Mary & Joseph Questions.?

Question

well, curiosity got the best of me when a question popped into my head. I did some reading on wikipedia.org about the history of the "virgin mary" and joseph.

My first question is..... Mary & Joseph were married. It has been tradition for years to comsummate the marriage through sexual intercourse after the ceremony. How could Mary be a virgin when it is more common to have sex soon after marriage? Going along with this idea would it not make more sense that the translation was incorrect in that the word should've been "young woman" and not "virgin?" Surely some word play could've been used... what's so miraculous about a young woman giving birth?

Also, while reading about Mary one part of the page said that Joseph actually had children from a previous marriage. So Mary wasn't his first wife. Didn't they consider divorce a sin? And why is Mary looked upon so highly when she is the 2nd wife to a man in a time when divorce was not looked upon favorably? Didn't they consider that

adultery when a man marries another woman after divorce?

LottyJoy: I was just about to add that into the details. The area i had read didn't go into details about Joseph's first marriage so i do not know if his wife supposedly died or they divorced....But still... That puts Mary in a light that some may not be aware of. She probably wasn't a virgin, she was step-mother to Joseph's children.... I don't recall that ever being mentioned in the bible.... I had assumed that they divorced because from my knowledge they never mentioned Joseph's children in the bible... So i figured Joseph just didn't have a good enough lawyer & his wife had custody. I don't know. LOL

Miriam: How long were Joseph & Mary married before she had the news of this "immaculate conception" in which Joseph promised no relations until after the baby was born?

it would've had to happen right after they were married for them to abstain until after the baby's birth.

Rev R: You, my friend, should not assume anything. I HAVE read the bible. For most of my teenage life I was forced into bible study by my catholic (at the time) Mother. I have read the bible..... Forgive me for not being thick-headed enough to take a 2000+ year old book as 100% accurate. (I don't even consider it 0.001% accurate.)

Answer 1

i think the original meaning of the word virgin was a woman who had not given birth, so therefore she was a virgin.

i agree that it's not very miraculous that a young married woman gave birth, but then again, i'm not christian

Answer 2

I guess that I would need to know where you are getting your info from. The Bible says that Mary was promised to Joseph -basically they were engaged at the time of conception -not married.Luke 1:27

27to (A)a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, (B)of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And as far as Joseph being married previously that isn't in the Bible either. But going on the premise that it could be true -- who says that the marriage ended in divorce-could have his wife died. But again I think that you have gotten your info from a source other than the Bible-so I would need to know what you are referencing to answer responsibly.


In your response to Lotto/Joy-you said that you assumed Joseph was divorced because it doesn't mention his children so you assume that his wife had custody. Women had NO RIGHTS during that period of history. If a man divorced a women she lost all rights to children,property ect.... maybe the Bible doesn't mention Joseph's children from a previous marriage because it also never mentions that he was previously married. You also said that this put Mary in a different light --WHY--it is clearly written in the Bible that she was engaged to Joseph and was a virgin--why would a previous marriage on his part or her being a step mother have any bearing-even if it were true? Are you saying that a women who marries a widow or divorcee and has step children couldn't possibly be a virgin--there is no logic in that thinking. I would love to know where you read all of this-can you please state your source? And if it is the Apochraphia than please let me know which book,chapter and verse that way we are all on the same page. As a Methodist we recognize the Apochrapha as historical reference but not scripture. And I am still not sure what bearing a previous marriage on josephs part would have on the validity of a virgin birth.

Answer 3

As you probably know, being raised Catholic, the catholic church recognized the apocrypha and the the protestant churches do not. The catholic church (and orthodox- I think) believes that Mary remained a virgin for life. Many protestants do not.

In the apocrypha there is a reference to Joseph's first wife. Catholics believe that this explains the reference to brothers of Christ. They were half brothers. Some Catholics, Orthodox, and protestants believe they were Jesus's cousins and have various liguistic and cultural defenses for this position.

Protestants do not recognize the apocrypha as scripture so the reject the idea of Joseph's first wife. They also do not believe Mary was a life long virgin. Protestants believe that Christ was conceived by the holy spirit while Mary was betrothed to Joseph- but not yet married. Some protestants believe that Mary probably had other children after Jesus becuase they do not think her virgin status is important after the birth of Christ. Protestants believe that Mary was special because God chose to honor her in this way but they do not believe that she has a special spiritual role after the birth of Christ. Therefore they do not really care if she remained a virgin or not. Some accept your argument that Joseph would probably not want to be married to a life long virgin!

My opinion- I do not think this is a very important issue. I think Mary was a virgin at the time of the birth of Christ and what she did after that is her business.

Answer 4

Different biblical times had different cultural rituals and rules regarding marriage.

When Abraham sent his servent to go find a wife for Isaac, the servent returned with Rebeccah and Isaac saw them coming and went and claimed his bride right there and then, no ceremony.

During the times that Mary and Joseph were married, it was common for the marriage to take place and the bride then went back to her parents home and a waiting period of up to one year would start. Now the man could come and claim his bride before the year was up, but many did not, in order to make sure that the bride was pure and without child.

It is not known just how far into the one year waiting period that Mary and Joseph were at, but Mary was found to be with child and Joseph was told of this condition. The bible states that he knew he wasnt the father, because he had not yet "known" her. The bible states that Joseph was a just man and wanted to divorce Mary privately, in order to save her from being stoned to death in public.

While he was pondering these things, Joseph received a visit by an angel of God and told him not to worry, that his wife had not been with a man, but was pregnant of the Holy spirit, and to not be afraid, but to go and claim his wife.

So, yes Mary was still a virgin until after the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, Joseph knew that this child was special. Yes, he had marital relations with Mary after Jesus Christ was born. Yes, they had children after the birth of Christ. both males and females.

Now, the matter of Joseph being married before he was married to Mary is a matter of Jewish tradition and folklore. Sometimes it is accurate and sometimes it is not. Some believe he was much older than Mary, and that if he were married before, that his wife was dead and his children grown.
The trip to Bethlahem to pay the taxes, did not include children, so if true, the children would have been older and on their own.

Answer 5

First of all you need to read from the Bible the only place that tells facts about Mary and Joseph (not what some denomination teaches as tradition).
Mary was probably only about 14 years old when she was promised to Joseph as a wife, it was tradition back then that and engagement was called a marriage.
Where does it say that Joseph was divorced? his wife might have been dead, and if not (NO) divorce was not a sin back then (it may not have been liked but it was NOT a sin).
PLEASE READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF AND NOT "CHEAT NOTES" THAT WILL NEVER TELL YOU THE WHOLE STORY.
I think if you do you will find that most of what you are saying IS NOT IN THE BIBLE.

Answer 6

Joseph and Mary were ENGAGED not married.

Luke 1:27
27To a girl never having been married and a [a]virgin engaged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

There are NO passages about Joseph having been married before or having children from another marriage.

Answer 7

often, which would be real. even if, in biblical cases there replace right into a yet another(uncommon) variety of marriage - one among "convenience". in certainty, a guy and a woman grew to become legally married, yet never have intercourse. that's in lots of cases carried out between a widower and a youthful woman who the two can't come across a husband, or had made a vow never to have intercourse. An single woman might desire to seldom preserve herself and alter into consistently kept away from by skill of society, so this sort of wedding ceremony could have been effective to Mary and Joseph could have had an significant different back. The existence of one of those marriage, which has a acceptance that i will't think of of perfect now, is in lots of cases used interior the argument on no count if or no longer Mary had different babies. (of course on the area against it)

Answer 8

was joseph divorced or was he a widow.. nothing wrong in a widow taking a nother wife..
and Mary immaculately conceived jesus before she was married .. that is why an angel had to came to Joseph and tell him she was carrying Jesus. He had to be told that she hadn't slept around otherwsie he would have called off the wedding and run a mile..
perhaps Joseph so so scared after seing the angal that he didn't consummate the weding until after baby jesus was born ..

Hence a virgin birth..

Any way why am I answeriing this question I'm agnostic..

Answer 9

The Bible states: That Jesus would be Born of a virgin: Isa 7:14. This was fulfilled in Luke 1:34-35, Matt 1:18, Gal 4:4 and Rev 12:5.

An Angel appeared to Joseph and told him what was going on, otherwise he would have left her at the altar for being pregnant.

By faith, Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary after their Marriage and up until the birth of Jesus.

After that, they did have relations because the Bible tells us about Jesus' brothers and sisters.

Answer 10

Joseph and Mary were betrothed (engaged), they were not married yet.

It would have not been miraculous if she was only a young woman, but God gave Israel a prophecy of a sign to Issiah of a virgin having a child.

Who said that Joseph had divorced his first wife, she most likely (if there was a first wife) died.

Answer 11

I thought Joseph and Mary weren't married at the time of this "miraculous conception", So she was already pregnant, they got married soon after. Mary and Joseph slept together before their marriage or during Joseph's 1st marriage, he got her pregnant. What better way to cover it, by saying they never did. And it's not a sin to divorce, from my understanding, it's a sin to remarry the same person.