If the Jews got their laws and morals from God, how come they didn't know child marriage is wrong?

Question

In ancient times, girls were married off around 12 years of age (or even less, depending on the time and culture). This was the common practice among Pagan cultures, but the Jews supposedly had a hot-line to God and got all their rules from Him, so how come He didn't tell them marrying little girls is immoral? He gave them lots of OTHER rules (i.e. no Gay sex, etc.), yet He couldn't be bothered to tell them not to engage in child marriage? And YES, the Jewish people's OWN RECORDS show that they did this (ever heard of the Talmud?) My point here isn't to lambast the Jews (like I said, EVERYBODY was doing it back then), but to note that if they really WERE in contact with God, He SURELY would have forbad the practice...

I see that some of you apparently think it is all right to marry 12 year olds, just as long as she'd had her period! And the argument that people died sooner back then contradicts the Bible (several individuals lived nearly 1000 years according to Genesis, and more than a few reached 300 or 400! And 12 year old girls were NOT "more mature" back then... if anything, they were LESS physically and mentally developed than the 12 year old of today! God, people will say ANYTHING to defend the Jews and/or the Bible, won't they???

Answer 1

And who are you to say it was wrong? You might not know that marrying "for love" only came about in the 19th century. Before that time, all marriages were "arranged."
.

Answer 2

Ok- the law is that a girl could only be betrothed before six months after she had started menstruating (usually taken as the age of 12 nowadays- but actually relied on back then as no specific age- it was fixed in the days of the first Temple as a MINIMUM of 12 and half to prevent girls that were too young to understand what was happening getting married) and or at the age of 20 if she never reached physical maturity- and then married either a minimum of a year later, or at the age of 12 and a half if she was betrothed more than a year before that age.

Have you ever wondered WHY people got married so young back then? the reason is that by the age of 30 you were OLD! The average life span was only in the 30s, and due to poor nutrition and lifestyles, people were becoming infertile etc in their late 20s. People got married early so they could have children and a life- if they had waited till their mid twenties, as most people nowadays do, then they would probably have had a problem with having children!

Since people in their twenties were in their middle ages already, people got married when younger since they had to act as adults from a far younger age.

edit: The people living to hundreds of years of age were BEFORE the flood- the short life spans AFTER the floods. In addition- the people who lived those extended life spans were the EXCEPTIONS, the majority of people lived to the 30 or 40 years of age common to those times. the others are mentioned because they were exceptional.

Answer 3

Jewish culture has changed in the last 2000 yrs.
Yes, many sages interpret certain marriages of Jewish forefathers, involving very young women. However, during that time, a twelve year old then is not a twelve year old today. They were more mature, and ready for marriage.
Even looking in the last 100 yrs., orthodox jew havechanged in many ways. Generations ago, it was not uncommon for orthodox jews to dress in mini skirts and pants, now the rule is more strict with religious jews in dressing modestly.
So yes, the jews did marry younger people, but they were not equivalent to the ages of today. (a twelve year old then was probably just as mature, or even more so, than a 25 yr old)

Answer 4

Christians in this country were marrying girls at 12 even 150 years ago.. In parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, there are still marriages at those ages... I believe in this country there are still laws on the books in several states to allow girls to marry at 13 with parental consent even to this day. So.... what was your point again?

Answer 5

Because I'm guessing that men and women didn't live as long back then. Their calender was different, and it was just the natural thing to do to have children young, when you might have been very worn out by the time you were 40. It wasn't a sin, Men creates sin, because men wrote the bible not God.

Answer 6

I think there were practical reasons for distributing young females to older males who could take care of them.

As we live in a more urban based cultures now, these practices have become less common and even outlawed.

Answer 7

child marriage was generally considered wrong, even in biblical times. nowhere in the bible is it advocated to marry off children who have not reached biological adulthood, nowadays known as having gone through puberty. these days, our own societal morality has extended the period of childhood practically into the early twenties of a person's life, but in early times life was harder and shorter and people were not able to postpone adulthood like we are thankfully able to today.

Answer 8

People were living to about 40-50 years of age, and married young. Why do you think it is inherently immoral--in any society--to marry as soon as you are able to reproduce?

Answer 9

Has it occured to you that life was MUCH shorter then and that a 12 year old may have been like OUR 30 year old?????? Middle age was probably 20.

Answer 10

Idiot! Most cultures throughout time have married girls off at young ages. Ever studied any European history? Ever read anything about frontier times? Quit asking your offensive and anti-Semetic questions.