This is Scott Hahn, and I want to welcome you to The Road to Amas, a podcast from the St. Paul's Center.

In the decline and fall of sacred scripture, Scott Hahn and Benjamin Weicker

uncovered the disturbing trends in scripture scholarship that have contributed to our current

crisis of faith.

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 view, 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 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. And in Numbers

five and in Leviticus 20, there are specific statutes that apply to men who are suspicious

...