What age difference is acceptable?

[Chris]

I must say, Mary's speech in Luke 1 doesn't sound like a young teenager. It sounds more like someone who has had time to live and observe life and principles firsthand.

Perhaps a teenage girl would sound different after being face-to-face with Gabriel?

No, not necessarily.

They also had a different way of learning to speak than we do. Teens you know today are not teens from yesteryear.

[Josh]

Perhaps a teenage girl would sound different after being face-to-face with Gabriel?

No, not necessarily.

They also had a different way of learning to speak than we do. Teens you know today are not teens from yesteryear.

And we read what she said in Greek, after going through a translator. Presumably she didn’t speak Greek in her private prayer life.

[Szdfan]

Perhaps a teenage girl would sound different after being face-to-face with Gabriel?

No, not necessarily.

They also had a different way of learning to speak than we do. Teens you know today are not teens from yesteryear.

The concept of teenager didn't exist until the 20th Century.

[AnthonyMartin]

Took a long hiatus from Mennonet. Perhaps it's time to pull out this excellent work?

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-Ch ... 0679751661

[Joy]

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [1Cor. 13:11 NIV]

[Josh]

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [1Cor. 13:11 NIV]

Indeed. Which would have been age 12 (and which is when we see Jesus starting to act independently).

[Joy]

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [1Cor. 13:11 NIV]

Indeed. Which would have been age 12 (and which is when we see Jesus starting to act independently).

And He got in trouble for it, so I assume He wasn't following the custom of the times.

[Neto]

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [1Cor. 13:11 NIV]

Indeed. Which would have been age 12 (and which is when we see Jesus starting to act independently).

And He got in trouble for it, so I assume He wasn't following the custom of the times.

Then he didn't "make another stir" until he was around 30 years old. And the older Jews still acted like he was just a young whippersnapper.

[Josh]

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [1Cor. 13:11 NIV]

Indeed. Which would have been age 12 (and which is when we see Jesus starting to act independently).

And He got in trouble for it, so I assume He wasn't following the custom of the times.

Actually, he was. A 12 year old was considered a fully functional (and responsible) adult.

Yet even in adulthood, sons remained subject to their fathers, well into their father's old age (we can see another example of this in the story of Isaac and his two sons). A family travelling from Nazareth to Jerusalem would stick together, which is why Jesus' mother was so worried about him - she couldn't find where he was. It would be no different if I were travelling with my parents to Israel, and wandered off somewhere, and then my parents need to go home or go to their lodging and are trying to find me.

[Joy]

Indeed. Which would have been age 12 (and which is when we see Jesus starting to act independently).

And He got in trouble for it, so I assume He wasn't following the custom of the times.

Then he didn't "make another stir" until he was around 30 years old. And the older Jews still acted like he was just a young whippersnapper.

Kind of like Benjamin's brothers treated him because he was the baby of the family. "Little one" and "lad"--who had ten children at that time.

We babies of the family stay little in our families' eyes.