These two strands of evidence suggest a scenario where young Mary entered an existing household, perhaps helping to raise the eventual brothers and sisters of Jesus who were not her own biological kin, in a common circumstance of the ancient world. The Gospels plainly present Mary as a virgin at the time of Jesus’s conception, and centuries of later theology were built around the question of whether she remained a virgin perpetually. Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55–56 do not share that interest and instead focus on identifying the members of Jesus’s family.This essay summarizes a BAR article by Helen Bond which is behind the subscription wall.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
