Was Jesus a Product of Rape?
Was Jesus a product of rape?
Bathsheba was in her own home when the military personal guards came to her door and ordered her to the bed of David. Her husband and protector was away fighting for the king. She was summoned and had no choice but to surrender. The average age of a woman being married in that time was the very young teens. How old was she? Adultery was punishable by death for females. She was trafficked into the bed of a man who had countless concubines and wives- but as a married woman; being taken against her will, she had to obey the king. Her life was at risk if she said no and at risk if she obeyed. When her inevitable pregnancy became known, her rapist then murdered her husband and took her as a wife. It is her posterity line that Jesus was born to.
Throughout history she is and has been portrayed as the quintessential adulteress- but what choice did she have? This culture at the time wouldn't even allow women to speak or look into the eyes of a man if passing on the street.
Jesus’ mother was also traded as a commodity. Based on the culture, it is likely that Mary was a young girl and being traded for cattle or property to Joseph. He was probably an older man. This is why it was a problem for her to be pregnant before marriage- she could be killed for infidelity and defaulting on the business deal. Whether or not Joseph was sexually intimate with Mary before Jesus was born, she was impregnated without her previous consent. Although she acquiesced to the pregnancy after the fact. “Not my will, but thy will, I will be the Lord’s handmaiden.” After Jesus was born, she was a young girl in a marriage where she was purchased.
Why wasn’t there room at the inn? Because Mary was most likely a multiple wife. Her sister wives probably delivered Jesus. Perhaps the reason there was no room at the inn- is because there wasn’t just two people, but an entourage.
What happens when we look at these stories through the lens of the women who were there? If they were able to tell the stories through their own words- would they match the dialog we have been taught.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, a 15th Century Marian Byzantine Icon
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