Translations:Does Joseph's intent to divorce Mary show that the death penalty for adultery was not mandatory?/37/en

1. Mary and Joseph were betrothed.
2. Adultery against a betrothal covenant is a death penalty offense (if there are at least two witnesses willing to step forward): Deut. 22:23-24.
3. Joseph thought that Mary had committed adultery (otherwise he would not have intended to divorce her; he was a "just man," and a just man would only divorce for some kind of adultery/fornication: Matt. 19:4).
4. Joseph had no witnesses to the adultery to present to a judge. How would he have proved that he wasn't the father, unless two witnesses were prepared to testify? Of course, he could testify to his own behavior, but that is only one witness. (see below about whether Mary was allowed to testify)
5. Mary had (surely) told Joseph the good news that the angel had announced to her. Joseph, understandably, didn't believe her, but he could not know for sure that she was lying. What if she were telling the truth?
6. If Joseph were a "just man" (and he certainly was), then he would be committed to upholding just Biblical legal procedure, which would have allowed the defendant to testify in defense of herself in court, before the judges. However, Mary would not, in first century Judea, have been allowed to testify in her own defense (relaying what the angel had told her), because women were not allowed to testify in the unjust Jewish courts of that time. Joseph would be placing her at the mercy of an inherently unjust legal procedure, because they were not following Biblical law.
7. In fact, to bring a death penalty charge, (even if Joseph had witnesses, which he did not) Joseph would have had to take Mary all the way down to Jerusalem, to stand before the highest court in Judea -- the Sanhedrin -- which was (at this time) the only court authorized by the Roman government to convict people on death penalty offenses like adultery. Furthermore, at the time of Jesus birth, the Sanhedrin had been packed with Herod the Great's chosen lackeys (because he had killed off most of the previous members, according to the Jewish historian Josephus). No "righteous man" in Judea would have expected true justice from Herod's Sanhedrin.
8. Consider what might have happened if Joseph had gone before the Sanhedrin and had been asked (under oath) what Mary's explanation was (because she herself couldn't testify)? To testify truthfully, Joseph would have to have said: "She claims that she was visited by an angel, and that God had created the child she is carrying, and that 'The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his kingdom.' [Luke 1:32-33]" Herod's lackeys would have promptly reported this to Herod, and we know how long the innocent child would have lasted from that point (see Matt. 2:16-18). Joseph, being a righteous (and wise) man, would not have wanted to put an innocent child at risk in this way.