Most likely from a prior marriage. Women often in those days passed on first.
Nothing indicates/supports that view. A conceivable possibility, yes, but not a shred of evidence of it actually being the case. You’d think that if he was traveling to Bethlehem, then to Egypt, _on_foot_, that there’d be at least some mention of his others if there were any - not to mention the other situations where “brothers” are mentioned with zero indication they’re not hers, nor his by another.
The only impetus for this notion is the hysterical insistence that Mary _never_ acted as a normal (and fertile!) wife for Joseph - which then raises the prospect of their having never consummated, meaning they are not recognized as married, which then leads to a host of other strange problems (Mary & Joseph just shacked up?). In a culture where procreation was paramount (to the point of barrenness lamented), staying together without “trying” seems odd.
An oft-suppressed truth of Scripture is the sheer _mundanity_ of His life. He had normal healthy parents who had other offspring after Him. Occam’s Razor applies.
Now, who is trying to bind believers to something not contained in the clear words of Scripture?
Pure unadulterated speculation.
Got any DATA or EVIDENCE to back up this assumption?
I'll be in this thread awhile (unless my depiction of the 'MARY' that ROME has created gets me in trouble.)