Joses

Joses is a short Greek form of Joseph. Unlike Greek Joseph however, which remains frozen as Joseph in all grammatical cases, Joses functions like a true Greek name and is declined in Greek, taking the ending -etos in the genitive case, hence Josetos, "of Joses".

Although spelling of Joseph is fairly constant in Greek, spellings of the short forms Joses and Josis vary. Tal Ilan's catalogue of Jewish name inscriptions of the period (2002) notes variation is the spelling of "Joseph" (indeclinable in Greek) and various shorter (and sometimes declined) Greek variants but also notes that the full form Joseph is dominant with 47 of 69 Greek inscriptions.[4]

The Jose mentioned as 15th descendant of David (in the line from Solomon's younger brother Nathan in the Gospel of Luke) is otherwise unknown. The Greek spelling (Ἰωσή, Iōsē) is a variant of Joses.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him." (Mark 6:3, ESV)

"Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?" (Matthew 13:55, ESV)

A minority of (Alexandrian, Western) Greek manuscripts in Matthew 13:55 read "Joseph" (Ἰωσήφ) the standard spelling of the name.[5] Roman Catholics hold that Joses the brother of Jesus is the same as Joses the brother of James referred in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40.[6][7]

"There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome." (Mark 15:40, ESV)

"There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee." (Matthew 27:55-56, ESV)

The text in Mark continues to say "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where [Jesus] was laid." (15:47 ESV). In the New Testament, the name "James the Less" appears only in this verse in Mark 15:40, who, by parallel accounts of the women at the crucifixion is usually equated with "Mary the mother of James," and with Mary of Clopas, mentioned only in John 19:25. According to a tradition of Hegesippus (Eusebius III.11) this Clopas was a brother of Joseph making his wife Mary, Jesus' aunt and this James the younger and Jose to be Jesus' cousins.[8]

James Tabor presents that Mary the mother of James is the same person with Mary the mother of Jesus and that Clopas was her second husband,[9] thus making Joses half brother of Jesus. Roman Catholic tradition follows Jerome's view that Mary the mother of James (wife of Clopas) is the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, though they need not be literally sisters, in light of the usage of the said words in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.[7]

A "Joses" appears in the bishop lists of Epiphanius ("Josis") and Eusebius ("Joseph") of the early bishops of Jerusalem.[10]

In the medieval Golden Legend, Joses is also identified with Joseph Barsabbas,[11] also called Justus, who in the Acts of the Apostles 1:23 is mentioned as a candidate to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judas Iscariot.

Eusebius lists Justus as the third Bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just and Simeon of Jerusalem. He does not, however, specify whether this Justus is to be identified with Joses, the brother of Jesus:

But when Symeon also had died in the manner described, a certain Jew by the name of Justus succeeded to the episcopal throne in Jerusalem. He was one of the many thousands of the circumcision who at that time believed in Christ.[12]

Conversely, in the second book of Panarion, Epiphanius identifies the third Bishop of Jerusalem as "Judah",[13] and the Apostolic Constitutions similarly calls him "Judas the son of James".[14]

• James the Just
• James the Less
• Jude (brother of Jesus)
• Simon (brother of Jesus)