Joseph is known for being a “just man” (Matt 1:19) and for quickly and wholeheartedly responding to God’s guidance in regard to raising Jesus. When he sought to secretly divorce Mary he was told by an angel to marry her and obeyed the angel’s command. When Herod issued the order to murder all the infant boys in Bethlehem, an angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt, which he obeyed immediately (Matt 2:13-15). He kept his family safe in Egypt until an angel told him it was safe to return to Israel. Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to be circumcised, and went to Jerusalem for Passover each year with friends and relatives (Luke 2:41), in obedience to Mosaic Law. By trade he was a construction worker, a more accurate translation of the Greek word (Mark 6:3), but near the time of the birth of Jesus was considered poor enough to offer two doves as a sacrifice rather than a goat or bull (Luke 2:24). Joseph is not mentioned after Jesus' twelfth year and probably died sometime between then and when Jesus began His ministry (Nixon, "Joseph in the New Testament" 610).