Righteous?

In the second half of chapter one in the Gospel According to Matthew, the angel appears to Joseph, who is addressed as "Son of David" (see post below on genealogy).  The Angel tells Joseph that his fiance Mary is pregnant, but that this is of the Holy Spirit and the child shall be Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Before the angel appeared, Joseph was planning to break off the marriage quietly.  He had thought Mary slept with another man, so he wasn't going to go through with the marriage.  But he didn't want to ruin her life, so he planned to break off the engagement quietly.  For this reason, the text calls Joseph a "righteous man."

To be righteous was linked to observing Torah.  Joseph is called righteous.  Which is interesting because he is called righteous even though wasn't literally following the teaching of Torah.

The Torah stipulated that if an engaged woman has sex with another man, then both she and the other man should be stoned (at least it includes both the woman and the man and not just the woman, cf. Deut 22:22-27).   In this circumstance, Torah stipulates a very public and a very harsh penalty.  Joseph neither inflicts the harm for such offense nor goes public with the accusations.  He goes against Torah, yet is still considered righteous.  How so?

Yes, righteousness was linked to Torah obedience, but it was also linked to justice and ethics.  Another way of saying righteous would be to say "doing right by another person."  Or "acting toward another person in a just way."

Joseph may not have been legalistically righteous.  But he was righteous on a higher level.  He was trying to do right by Mary by not ending her life or ruining her life through public shame (remember at this point Joseph still thought she slept with another man.  I don't care who you are or what culture you live in, that hurts).

Perhaps this early lesson in righteousness by Jesus' earthly father Joseph, Son of David, foreshadows the teaching of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham to come in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

Matthew 5:7 - "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."

Matthew 5:20 - "For unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Matthew 5:22 - "... but I say to you, do not be angry with a brother or sister..."

Matthew 7:1 - "For the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Matthew 7:12 - "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets."