How old was Mary when she gave birth to Christ?

[RileyG]

Yup, from the Protoevangelium of James, chapter 8 and 9 covers the story of Mary and Joseph.

CHAPTER 8
(1) And her parents went down, marveling at and praising and glorifying the Lord God
because the child had not turned back to look at them.
(2) While Mary was in the temple of the Lord, she was fed like a dove and received food from the hand of an angel.
(3) When she turned twelve, a group of priests took counsel together, saying, "Look,
Mary has been in the temple of the Lord twelve years. (4) What should we do about her
now, so that she does not defile the sanctuary of the Lord our God?" (5) And they said to
the high priest, "You have stood at the altar of the Lord. Go in and pray about her. And if
the Lord God reveals anything to you, we will do it."
(6) And the priest went in taking the vestment with twelve bells into the holy of holies
and prayed about her. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood before him, saying,
"Zachariah, Zachariah, depart from here and gather the widowers of the people and let
each one carry a staff. (8) And the one whom the Lord God points out with a sign, she
will be his wife." (9) So the heralds went out to the whole surrounding area of Judea and
the trumpet of the Lord rang out and all the men rushed in.
CHAPTER 9
(1) Throwing down his ax, Joseph went out to meet them. (2) And after they had gathered
together with their rods, they went to the high priest. (3) After receiving everyone's rod,
the high priest went into the temple and prayed. (4) When he was finished with the
prayer, he took the rods and went out and gave them to each man, (5) but there was no
sign among them. Finally, Joseph took his rod. (6) Suddenly, a dove came out of the rod
and stood on Joseph's head. (7) And the high priest said, "Joseph! Joseph! You have been
chosen by lot to take the virgin into your own keeping."
(8) And Joseph replied, saying, "I have sons and am old, while she is young. I will not be
ridiculed among the children of Israel."
(9) And the high priest said, "Joseph, fear the Lord your God and remember what God
did to Dathan and Abiron and Kore, how the earth split open and swallowed them
because of their rebellion. (10) Now fear God, Joseph, so that these things do not happen
in your house."
(11) Fearing God, Joseph took her into his own possession. (12) And he said to her,
"Mary, I took you from the temple of the Lord and now I bring you into my house. I am
going out to build houses, but I will come back to you. The Lord will protect you."

https://www.asu.edu/courses/rel376/total-readings/james.pdf

Thank you for posting

 

[GaryAnderson]

Another fun topic from Tony, eh?

 

[Diamond72]

I always assumed she was a young teen because people didn't (necessarily) live long back then.

Even before the civil war it was common for women to have four or five children by the time they were 20. They needed children to take care of them when they got older.

 

[RileyG]

Even before the civil war it was common for women to have four or five children by the time they were 20. They needed children to take care of them when they got older.

That's really interesting. I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Notthistsleagain]

Mary was 12 years old. She was raised in the temple. All the other girls were excited to leave the temple and get married. But no Mary, she had made a lifetime commitment to God. This presented a real problem for the Priests in the church, or Rabbi or whatever they called them. They picked out potential husbands and they put their staff on the alter. Joseph was the staff that budded. A perfect solution because then Mary could remain a perpetual virgin.

While the infancy gospels contain stories about the birth and childhood of Jesus and Mary, they are not considered to meet the criteria for inclusion in the official biblical canon. The Church's decision to exclude these texts from the canon is based on factors such as their late composition, lack of apostolic authorship, and the presence of legendary or imaginative elements.

Usually I don’t bump old post, but I have to correct this. The same book said in chapter 12 she was 16. I wish people would read the whole book before jumping in conclusions. I don’t mean in one day, but seriously it grinds my gear when people use to say she was 12 but ignored what chapter 12. Chapter 12 Infancy Gospel of James — Gospels.net!

 

[The Righterzpen]

Usually I don’t bump old post, but I have to correct this. The same book said in chapter 12 she was 16. I wish people would read the whole book before jumping in conclusions. I don’t mean in one day, but seriously it grinds my gear when people use to say she was 12 but ignored what chapter 12. Chapter 12 Infancy Gospel of James — Gospels.net!

Well, this also takes into account whether or not one takes any authoritative weight from apocryphal writings. (Personally I don't.) And besides this; I personally find the concept disgusting; (knowing what I know about child development) to think God is going to saddle a 12 year old girl with an infant. That's just a gross perversion of God's character. As today even; most of us would never assume that a 12 year old is mature enough to be fully responsible for an infant; none to say give birth to one! The idea of Mary being 12 when Jesus is born; to me at least, is akin to "child sex trafficking". It's just disgusting!