11 at 21:59 2 A fair point... it does at least hint at it, doesn't it? – Flimzy Dec 9 '11 at 22:08 @Flimzy: FWIW, I checked various other translations before posting this answer, because of the point you raised. Though some commentators use the word craftmen, none of the translations (that I saw) do; they all say, carpenter. – Wikis Dec 9 '11 at 22:36 1 The word is tekton .

It looks like it mostly likely means carpenter but not always. – styfle Jan 4 '12 at 7:59 up vote 0 down vote The evidence is mixed. Mark's Gospel clearly states that Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.). However, Mark is the only gospel that tells us that Jesus was a carpenter. Matthew's Gospel, in the corresponding passage, only says that Jesus was the son of a carpenter (Matthew 13:55: Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?). In copying from Mark, it should have been easier to retain Mark's words, unless the author of Matthew's Gospel had a reason not to say that Jesus had been a carpenter. The later gospels, Luke and John, make no mention of Jesus being a carpenter or even the son of a carpenter. One theory was put forward by Dennis R.

MacDonald in his book, The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark. MacDonald compares Mark's story about Jesus with the Greek epics of Homer, finding many parallels between the portrayal of Jesus and that of Odysseus. Both Odysseus and Jesus were known as carpenters. MacDonald notes that Homer sometimes calls Odysseus 'divine' and 'son of Zeus', labels comparable to those given to Jesus. If MacDonald is correct, Mark's description of Jesus as a carpenter was a literary creation that the later evangelists refused to accept. Perhaps when the first gospel was being written, the author had so little information about Jesus as a person that he felt obliged to fill in some of the gaps. Because of Mark it is more than just a very likely conjecture that Jesus was a carpenter, but because of Matthew, Luke and John it is no more than a conjecture. Then, because of MacDonald's research, it could even be that this was simply a literary mechanism employed in just one of the gospels.

Bible Study Online: Joseph - Husband of Mary, mother of Jesus Bible Study Online Joseph - Husband of Mary, mother of Jesus Matthew 1:18-25; 2:13-15, 19-23 There is a Hebrew word which means: "to scratch, engrave. This term was often connected with the word for wood. When it was, it meant carpenter. The same word when used with words for various metals is translated "SMITH." Isaiah 44:13 lists some of the carpenter's tools: compass, pencil, plane, saw, hammer, axe, adz, chisel, plumb line, drill, file, square, etc. Many of these were made of stone and in the latter periods bronze and iron. Both dowels and nails, as well as mortised, dovetail, and mitered joints, were used to join wood together. The early Israelites were probably backward in the skill of carpentry because of their nomadic origin. David and Solomon both imported Tyrian carpenters to work on the palace and the temple. Later, native carpenters were skilled enough to repair the temple.

In the latest OT times there were guilds of carpenters. Less skilled workers in wood were the timber cutters. The most skilled craftsmen were engaged in carving and practiced inlay. At the time of the birth of Jesus, a betrothal was as binding as marriage. The one difference was the residence of the woman. The time of the betrothal was in the case of a maiden, one year and a day. For a widow, it was a month. During that time Mary lived with her parents. Apparently it was not uncommon that a child might be conceived during the engagement. While it may not have been the most acceptable occurrence, it was also not a disgrace. If a woman's fiancé died during the period of the betrothal, she was considered a widow. The betrothal could only be broken by a writ of divorce issued by the man. Because of the binding nature of the betrothal, it is not unusual to see a woman referred to at one moment as betrothed and the next as wife. Fatherhood could be a stern role in the days of Jesus. A father could beat a disobedient child. A father could sell his child into slavery.

Death could be the penalty for cursing a father or striking him. If a father decided members of his family were enticing him away from his faith, he could destroy them. These were not the kind of fathers that Jesus talked about. He surely knew them. But the fathers he spoke of were daddies who could be trusted to love their children beyond reason or expectation. It’s not difficult to believe, then, that Jesus had known a wonderful earthly father. We don't know very much about Joseph the Carpenter and a lot of what we do know, or think we know, is inference and speculation. For example: He is not mentioned in the stories of Mary and the brothers and sisters of Jesus. And, it is unlikely Jesus on the cross would have entrusted his mother into the care of a fellow disciple if her husband was still alive. It is therefore assumed that Joseph died some time before Jesus began his public ministry. Joseph had a name long honored in Israelite history. The first known Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, the Patriarch. His brothers disliked him and in jealousy sold him as a slave. He ended up in Egypt where he eventually rose to a rank second only to the Pharaoh. In that position he eventually forgave his brothers.

During a famine he enabled his family to survive and become residents of Egypt. Many generations later, after a period of slavery, the Israelites were set free. They carried with them the bones of Joseph so that they might bury him in Israel. Names were important in the ancient world. Joseph the Carpenter would have been very aware of the character and history of his own name. No doubt it influenced his identity in some way. Joseph was a carpenter. Recent studies show that carpenters probably did not have a high rank or an honored place in society. A carpenter was a craftsman who built yokes, plows, threshing boards, benches, beds, boxes, coffins, boats, and houses, and worked on the temple and the synagogues. Joseph practiced his trade and was known by it. Joseph also taught Jesus carpentry. An early Christian, Justin Martyr, believed that Jesus may have built yokes and plows. The Good News Bible says that Joseph was a man who always did what was right. The Revised Standard says that he was a righteous man. Another translation says that he was a man of character. When Joseph heard that Mary was expecting a child that wasn’t his, he chose not to hurt her.

(He could have had her stoned to death.) He resolved to divorce her quietly. Yet, even as he was thinking of divorce, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and told him the child was of the Holy Spirit. Joseph believed and chose to keep Mary as his wife. Joseph believed without proof, without seeing, without touching. Joseph paid attention to the voice of God. Later we hear that the child is in danger because of the anger of King Herod. Joseph is again warned in a dream. He rises up in the middle of the night and carries the mother and child to safety in Egypt. Later, when they return, Joseph is concerned over the danger in Judea and chose to settle in Nazareth. Both Matthew and Luke give the genealogy of Joseph. They trace the ancestry of Jesus through Joseph. Of course, the two genealogies don't agree with each other and, of course, Joseph is not presented as the biological father of Jesus. But his ancestry is given anyway. Perhaps it is because Joseph becomes the legal father of Jesus. Jesus himself seemed satisfied to be known as his son. The glimpses we are given indicate that Joseph was a good father. He named the child.

He kept the baby safe in time of danger. He maintained the family home and livelihood. He taught Jesus his profession. When Jesus was thought to be lost, he shared Mary's frantic worry and desperate searching. Joseph was also an attentive father regarding the religious upbringing of his children. Despite their poverty, the family Jesus made the yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover. It was the hope of most families to go there at least once in their entire lives. But Joseph and Mary went every year. Joseph was the one who would have made that decision. He must have felt that this sacred observance was of more value to his family than the money saved. We may also infer from the gospel stories that Joseph made the Sabbath observance and attendance at the synagogue a faithful habit. Jesus had clearly been taught well the law, the customs, and traditions of his people. Joseph was part of this. If we take seriously the incarnation, the fact that Christ assumed human nature and its limitations; if we do this, the importance of the influence, teaching, and example of Joseph is vitally important. It is also true that the other sons of Joseph were good and faithful men.

Though Mary and the brothers and sisters of Jesus did not at first seem to understand his ministry, the ones we know about were active in Christian ministry. Paul referred to the "Lord's brothers," who traveled in Christian ministry. What qualities of fatherhood do you think that Jesus experienced from Joseph? Posted by Joseph the Father of Jesus Joseph the Father of Jesus QUESTION: What do we know about Joseph the Father of Jesus? ANSWER: What we know about Joseph, the earthly and legal Father of Jesus, is found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Josephï¿½s complete genealogy is given in Matthew 1:1-18. Though it is curious to new readers why this long genealogy is given, we quickly learn its importance. Genealogies were very important to the Jews but these verses demonstrate the lineage of Jesus Christ back to Abraham for all mankind to recognize another fulfillment of the many prophecies given about the Messiah. Joseph was a direct descendant from David. He was a gracious man who kept the laws of Judaism and was well respected. He was a man of meager means but none the less, an honorable and faithful man.

Skilled as a carpenter in the small town of Nazareth, Joseph spent time teaching his son the trade as well as providing spiritual training. Jesus is very often described as working and being taught by Joseph in his carpenterï¿½s shop. This was an inherited occupation Jesus performed before going into His ministry. Joseph observed the Holy Days and Hebrew Feast with his family as shown in Luke 2:41-42. ï¿½Every year Jesusï¿½ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual.ï¿½ We also know that through Josephï¿½s sensitivity and obedience to God, he fulfilled the role of protector and guardian of Jesus. He enacted the role of ï¿½fatherï¿½ admirably in every way. Little detail of Joseph is given in the Gospels so because Jesus entrusted Mary to the care of John, it is speculated that Joseph may have died a natural death between their visit to the temple when Jesus was twelve (Luke 2:41-51) but before the Baptism of Jesus when He was thirty (Mark 1:9-11).

It is clear that others recognized Joseph as the legal father of Jesus in verses such as John 1:45. Joseph's influence during those early years must have been incredible. When Jesus spoke of God as being like a loving Father, he could draw from his youth the kind of love he had from Joseph. Joseph stands as a testimony to the value of integrity, obedience, faithfulness, and especially to honoring the entrusted role of "fatherhood.ï¿½

Question: What was the profession of Jesus's father Joseph?
Answer: Carpenter