Whether it was general knowledge or not before Mary lived with Joseph, it would be plenty evident at some point that pregnancy occurred before it should have.

In Jewish culture, it would have been almost unthinkable for Joseph to assume paternity for a child that wasn't his, absent some type of bribery. So once he took Mary home, everyone would believe Jesus to be his son. (Interesting ramnifications for his own firstborn son. But I digress.) Noteworthy is that the Jews repeatedly insinuate in John 8 that Jesus was of illegitimate birth. So I would guess some rumors persisted of question over Jesus' paternity.

Merry Christmas!

Once she was in his home "as his wife" intimacy would have been expected. WE know that there was no intimacy, but nothing in the narrative suggests that anyone else knew they weren't doing the deed.

The fact that it doesn't seem that everyone knew she was pregnant before she moved in as his wife and the fact that he probably kept it quiet that they weren't being intimate led me to think that his friends would have had no reason to think that the child was anything but his.

I'm happy to be wrong though.

If there had been a wedding before the pregnancy became known, then Joseph would have been intimate with Mary. Scripture is clear that there was no intimacy until after Jesus' birth. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born, in fulfillment of Scripture.

A little known detail of the wedding ceremony was that the celebration did not begin until the groom announced to the guests that the marriage had been physically consummated. (No pressure on the bride, eh?) Also, AFTER the angel spoke with him, Joseph took Mary into his home. There might have been a wedding at that point, but it was after knowledge of the pregnancy.

She wouldn't have begun to show for a few months, plenty of time for the wedding to happen and people not question the timing?

However, I also caught that you say Mary was discovered pregnant "after" the wedding? Huh? She was discovered pregnant after the betrothal, BEFORE the wedding. There was certainly no joking going on.

I can't help mention this because Joseph is one of the Bible heroes I most admire. He not only sought to protect Mary when he thought her unfaithful to him, but he then brought her home immediately without being intimate with her. How many men are capable of either?

Not that I mention this to take anything away from Gabriel. I look forward to meeting both heroes. You too, for that matter.

It makes me want to read it though!