ST. JOSEPH: A SON OF DAVID

From Part One, Chapter Four of THE BOOK OF JOSEPH

 

As Joseph works and lives in Jerusalem, a decree goes out from the temple to all the unmarried male descendants of King David: All sons of the royal House of David are to report to the Jerusalem temple in order that a suitable husband for the temple virgin, Mary, daughter of Heli (Joachim), be chosen from among them. Joseph, being a son of David, is required to report. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich writes:

When the Blessed Virgin had reached the age of fourteen

and was to be dismissed from the Temple, I saw that the

messengers were sent throughout the land and all

unmarried men of the  line  of  David

were summoned  to  the  Temple

(A. Emmerich, 1953, pg. 81).

JOSEPH’S DAVIDIC BIRTHRIGHT

In the Book of Genesis, the prophecy of Jacob states that the kingdom will be taken away from God’s chosen people when the arrival of Jesus, the Redeemer, is at hand. The loss of the Davidic crown was the sign of the coming of the Christ.

The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah,

… till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the

expectation of nations (Genesis 49:10 DRV).

This removal of authority had already happened by the time Joseph was born into the world as the foreign King Herod of Ascalon had usurped the throne of the sons of King David. Nevertheless, Joseph remained the rightful heir of the kings of Judea. However, in the Divine plan, Joseph was meant to serve the Lord as a worker and to hide and humble himself in domestic life, while at the same time being a nobleman. St. Joseph would have had perfect claim to the throne. St. Peter Julian Eymard and St. Bernardino of Sienna comment that though the throne was taken from Joseph’s family, he was no less a king because of it:

Therefore, since Christ was King, of the line of David,

He made St. Joseph to be born of this same royal line. He

wanted him to be noble, of earthly nobility. In the veins of

St. Joseph, therefore, flows the blood of David and Solomon,

and of all the noble kings of Judah. If his dynasty still sat on

the throne, Joseph would be the heir and would have sat on the

throne in his turn. Injustice had expelled his family from the

throne to which he had the right. For this he is no less a

king, the son of these kings of Judah, the greatest, noblest and

richest in the world. Thus, in the census records of Bethlehem,

St. Joseph was inscribed and recognized by the Roman

governor as the heir of David: therein lies his royal title,

which is easily identifiable, and bears the royal signature

(P. Eymard, 1948, pg. 60).

St. Joseph was born of a patriarchal, royal and princely race in
a direct line. The Gospel of St. Matthew establishes the direct
line of all the fathers from Abraham to the spouse of the
Virgin, clearly demonstrating that all patriarchal, royal

and princely dignity came together in him

(B. Albizensci, 1956, pg. 20).

The Sovereign Lord had deigned to make St. Joseph of royal blood, placing in him all the honour and glory of the House of David. Though St. Joseph’s family no longer sat on the throne, he was still a continuation of this nobility. He carried this heritage as though it were a secret between himself and his Lord — a sacred bond between an earthly prince and the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. St. Joseph’s royalty was not shown with an outward crown, but one which was hidden within his heart — a heart in which the Lord took great consolation and great delight.