Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Ver. 55. Is not this the carpenter's son?] Why, but was he not architect of the world? St Mark hath it, "Is not this the carpenter?" Why, yes; it may be so. Justin Martyr, an ancient writer, testifieth, that our Saviour, ere he entered upon the ministry, made ploughs, yokes, &c. a But was not that an honest occupation? And did not this carpenter make a coffin for Julian, that persecuting apostate, as a Christian schoolmaster fitly answered Libanins, sarcastically demanding what the carpenter's son was now doing? Thus those three miscreants, Saul, Shimei and Sheba, took occasion to despise David, as the son of Jesse, who was vir bonus et honestus, minus tamen clarus, as one saith of him, a good honest man, but there's little said of him.
a Pater Christi politicus, putativus. Fabrum fuisse lignarium, et aratra ac iuga, caeteraque eiusmodi fabricasse. Justin.