How old was Joseph when Jesus was born?

Answer 1

This is totally unknown. There is no historical record of Joseph, Mary, nor Jesus -- no birth certificates, no census records, no birth record, no marriage records, nothing. The only written record of any of these characters is the Christian bible, and the records in there were not contemporary -- they were all written anyplace from 60 to 200 years AFTER the supposed birth of Christ, making their authenticity suspect and of no historical value. With no records, it is impossible to say how old Joseph was.Some say he was 50 through 70. Mary gave birth to Jesus at the age of 12 to 16. In The Bible it says he is very old.

[Better Answer]

Of course you cannot take the technology of today and plan it 2000 years ago - and say - if they did not have our technolody of today - then they knew nothing!! Kinda foolish - don't you think?

Exact ages are not known and probably never will be. But generally - although it is never mentioned in the Bible, Joseph was 50 to 55 years old when Jesus was born and PROBABLY died when Jesus was about 12 - 14 years old. We know he was at Jesus birth and we know he was no longer alive at the Temple when Jesus spoke - as Mary is said to be all alone.

[Update]

"they were all written anyplace from 60 to 200 years AFTER the supposed birth of Christ, making their authenticity suspect and of no historical value" - is absolutely incorrect.

The written records, as accepted by the science of textual criticism allow for the historicity of the Greek records concerning Jesus. There is historical event regarding events before our common era, where the records date to the time of the event. At all. None. The earliest copies we have of Caesars Gallic wars (composed between 58 and 50 BC) there are only several extant manuscripts, and the earliest in 900 years after the events of Caesar.

Of Tacitus "Histories" (Of about 100 A.D.) - only four manuscripts have survived, they being approximately 900 years after 100 A.D.

The History of Thucydides (460 to 400 BC) - only eight manuscripts have survived, and they are about 1,300 years later.

In terms of historical records, considering there are thousands of manuscripts that have survived to the present day, from 40 years to 150 years after the originals were written, no scholar of note or with an understanding of the science of Textual Criticism denies the historical record of Jesus.

As to the original question - there are no records that indicate Joseph age.

Answer 2

Ninety two years old - The History of Joseph the Carpenter. Other primary sources concur - The Protevangelium of James, 'I have sons and I am old' ; The History of The Blessed Mary, E, A. Wallis Budge - 'and Joseph was an old man' ; Miscellaneous Coptic Texts, E. A. Wallis Budge - "thou art Joseph the blessed and righteous old man" - (Salome), 'now Joseph was an old man... his former wife was dead... who left him with sons and two daughters' (Discourse of Demetrius), etc.

Answer 3

None of the gospel records are specific about when Jesus' earthly father, Joseph, died. He was alive when Jesus was 12 (Luke 2:41-52), but that instance is the last time he's mentioned in Scripture.

Once Jesus' ministry begins at the age of "about thirty" (Luke 3:23), Joseph is conspicuously absent, so he apparently died in the meantime.

Answer 4

We know nothing about Joseph apart from the gospel accounts. The gospels say little more than that Joseph was a carpenter and describe his role in the nativity of Jesus. Later works, such as in the Protevangelium of James (written almost two hundred years later) attempt to create a tradition of Joseph as an old man, but are unlikely to be based on fact.

The Bible refers to the brothers and sisters of Jesus, for example Mark 6:3(New American Bible, a Catholic version): "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him." One Christian tradition that has grown up is that the brothers and sisters of Jesus were not really his full brothers and sisters, but only his half-brothers and sisters by a previous marriage of Joseph. This tradition was necessitated by the desire of some to maintain Mary in a state of virginity for her entire life. To harmonise with this claim, now belief, it became necessary to portray Joseph as much older than Mary. However, there are good reasons, from within the Bible itself, to doubt that James and the others were older than Jesus. Therefore there is no reason to believe that Joseph was other than a young man, of a similar age to Mary.

Answer 5

The bible does not mention the age at all of Joseph or Mary for the matter.

Answer 6

good question. I'm sure that he's depicted as older than Mary who was young and a virgin so i'd say that he's around 30-40.