Was Joseph a Widower before Marrying the Mother of Jesus?

“Was Joseph a widower before marrying the mother of Jesus?” someone asked. The biblical record says very little regarding Joseph.

Joseph, the carpenter (Matt 13:55), was a “just man” (Matt 1:19 the King James Version), who belonged to Nazareth (Luke 2:4). He was of Davidic descent (Matt 1:20; Luke 2:4), the son of Heli (Luke 3:23) or Jacob (Matt 1:16), the husband of Mary (Matt 1:16), and the supposed father of Jesus (Matt 13:55; Luke 3:23; 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42). (ISBE)

However, some uninspired, extra-biblical historical documents portray Joseph as an aged widower at the time of his engagement and marriage to Marry, the mother of Jesus. According to McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, the Apocryphal Gospels record that Joseph was an 80-year-old widower at the time he wed Marry.

Works Cited

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (ISBE). CD-ROM. Seattle:  Biblesoft, 2006.

McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Seattle:  Biblesoft, 2006.