Joseph יוֹסֵף

Who is Joseph in the Bible?

Joseph was an Israelite who married a foreign woman during the post-exilic period, as recorded in Ezra 10:42. After the Jewish people returned from Babylonian captivity, the scribe Ezra discovered that many Israelites, including priests and Levites, had intermarried with pagan peoples in violation of God's law, and he led a religious reform to address this violation. In response to Ezra's prayer and confession, the community made a covenant to separate from their foreign wives and children. Joseph's inclusion in this list of those who had taken foreign wives illustrates the widespread nature of intermarriage among the returned exiles and their role in the difficult reforms undertaken to restore religious purity to the Jewish community.