JOSEPH THE PROTECTOR

 

We don’t know much about Joseph, but we know this. He was a just man (Matthew 1:19). He was also an obedient son of God who took Mary for his wife under instruction from God, not fearing any man (Matthew 1:24).

To say that Joseph took his responsibility as Jesus’ guardian seriously would be an understatement. He followed every instruction he received, without question. When instructed to protect Jesus from Herod’s edict, he took the family to Egypt to fulfill this prophecy: “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:12-15).

But why all the way to Egypt? So that “whenever Israel remembers how God had delivered them with a mighty hand from the bondage of Egypt, they will think also that the Son of God was called out of Egypt to deliver them from the bondage of sin” (Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1” p 364)

The third time an angel appeared to Joseph, he advised him that Herod was dead and that he should take Jesus back to Israel. Joseph was not only obedient but over-cautious in protecting his charge, and instead of Judea, he took his family to Galilee, to a city called Nazareth, to fulfill yet another prophecy: “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:21-23).

This is why I think Joseph obeyed all the instructions he received so readily.  He was converted to the prophecy of the long-awaited Messiah. When he heard from the angel that Mary will bring forth a son who shall save his people from their sins (Matt 1:20) he joyed in the realisation that the long predicted coming of the Messiah was at hand, and ‘a virgin, and she the one in the world most dear to him, had conceived, and in due time would bring forth that blessed Son, Emmanuel, which name by interpretation means “God with us” (James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ”, p 84)

Joseph reminds me of his fore-father David who dared to slay Goliath with this conviction on his lips: “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29).  David lived for the cause of Israel and Joseph, who had the right to David’s throne through lineage, had a greater cause, to raise the Redeemer of Israel. The Saviour was sent to the royal line to which He belonged, to one day sit on the throne of his father David to rule over Israel forever (Luke 1:32; see James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ” p 85,89,90).

ODE TO JOSEPH:

As a tender plant , I grew

In the shadow of your wings

Never knowing danger was so near;

Your protection and your love

Dispelling all my fear.

 

When God called,

So willing was your tender heart

No forces of hell could sever you

from your appointed path.

 

The guardian of my youth,

The obedient servant of the Lord,

Thou art Joseph

The valiant son of God.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: On To Egypt by Rose Datoc Dall)

THE DIVINE PLAN PART 2

 

 

The prophecy about Egypt is my favourite prophecy regarding the Saviour’s birth.

It is recorded in the book of Matthew that the wise men of the East came to Judea enquiring: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2) but the Joseph Smith Translation states the question was: “Where is the child that is born the Messiah of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2a)

Imagine the mortal threat such a question was to Herod, the puppet king of Judah, installed by Caesar Augustus, without a drop of Jewish blood in him, whose only claim to the throne was his family’s conversion to the Jewish faith (see Bible Dictionary).

Had Jesus been born to be the King only, it would not have been such a threat because anyone can become a king, as Herod very well proved, but to be a Messiah meant more, much more, because a Messiah RESCUES and DELIVERS. And who would he rescue? The captive Jews.

This was a real threat to Herod, who was familiar with the Messianic prophecy, because if the Empire fell, so would his crown. He had only one solution: to dispose of the Jewish infants two years old and younger. Imagine the carnage that the Christ child had to be protected from. Hence the directive to Joseph to flee with his family. But why Egypt?

Egypt was a sacred memory of deliverance and freedom to every Hebrew in Israel. In their minds there was no greater miracle performed by God for His chosen people. And when the Messiah was born, the Hebrews were thirsty for deliverance from bondage once again.

Heralding the arrival of the Messiah, Hosea prophesied: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15). Whereas once He led them out of the bondage of oppression suffered at the hands of the Egyptians, this time the Messiah would likewise deliver them but from a different enemy.

He would deliver them from the master of sin. It was the bondage and freedom that mattered more than deliverance from Roman rule. This was a deliverance like no other and no other could bring it about but Jesus of Nazareth, born to be king.

As I contemplated about the divine plan of the Saviour’s birth a thought came to me how the enemy had a plan too. Whereas God’s plan was one of protection for the Christ child, Satan’s was one of destruction in his desire to dethrone Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour of the world, and he had just the person to do it, Herod, ‘the most fiendish and bloody occupant ever to sit on David’s throne’, the throne that rightly belonged to Jesus of Nazareth, ‘who would in due course reign in righteousness thereon’ (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, 362).

This is what stood out in my mind the most. Satan had a blood thirsty king on the throne of Judah at whose command infants, and anyone else he didn’t like, were disposed of, but God had someone even more powerful than the sword. He had a young couple whose greatest weapon was obedience.

Joseph and Mary listened to the guidance of heaven and they preserved the life of the most important man ever to be born on this earth. That the host of heaven also watched over the infant Christ is a certainty but the divine plan was made possible because of two human beings in lowly circumstances who were willing to travel to Egypt on a donkey!!!

Next time you feel you are insignificant, don’t……you have no idea who you truly are….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Young Prince in Egypt by Rose Datoc Dall)