Expert: Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine - 12/5/2006

Question
How old was Mary when Jesus was born and how old was Joseph?

Answer
Hi Cheryl,

The Bible nowhere tells us their ages.

Matthew 1:23 sheds some light:
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

"Virgin" here is "Parthenos" which literally means:

1. a marriageable maiden
and 2. a woman who has never had sexual intercourse with a man

If we accept that this verse is referencing Isa. 7:14, then we can get a slightly better idea.

Isa. 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Here, virgin is the Hebrew word "almah"

Strong's tells us this:

virgin, young woman
of marriageable age
maid or newly married

KJV Word Count (almah #5959) virgin  4
maid  2
damsels  1
--

This word "almah" would imply, in my opinion, that she would have been around 13-15 and a virgin (an almah who was not a virgin would not be "chaste" and hence arguably not an almah at all, and certainly not fit to carry the messiah). This is only conjecture though.

It should be noted that there is serious biblically-based debate over whether Mary was the almah referred to in Isaiah.

As for Joseph, we have even less information about his age.

It was culturally common at the time for much older men to wed younger women. Assuming that Joseph was a successful businessman (a carpenter), this would seem likely.

Some people point to Mark 3:31, "There came then his [i.e. Jesus'] brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

From this some people THEORIZE that Jesus' step-father Joseph had died and that he was being informed of this. Rather than weep for the death of this righteous man (compare Matt. 8:22), Jesus questions the role of parents and blood family, pointing out that true family is the family of God. Again, this is theory, but it might arguably suggest that Joseph was much older than Mary, by perhaps as much as 30 years or more.

IF this THEORY is correct, Mary would have been say 13 and Joseph around 43. AGAIN this is conjecture only. The Scriptures really just don't say much on this topic.

Hope this helps,

Maranatha,
~John of AllFaith


All we can say for certain is that Mary was young, almost certainly in her teens.