Mary's age

[appy]

One scripture that has come to mind is that Moses was instructed to count males that were twenty and over for military service. Look at Numbers 1:3 So if a 12-13 year old boy was considered mature enough for marriage, why was he not old enough to go into battle.

Also how bout David? I am inclined to think that even though he killed Goliath he really wasn’t age wise, physically mature enough to carry armor. I also have the impression, that he spent several years in Sauls palace before he actually went out to war.

[Guest shiloh357]

But Simon Peter had a wife and the mother-in-law that sounded as though she lived with them. If he were even in his 20's with any children (which are not mentioned) would the wife want him leaving? The only one that could have been a younger males would be Jesus' cousin John and Mark. Luke was a physician and besides they were well educated in order to write. That meant schooling in the temple or with the scribes. NO? I realize that Jesus could have taught them but ?

Just curious, where did you get the idea that Jesus and John were cousins? Secondly, Luke and Mark were not disciples of Jesus. Luke was more than likely a Gentile, not a Jew, probably a convert to Judaism, but he was not contempoary with Jesus. He was a companion of Paul.

You also need to keep in mind that the Gospel writers simply relate the birth and ministry and death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. They are not biographies and omit a lot of information not relevant to the purposes they had for writing. It was not important to tell us the marital status of the other disciples. So, it would be realistic to think that they were itinerant and were not on the road 24/7. They had jobs and it would seem that Jesus would not have asked them to follow Him at the expense of their families well-being in terms of feeding their wives and children and taking care of their needs.

[other one]

One scripture that has come to mind is that Moses was instructed to count males that were twenty and over for military service. Look at Numbers 1:3 So if a 12-13 year old boy was considered mature enough for marriage, why was he not old enough to go into battle.

Also how bout David? I am inclined to think that even though he killed Goliath he really wasn’t age wise, physically mature enough to carry armor. I also have the impression, that he spent several years in Sauls palace before he actually went out to war.

thirteen year olds are very seldom physically capable of going into battle with people older people. They just are not physically developed for the most part.

From reading though about 20 web sites, it seems that folks during this time period seldom lived past 45..

[joi]

The age of the disciples had never been an issue with me, and in reading this I realize that I

had assumed that they were about the same age of Jesus. I think I got that impression because

of their work and in Peter's case, being married.

I really think with a western mind!

[~candice~]

The age of the disciples had never been an issue with me, and in reading this I realize that I

had assumed that they were about the same age of Jesus. I think I got that impression because

of their work and in Peter's case, being married.

I really think with a western mind!

I must admit I made the same mistake.

But in hindsight, 30 is quite old for those times and it would be unusual for a 30 year old man to not be married with children.

[Guest shiloh357]

The age of the disciples had never been an issue with me, and in reading this I realize that I

had assumed that they were about the same age of Jesus. I think I got that impression because

of their work and in Peter's case, being married.

I really think with a western mind!

I must admit I made the same mistake.

But in hindsight, 30 is quite old for those times and it would be unusual for a 30 year old man to not be married with children.

When think about it, even all the movies about Jesus and the depiction of the disciples in popular art, all portary them as middle-aged men or maybe the youngest being around 30 or so. I think that has also influenced how we envision them.