In Biblical times men married women at the age of Puberty ?

Question

Mary gave birth to Jesus when she was 13 years old.

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Answer 1

Age of marriage is a cultural thing at that time and place. I see people slam Mohammed (Islam), even though I am a Christian, because he had a young girl for a wife. It 'bugs' me!!!

Answer 2

According to some legends, Mary was 13. I think Michaelangelo even brought this up when people criticized the Mary of his "Pieta" for being too youthful-looking.

And, sure, in ancient tribal society, people married and began churning out the kids much earlier than they're wont to do nowadays, because they simply didn't live as long. The entire arc of one's life took place in far fewer years. Many women in biblical times would've been dead by the time they had reached the age at which modern career-driven women are conceiving today.

Moral: times change! And as such, there are quite a lot of old customs recorded in the Bible which simply do not apply today, and it's absurd to pretend they do.

Answer 3

>>Mary gave birth to Jesus when she was 13 years old.<<

What is your source? According to an early Christian text called the Protoevangelium of James, Mary was 16 at the Incarnation, so she would have been either 16 or 17 at the Nativity.

Answer 4

Because in those days women/girls didn't have a say in the household affairs which included marriage they were treated as a bargaining chip, to enrich their lands and selves, prevent fueds and keep from loosing their property. Today the women have a say and I think its better and healthier if all females have a say in who their partners are. I believe that older men don't have a right to have sex with any minor even teens if their are more then 3 years older then she is. In my state it is against the law to have sex with a minor if your more than 3 years older than she and I agree.

Answer 5

In ancient china, Boys at pubescent ages married slightly older women too ( like 16 to 18 )

And on many occasions, much older men marry young concubines who are like 15 or 16 even.

Answer 6

In Biblical times? There were plenty of places, even in the US, where that was done up until the mid-20th century. Heck, Elvis married Priscilla when she was 13.

Answer 7

I think I see what you're getting at. Once our bodies have gone through puberty we are ready to start reproducing. Creating some arbitrary age of "majority" is a relatively recent development.

Answer 8

Sorry to disappoint you scooter but both my grandmothers were married with children by 14.

Answer 9

yeah, that was pretty much the custom in most of the world until modern times

Answer 10

Exactly. That's why abstinence before marriage actually made sense back then.