In ostensible compliance with imperial legal requirements, Joseph traveled
with his pregnant, betrothed wife Mary from Nazareth, to Bethlehem, the
“City of David,” his ancestral home. But this was not just the result of a decree
from Caesar Augustus; it was a culmination of a thousand years of hopeful and
expectant history in Israel.
The man of God in his curse on Jeroboam’s pagan altar had taught Israel
to expect redemption in the house of David. Now, a true Redeemer was being
born with a direct connection to that same house of David.
Last December, I sat in the darkened cathedral in Bryn Athyn, enjoying
the Christmas tableaux service. The narration came to the part where an angel
came to Joseph in a dream and explained to him that he should not fear to take
Mary as his wife because “that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
(Matthew 1: 29)
Having recently done a lot of the study included in this article, I took
special note of the way the angel first addressed Joseph in that visitation:
“Joseph, son of David . . .” It is remarkable that this is the only time in any of
the gospels that anyone other than the Lord is addressed as “son of David.”
Fifteen times in the gospels the Lord is called “the son of David”; this one time
in Joseph’s dream is the only other time it’s used.
What is also remarkable, of course, is the connection made by that name
to that thousand years of history that we see illustrated vividly in the Books of
Kings, where David and his house are singled out as particularly beloved by the
Lord and surpassingly loyal in their walking in the Lord’s ways.
When the angel called Joseph “son of David” he was receiving an awesome
responsibility to provide care and protection for Mary and for her Son – the
horn of salvation in the house of David.
The Rev. Kurt Hy. Asplundh is retired but teaches theology
in the Bryn Athyn College Theological School and sixth-grade
religion at the Bryn Athyn Church School. He also gives chapel
services occasionally in the Academy of the New Church
Secondary Schools. He lives with his wife, Jenn (Coffin), in Bryn
Athyn. Contact: [email protected]
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