How old was Mary when she gave birth to Jesus?

We tend to think of marriage as occurring after reaching say 18, but teen/childhood marriages were common in the past, and not even all that long ago.

From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent#Marriage

Ancient Greek poet Hesiod in "Works and Days" (c. 700BC) suggests that a man should marry around the age of thirty, and that he should take a wife who is five years past puberty. In Ancient Rome, it was very common for girls to marry and have children shortly after the onset of puberty.

In the 12th century Gratian, the influential founder of Canon law in medieval Europe, accepted age of puberty for marriage to be between 12 and 14 but acknowledged consent to be meaningful if the children were older than 7. There were authorities that said that consent could take place earlier. Marriage would then be valid as long as neither of the two parties annulled the marital agreement before reaching puberty, or if they had already consummated the marriage. It should be noted that Judges honored marriages based on mutual consent at ages younger than 7, in spite of what Gratian had said; there are recorded marriages of 2 and 3 year olds. [2]

The American colonies followed the English tradition, and the law was more of a guide. For example, Mary Hathaway (Virginia, 1689) was only 9 when she was married to William Williams. Sir Edward Coke (England, 17th century) "made it clear that the marriage of girls under 12 was normal, and the age at which a girl who was a wife was eligible for a dower from her husband's estate was 9 even though her husband be only four years old." [2]

In the United States, as late as the 1880s most States set the minimum age at 10–12, (in Delaware it was 7 in 1895). [ 6 ] Inspired by the "Maiden Tribute" female reformers in the US initiated their own campaign [ 7 ] which petitioned legislators to raise the legal minimum age to at least 16, with the ultimate goal to raise the age to 18. The campaign was successful, with almost all states raising the minimum age to 16–18 years by 1920. [ 3 ] [ 8 ]

clarity

Really!!!!!!!!!OMG.

No wonder the husband was spoken of as being her owner!

>

The girl wouldn't be able to cross the street by herself! 3! 6! 7!

Appalling.

tootired2care

Shouldn't the LORDS standards be above impeachment, and reflect superior thinking, to the thinking of the time?

jam

adamah, I understand the thinking doing those times, but we are

talking about all knowing God. Today we have passed laws to

prevent such child abuses. That 12 year old girl 2000 years ago

had the same mentality, maturity as a 12 year old today, a child.

So my point, why did God choose a child for such an important job.

We have realize that marriage between a child and thirty year old is

wrong. Didn't the all wise God know that.

adamah

jam said-

So my point, why did God choose a child for such an important job. We have realize that marriage between a child and thirty year old is wrong. Didn't the all wise God know that.

In the ancient World, stories of Gods conceiving offspring (demi-gods) with mortals were extremely common, and it wasn't even an eyebrow-raiser, since fictional/mythical characters like Hercules were demi-Gods and were a dime-a-dozen (like the ancient version of a comic book super-hero). Jesus was such a character (although perhaps like a Clark Kent who never changed into Superman until AFTER he ascended into Heaven, and kicked ass in Revelation).

No one would've been shocked at the concept of a 12 y.o. conceiving, as that was the norm. I suspect you're projecting modern concerns over child molestation/pedophila back into ancient times, which is an anachronistic interpretation. Even 150 yrs ago in the U.S., childhood marriages weren't common.

How old was Mary when she gave birth to Jesus?

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