The text is framed as an explanation by Jesus on the Mount of Olives concerning the life of Joseph, his stepfather. Agreeing with Mary's continued virginity, the text proclaims that Joseph had four sons (Judas, Justus, James, and Simon) and two daughters (Assia and Lydia) by a previous marriage.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus. When Jesus was found in the Temple at age twelve, the context suggests that he was the only son of Mary and Joseph.
Epiphanius adds Joseph became the father of James and his three brothers (Joses, Simeon, Judah) and two sisters (a Salome and a Mary or a Salome and an Anna) with James being the elder sibling. James and his siblings were not children of Mary but were Joseph's children from a previous marriage.
Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph's first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and betrothed to Mary, and that references to Jesus' "brothers" were children of Joseph from a previous marriage.
It wasn't the only document that did so. In another early text, The History of Joseph the Carpenter, which was composed in Egypt between the 6th and 7th centuries, Christ himself tells the story of his step-father, claiming Joseph was 90 years old when he married Mary and died at 111.
After marrying Mary, he found her already pregnant and, “being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace” (Matthew 1:19), decided to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him that the child was the Son of God and was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The text is framed as an explanation by Jesus on the Mount of Olives concerning the life of Joseph, his stepfather. Agreeing with Mary's continued virginity, the text proclaims that Joseph had four sons (Judas, Justus, James, and Simon) and two daughters (Assia and Lydia) by a previous marriage.
Despite claims that Joseph Smith fathered children within plural marriage, genetic testing has so far been negative, though it is possible he fathered two or three children with plural wives.
Portrayal. First mentioned in Genesis 41:45, Asenath is said to be the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In the Book of Genesis, she is referred to as the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Gk. Heliopolis).
The Gospel of Matthew explains that Joseph was a “righteous man, yet unwilling to expose [Mary] to shame” so he decided to “divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19). This indicates that although Joseph generally respected the law, he did not want to subject Mary to derision, judgment, and possible death.
The Eastern Orthodox Greek Church held to the dormition of Mary. According to this, Mary had a natural death, and her soul was then received by Christ. Her body arose on the third day after her death. She was then taken up bodily into heaven.
According to Christianity.com, Mary was 46 to 49 years old when Jesus died. Britannica states that she “flourished” from 25 B.C. to A.D. 75. Assuming this is in reference to her lifespan, according to Britannica, Mary was approximately 54 to 59 years old when Jesus died.
Biblical narrative
Jacob, Joseph's father, adopted Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to share in Jacob's inheritance equally with Jacob's own sons (Genesis 48:5).
He had four wives: Leah, Rachel, and their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah. From these wives, the long-awaited promise of seed began to be fulfilled. Sons were born to each woman. He also had large herds of strong cattle and camels and donkeys.
Joseph is considered the patron of a happy death because the Bible implies that he died in the company of Jesus and Mary, before Jesus' ministry and death.
Most of the ancient commentators of the Bible interpreted it as meaning that Joseph was law-abiding, and as such decided to divorce Mary in keeping with Mosaic Law when he found her pregnant by another. However, his righteousness was tempered by mercy and he thus kept the affair private.
Genesis 37:3-5 King James Version (KJV)
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
The Joseph and Emma Smith family weathered tremendous opposition and tragedy, including political and religious persecution, forced homelessness, the untimely deaths of seven children, and Joseph's own martyrdom.
Birth of Jesus
From the age at which Jewish maidens became marriageable, it is possible that Mary gave birth to her son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. No historical document tells us how old she actually was at the time of the Nativity.
When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, even though they hadn't been wed, he “planned to dismiss her quietly” because he was “unwilling to expose her to public disgrace.” But before he could cancel the wedding, “an angel of the Lord” appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to ...
24: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25: but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Both of the gospels which describe the nativity of Jesus agree that he was born in Bethlehem and then later moved with his family to live in Nazareth. The Gospel of Matthew describes how Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went to Egypt to escape from Herod the Great's slaughter of the baby boys in Bethlehem.