helpful Scot. good point. I think we need to emphasize mercy in hard decisions- and really in all of life. erring on that side rather than the judgment side. as James says, “mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Maybe you could do a five or ten year (from original publishing) revision in “Jesus Creed” and “Embracing Grace”.

Can’t remember where I read it recently, but someone asked, “When you get to heaven, would you rather be known for being too merciful or not merciful enough?”
I also think Joseph’s willingness to sacrifice his own tsadiq-ness — his own standing as righteous — and enter into the scandal of another…well, that sounds a little like-father-like-Son, doesn’t it?

Hi Scot. I am wondering if there is room to think politically about Joseph. I am thinking about the communal nature of dikaiosyne and how tsedeq is often connected with mishpat in the OT: tsedeq being how one should do mishpat–”Judging justly.” Could Joseph’s (intended) limited judgment for Mary, based on false suspicions, serve to undergird a political model for limited judgment?
I may be mixing apples and oranges…or, in light of the season, cranberries and crabapples.

Scot–thanks for these insights. Your blog has become the first commentary I consult.

Scot,
You said, “Joseph is a tsadiq (I make much of this in Jesus Creed). This means his reputation is at stake: if he follows the Torah, and puts Mary away, he will uphold his reputation. If he does not, he will lose his reputation. (I like to say that the claims of the Cross were faced by Joseph [and Mary] before Jesus was born.)”
Wonderful and humbling reflections. If a choice is necessary, reputation is worth little when compared to identity that exudes mercy.
Perhaps Joseph was thinking that his identity as a tsadik was not diminished by loss of reputation. God confirmed his tsadik identity in his willingness to lose his reputation. The tsadik lives faithfully (What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy and live humbly with your God?) no matter what losses may come. Joseph’s heart righteousness (the law written on the heart)trumped the external Torah righteousness. What great parents Jesus had! They inspire me so much.

Joseph rocks!!!
Joseph had a problem in applying the law: contradictory witnesses. Mary’s bump said one thing, but Mary said something else. There were no other witnesses. This meant that he had to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she was an unwilling participant. Therefore Deut 22:25-27 applied. He could not punish Mary, but could still set her aside.
Once the Holy Spirit spoke to Joseph, he had another witnesse (not totally independent) confirming Mary’s story, so he had no choice but to accept that Deut 22:23-30 no longer applied.
There was no requirement in the Torah for this new situation, so he he was free to what love motivated.
Joseph fulfilled the requirements of the Torah.

Deut. 22:23 If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, 24 you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
This verse seems to me to be a conspiracy against the son of God, intended to discredit the miraculous birth and delay the his time of rulership.
If not then how could the creater of the universe pass a law that would later contradict the birth of the saviour, but to me this still remains a conspired act by the the ruler of this age.