Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 1:18

μνηστευθείσης … αὐτούς indicates the position of Mary in relation to Joseph when her pregnancy was discovered. Briefly it was betrothed, not married. Πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν means before they came together in one home as man and wife, it being implied that that would not take place before marriage. συνελθεῖν might refer to sexual intercourse, so far as the meaning of the word is concerned (Joseph. Antiq. vii. 9, 5), but the evangelist would not think it necessary to state that no such intercourse had taken place between the betrothed. That he would regard as a matter of course. Yet most of the fathers so understood the word; and some, Chrysostom, e.g., conceived Joseph and Mary to be living together before marriage, but sine concubitu, believing this to have been the usual practice. Of this, however, there is no satisfactory evidence. The sense above assigned to συνελ. corresponds to the verb παραλαβεῖν, Matthew 1:20, παρέλαβε, Matthew 1:24, which means to take home, domum ducere. The supposed reason for the practice alleged to have existed by Chrysostom and others was the protection of the betrothed (διʼ ἀσφάλειαν, Euthy.). Grammarians (vide Fritzsche) say that πρὶν ἢ is not found in ancient Attic, though often in middle Attic. For other instances of it, with infinitive, vide Mark 14:30; Acts 7:2; without ἢ, Matthew 26:34; Matthew 26:75. On the construction of πρὶν with the various moods, vide Hermann ed. Viger, Klotz ed. Devarius, and Goodwin's Syntax. εὑρέθη … ἔχουσα : εὑρέθη, not ἦν. (So Olearius, Observ. ad Ev. Mat., and other older interpreters.) There was a discovery and a surprise. It was apparent (de Wette); διὰ τὸ ἀπροσδόκητον (Euthy.). To whom apparent not indicated. Jerome says: “Non ab alio inventa est nisi a Joseph, qui pene licentia maritali futurae uxoris omnia noverat”. ἐκ πν. ἁγ. This was not apparent; it belonged to the region of faith. The evangelist hastens to add this explanation of a painful fact to remove, as quickly as possible, all occasion for sinister conjecture. The expression points at once to immediate divine causality, and to the holy character of the effect: a solemn protest against profane thoughts.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 1:18

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