Joseph Protected His Family

[Just a little note: For those who have windows home page, you will see that  Satan has put ideas into some ignorant person who doesn't believe in God, to put this trash about humans coming evolving from water.  That is pure garbage. Our minds, bodies and our internal make-up can not come from pure water.  It is a gift from God that most of us take for granted and use up, then we want to blame him when something goes wrong. Use your brain and think about this, and ignore this stupid stuff that Satan is putting out. It is another way of getting people to worship him and he will put what you might call evidence to sway people wherever he feels would help him.]  


Months earlier, in his hometown of Nazareth, Joseph's life  changed forever after his engagement to the daughter of Heli.  Joseph knew Mary as an innocent, faithful young woman.  But then he learned that she was pregnant!  He intended to divorce her secretly to protect her from scandal.  However, an angel spoke to him in a dream, explaining that Mary was pregnant by means of Jehovah's holy spirit. The angel added that the son she bore would "save his people from their sins."  He further reassured Joseph:  "Do  not be afraid to take Mary your wife home." -Matthew 1:18-21.

Joseph, a righteous and obedient man, did just that.  He took on the weightiest of assignments: raising and caring for a son who was not his own but who was most precious to God. Later, in obedience to an imperial decree, Joseph took his pregnant wife to Bethlehem to register.  It was there that the child was born."


Joseph did not take the family back to Nazareth.  Instead, they settled in Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem.  They were poor, but Joseph did all he could to protect Mary and Jesus from want or suffering.  In a short  time, they took up living in a humble home.  Then, when Jesus was no longer a baby but a small child-perhaps over a year old-their lives suddenly changed again.

A group of men arrived, astrologers from the East, likely from faraway Babylon.  They had followed a star to the home of Joseph and Mary and were looking for a child who was to become king of the Jews. The men were deeply respectful. 

Next time: Conclusion of Joseph Protected His Family

The Watchtower, 2012