What Was The Age Of Marriage In Biblical Times?

In ancient Israel, marriage customs were primarily arranged by the fathers of the bride and groom, with the bride’s and groom’s feelings not usually considered. The traditional mohar constituted serious limitations for many Jews interested in marriage, particularly after the marriage of Mary and Joseph.

Marriages were typically arranged within the narrow circle of the clan and family, with the bride’s and groom’s feelings not usually taken into account. The age of consent in the Bible is 20. There are no under-age marriages within their social norm, but there were social structures throughout the Bible to block under-age marriage.

The ideal age at marriage for both men and women was the teens, with men tended to marry later. In Palestine, men married at around thirty to women who were ten or fifteen years younger, while in Babylonia, the expectation was that men would marry at around twenty to women in their teens. Great emphasis was placed on a woman’s beauty, and most rabbis proposed 18 as the most appropriate age for men to be married.

Marriage was a solemn commitment, and when the Bible speaks of it, it is always between a man and a woman. The Greek and Hebrew words used when discussing marriage imply mature men and women, never child brides.

In biblical times, girls often married at or shortly following puberty, and boys usually married sometime between puberty and their latter teen years. Many rabbis, even during Jesus’ time, taught that eighteen was the ideal age for marriage for a man but certainly not later than twenty-four. Lower-class girls married later then 14, and there are five stages of puberty.

Who was the youngest person to get married in the Bible?

Rachel (Hebrew: רָחֵל, romanized: Rāḥēl, lit.

Paddan Aram, Aram-Naharaim(present-day Harran, Turkey)

• Benjamin (son/third cousin/fourth cousin)
• Joseph (son/third cousin/fourth cousin)

• Leah (sister)
• Isaac (father-in-law)
• Rebecca (aunt/mother-in-law)
• Esau (cousin/brother-in-law)
• Reuben (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Simeon (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Levi (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Judah (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Dan (third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Naphtali (third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Gad (third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Asher (third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Issachar (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Zebulun (nephew/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepson)
• Dinah (niece/third cousin/fourth cousin/stepdaughter)
• Asenath (daughter-in-law)
• Manasseh (grandson)
• Ephraim (grandson)

What was the legal age to get married in the 7th century?

You could get married as soon as you hit puberty – and parental consent was not required. Marriage was the only acceptable place for sex in the medieval period, and as a result Christians were allowed to marry from puberty onwards, generally seen at the time as age 12 for women and 14 for men. Parental consent was not required. When this law finally changed in England in the 18th century, the old rules still applied in Scotland, making towns just over the border, such as Gretna Green, a destination for English couples defying their families.

The wedding of saints Joachim and Anne, considered to be the parents of Mary, the mother of God. Codex of Predis. (Photo by Prisma/UIG/Getty Images)

Although the medieval church upheld freely given consent as the foundation of marriage, in practice families and social networks usually had a great deal of influence over the choice and approval of marriage partners. It was also normal at all levels of society to make some ‘pre-nup arrangements to provide for widow- and widowerhood and for any children. It was also expected that everyone would seek the permission of their lord, and kings consulted over their own and their childrens marriages. Marriage between people of different classes was particularly frowned upon.

How did ancient Israelites marry?

In order to marry a girl, a man would give her father a gift (called mohar in Hebrew) that would seal the betrothal between the bride- and husband-to-be. Betrothal was a much firmer commitment than todays engagement. Though some people think of the betrothal gift as a purchase price, this is inaccurate. Anthropologists call this gift “bridewealth.” It is found in many societies throughout the world and is not considered a sale by people in those cultures—Israelite wives were not thought of as slaves in biblical texts, though men sometimes did marry slave women. Some length of time after the betrothal, wedding festivities, often involving days of feasting, would occur.

The relationship between husbands and wives was not equal in the ancient Near East, including Israel. Ba‘al, one of the Hebrew words for “husband,” also meant “lord” or “master,” and men had life-and-death power over women in the case of adultery, which in ancient Israel involved a woman having sex outside of her marriage or a man having sex with another mans wife. Men, though, could have multiple wives and concubines and were allowed to go to prostitutes, thus monogamy was a one-way street in this culture.

Biblical texts make clear that marriages between cousins were strongly preferred. Marriages with non-Israelites are treated differently by different texts. Although some passages either limit or prohibit marriages between Israelites and non-Israelites, other biblical texts, such as the book of Ruth, are tolerant of intermarriage. Lev 18 prohibits incest but does not include uncle-niece marriages, which are prohibited in some later Jewish communities, including those responsible for writing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Deut 25:5-10 encourages a custom called levirate marriage, where a widow marries her husbands brother if her husband has died without children; a similar, though not identical, practice is found in the book of Ruth.

How old was Mary when she got married?

In 1st-century Palestine, the ideal age for marriage, for both women and men, was during late adolescence. Men, however, often married a bit later, sometimes even as late as 30. We can probably assume, therefore, that when they married, Mary was between 14 and 19 years old while Joseph may have been in his 20s.

Bruce Malina writes this about marriage in the 1st-century world:

Note that husbands and wives were not required to have a close relationship. This doesnt mean that they couldnt be close, just that it was not a necessity of marriage as it is considered today. Instead, marriage was an economic arrangement, meant to bring together two families for economic purposes.

Who worked 14 years to get his wife in Bible?

Jacob married his father-in-law’s sister, Rachel, 14 years after he first fell in love with her. National Geographic looks at famous people in the Bible in our series People in the Bible. This is part of our coverage of the history of the Bible and the search for sacred texts. After stealing his brother’s inheritance, Jacob ran away to Harran. One night, he dreamed of a ladder going up into heaven. At the top stood God, who promised Jacob the land Abraham had owned. Jacob built an altar and called it Bethel. Soon after arriving in Harran, Jacob fell in love with Rachel, his cousin Laban’s daughter. Laban welcomed Jacob to his family but asked a lot for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Jacob had to work as a shepherd for seven years. A shepherd’s annual wage in the Bronze Age was about 10 shekels. Seven years of labor was a lot to ask. But Jacob, on the run from Esau, couldn’t negotiate. Jacob served seven years for Rachel. It seemed like only a few days because he loved her.

What age did people get married in Jesus time?

But those who ascribe to Zieglers reading of Scripture—and many of Moores evangelical supporters could be among them—should read more carefully. The Bible offers no evidence that Joseph was older than Mary. “We know virtually nothing about Joseph, and no age is mentioned for either Joseph or Mary in the Gospels,” says Paula Fredriksen, professor emerita of scripture at Boston University, and author of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. In fact, according to Jewish law and customs of the day, Mary and Joseph probably would have both been young when they married. “Girls were usually engaged sometime between the ages of 12 and 15, and would be married sometime thereafter, at 15 or 16, and boys would have been 19 or 20,” Fredriksen says.

But what of the many classic paintings and illustrations, not to mention countless church yard Nativity displays and Christmas cards featuring Joseph as a grey-bearded, almost grandfatherly figure, in contrast to Marys eternally glowing, post-natal youth? That has nothing to do with the biblical record, it turns out. The reason for the “superannuation of Joseph” in art and the popular imagination, as Fredriksen puts it, was a later response to early church debates about Marys perpetual virginity. If Mary had sexual relations with Joseph, she would lose that pure and chaste status which was foretold in Scripture. So to remove all doubt, theologians aged Joseph.

The controversy over Josephs age centers around the issue of Jesus siblings, who appear in Mark (6:3) and Matthew (13:55-56). If the siblings were the product of unions between Mary and Joseph, then Mary could not have remained a virgin after Jesus had been born. But many in the church believed that Mary lived as a virgin throughout her life. Her perpetual virginity represented her full and everlasting commitment to being the mother of Christ.

How old were the girls in the 1700s when they got married?

Dating and Social InteractionsDating life for women in the 18th century had started to change as they had more of a say in their marriages and weddings. It was at this time the idea of marrying because of who your parents arranged had died, and the idea of marrying on the basis of personal affection and started taking its place. The average age women had started to marry was 22 compared to decades before when the age was much younger. The husband also needed to not only pay a dowry to the brides family, but have an allotment of things lined up for the happy couple. Things such as: housing, clothing, prospect of decent income and savings. On average, men tended to marry at 26 during this time, looking for specific attributes in a woman to be considered as his future wife. These qualities included: the typical household wife of maid, mother and caregiver, as well as a youthful looking woman who was wise with a decent holy background.

The English were an outdoors people when it came to sport. Sometimes, archery and pole vaulting intercepted its way into peoples routine activities. Ice skating in winter months was extremely common, and during the summer months, swimming and water sports reigned supreme. Boating for the purpose of fishing, picnicking, and watching regattas was all very popular. During fall months, hunting took a big role in many lives where the main game was dear and certain birds. Horse races have been documented since 1709 until the Jockey Club was officially founded in 1750. Many denounced the racing due to it being a distraction to labor that needed to be done, but the protest had little to no effect. Leaning towards the middle of the century, cricket started gaining increasing popularity due to its viability with both men and women of all classes. Along with cricket, other organized sports included tennis, golf, and lawn bowling.

PlaysAlmost everyone enjoyed the theater whether it be watching it in the city, travelling companies, or performing in their own home. The countrys greatest play of the century was John Gays The Beggars Opera, which was produced in 1728. It was a scathing social satire that included the poor and alienated the rich. it was much disliked by Prime Minister Robert Walpole who was able to get his revenge with the Licensing Act that caused plays to be reviewed and made actors subject to arrest for taking parts in unacceptable plays. With the increase in theater popularity, many theaters renovated and put on multiple shows. The audiences were various and a lot of the time were rude to the point where they would throw produce at the actors if they were unhappy with what they had seen.

What is the age of marriage in Islam?

Islam doesn’t set a minimum age for marriage. But it does say that people must be mature enough to understand the rights and responsibilities of marriage.