This is Scott Han and I want to welcome you to the Road to Amaeus, a podcast from the St Paul Center. In the decline in fall of Sacred Scripture,

in the decline in fall of Sacred Scripture, Scott Hahn and Benjamin Waiker

uncover the disturbing trends in Scripture scholarship that have contributed to our current

crisis of fate. But they also show why we should be skeptical of the skeptics and why we should

trust the Bible. Learn more in our show notes at St Paul Center.com forward slash road. Okay, so we're familiar with all of this, I'm sure we've heard it since we were

little kids. I think the natural tendency is to assume that when Joseph finds out that Mary's

pregnant he's responding with suspicion and this is the majority of you

especially among non-Catholic biblical interpreters.

It's the only view I was ever taught.

The problem with the suspicion view of Joseph, however,

is that it doesn't match with the data that we find in the

narrative or the evidence that we find in the first century Jewish culture.

For example, if Joseph is described as being just or righteous, he would know that really it isn't a legal option for him to simply step away or to back off from this marriage.

Betrothal, you remember, back in the first century,

was something much greater than our,

what we call engagement.

Engagement is kind of contractual. There's an exchange of promises and of course the gift of rings,

but back then betrothal really was the ratification of the covenant prior to and apart from its consummation.

Besides, wouldn't Joseph had known better as to who he was marrying?

But more specifically, if Joseph is described as just or righteous,

then he knows the standard of righteousness

is the divine law of Moses.

...