How old was the virgin Mary when she became pregnant with Jesus?

   In following Jesus for 26 years, I have heard many Christmas sermons at a variety of churches.  Within numerous sermons, the various pastors stated that when Mary gave birth to Jesus she would have been a girl about age thirteen.  I even read a Bible scholar recently who stated with assurance the age of thirteen.  Yet Mary’s age is not mentioned in the Bible.  And deep in my heart, I was suspect.  My question soon became: How do pastors and scholars know this?
   At Colorado Christian University I gained insight into this question when doing research for a paper on a different topic.  In reading writings of scholars from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s who observed the social culture in the Middle East, I learned about marriage practices at that time.  One well published scholar in 1900 was specific about age: “Marriage takes place early – girls at thirteen or fourteen, young men at nineteen or twenty.  It is not considered respectable for any man over twenty-one to be unmarried.” (1)
   I also read the writing of another scholar who made extensive observations of middle eastern oriental culture.  Note that scholars in the early 1900’s viewed the Ancient Middle East and the current Middle East to be a part of the “Orient.”  In a comprehensive book Dr. Trumbull started out boldly saying that viewing the present cultural practices was just like viewing the ancient cultural practices of the Middle East.  He stated, “The Oriental social life of to-day is the Oriental social life of former days.” (2)
   Observations by these scholars are fascinating to me and I think there is much to learn from them.  However, Christians seemed to adopt the belief of scholar H. Clay Trumbull, assuming that if the Jewish people were doing something in the Middle East in 1901, that would mirror their practice 1900 years earlier.  This is a false presumption.  And those scholars would often give some insight into a cultural practice of folks in Syria or folks in India, and then assimilate it to all of the Orient.  But no one can assume that everyone in every region of the Middle East carried out the same practices either in 1900 or in the time of Christ.
   This is an important issue considering some think it was immoral for God to impregnate Mary with a baby at such a young age.  And even young teenagers listening to these Christmas Eve sermons have contemplated why God would have a girl their age designated for such a challenge.
   I am convicted Mary was older.  I have not read any such facts about marriage practices by Israelites written in the early centuries.  And one of seven recorded things Jesus said when nailed to the cross was a statement to the apostle John to take care of His mother, Mary.  She would have only been about 47 years old at the time of His crucifixion if she was pregnant with Jesus at such a young age.  Yes I know many people speculate on the average age of people living in the Middle East then and they make women who were 47 out to be over the hill.  Yet most Christians I know adhere to historical evidence that John lived to be quite old.  And different regions in the Middle East may have had different death rates.  And yes I heard a scholar say in a class once that if a woman became a widow at a certain age in the Ancient Near East, then her life would be in jeopardy because she would not have a man to provide for her in the paternal ancient Israel culture.  Maybe that was still the case to a degree in the time period of Roman rule.  I still advocate we cannot assume Mary was so young when pregnant.  The Bible does not say this, and we need to be more careful about what is preached from the pulpit about such a delicate issue in my opinion.
Hunter Irvine

(1) E.W.G. Masterman, “Social Customs in Palestine,” The Biblical World, Vol.15, No.4 (Apr., 1900): 270, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3137138
(accessed May 8, 2016). 

(2) H. Clay Trumbull, Studies in Oriental Social Life and Gleams from the East on the Sacred Page
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1895), 1.