{A Righteous Man} (dikaios). Or just, not benignant or
merciful. The same adjective is used of Zacharias and Elizabeth
( Lu 1:6 ) and Simeon ( Lu 2:25 ). "An upright man," the _Braid
Scots_ has it. He had the Jewish conscientiousness for the
observance of the law which would have been death by stoning ( De
22:23 ). Though Joseph was upright, he would not do that. "As a
good Jew he would have shown his zeal if he had branded her with
public disgrace" (McNeile). {And yet not willing} (kai m(880a)thel(936e)). So we must understand kai here, "and yet." Matthew
makes a distinction here between "willing" (	hel(936e)) and
"wishing" (eboul(8874)h(885c)), that between purpose (	hel(935c)) and
desire (oulomai) a distinction not always drawn, though
present here. It was not his purpose to "make her a public
example" (deigmatisai), from the root (deiknumi to show), a
rare word ( Col 2:15 ). The Latin Vulgate has it _traducere_, the
Old Latin _divulgare_, Wycliff _pupplische_ (publish), Tyndale
_defame_,  Moffatt _disgrace_, Braid Scots "Be i the mooth o' the
public." The substantive (deigmatismos) occurs on the Rosetta
Stone in the sense of "verification." There are a few instances
of the verb in the papyri though the meaning is not clear
(Moulton and Milligan's _Vocabulary_). The compound form appears
(paradeigmatiz(935c)) in  Heb 6:6  and there are earlier instances
of this compound than of the uncompounded, curiously enough. But
new examples of the simple verb, like the substantive, may yet be
found. The papyri examples mean to furnish a sample (P Tebt.
5.75), to make trial of (P Ryl. I. 28.32). The substantive means
exposure in (P Ryl. I. 28.70). At any rate it is clear that
Joseph "was minded to put her away privily." He could give her a
bill of divorcement (apolusai), the g(8874) laid down in the
Mishna, without a public trial. He had to give her the writ
(g(8874)) and pay the fine ( De 24:1 ). So he proposed to do this
privately (lathrai) to avoid all the scandal possible. One is
obliged to respect and sympathize with the motives of Joseph for
he evidently loved Mary and was appalled to find her untrue to
him as he supposed. It is impossible to think of Joseph as the
actual father of Jesus according to the narrative of Matthew
without saying that Matthew has tried by legend to cover up the
illegitimate birth of Jesus. The Talmud openly charges this sin
against Mary. Joseph had "a short but tragic struggle between his
legal conscience and his love" (McNeile).