Jose is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Jose was a descendant of David who is named only once in the King James Bible, in the genealogy of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke. He appears in the list of ancestors traced through Joseph, the husband of Mary, in the section of that genealogy that reaches back beyond the exile and ultimately to Adam. In the wording of the King James text, Luke 3:29 identifies him as “the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi.” The same verse also names him as the father of the man who follows him in the line.
Beyond this single genealogical notice, Scripture says nothing else about Jose. We are told nothing of where he lived, what he did for a living, or when he died. He is one link in a long chain of names that Luke sets down to show that Jesus, through His legal lineage, stood in the house of David. The setting of the passage is the opening of Luke’s Gospel, where the evangelist establishes the human ancestry of Jesus before narrating His birth, baptism, and ministry.
What Scripture records of Jose, then, is his place in that line. He did nothing that the text reports; he is remembered because he belonged to the generations through whom God carried His promise forward. His name appears once, in a list, and that is all the Bible tells us about him.
The Name
The name “Jose” as it stands in the King James text is a short form related to the Hebrew name Joseph, which is commonly understood to mean “he will add” or “may he add,” from the Hebrew root *yasaph*, “to add.” Greek forms of this name appear in the New Testament in several spellings, and the shortened form rendered “Jose” here is one of them. While the broader meaning of the Joseph name is well established, the precise nuance of this shortened Greek form is not clearly recoverable, and it would be unwise to press a specific meaning onto it beyond its connection to that well-known name.
A Closing Thought
Most of us will never be remembered by crowds. Jose’s entire legacy in Scripture is a single line in a family record, yet that line mattered, because it helped trace the path by which God brought His Son into the world. There is quiet comfort in that. Faithfulness is often hidden, and the ordinary generations who loved God and passed the promise along are not forgotten by Him. You may feel like a name in a long list, but the Lord knows every link in His purposes, and He does not lose track of those who serve Him unseen.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: New
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Luke 3:29 — Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi,