Re: A Question, please
Submitted by F.O.D. on April 14 1999 at 16:26:30
In reply to A Question, please Submitted by Triple Q on April 14 1999 at 14:47:51
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Hi QQQ, that observation still wouldn't discount the VIRGIN Birth, because Joseph actually planned to divorce Mary when he found out about her pregnancy (Matt 1:19). So obviously he wasn't sleeping with her (nor did he until Jesus was born, v25). Anyway, I can't really answer your question. I'm no expert on the Jewish nation, but I wasn't aware that 13 year old boys did not have the same rights to marriage and adult life as 13 year old girls. There's nothing in the Bible about that. Maybe it was the custom for grooms to be older, but custom is not Law. It seems to me more or less unfair to separate them like that. Maybe there were practical reasons for the men being older, related to being able to support a family? I knew a man from Tunisia, not exactly young (in his late 20s or 30's I think), unmarried but still expecting to marry. He told me that the wedding ceremony is such a big deal there, and all at his expense, that young Tunisians are simply not ready to marry - they don't have enough money yet for it all. So they marry when they are older (he didn't tell me what the age of their brides was). F.O.D. ps Bar Mitzvah is at 13, isn't it? |