Why would one be betrothed and also have a vow of perpetual virginity? That doesn’t make sense.
No sense at all. Joseph would have been one frustrated guy, right Elsie?
Like Mary, are you awake?
Many marriages in those days were arranged when the participants were very young...would they necessarily be called off should one or the other wish to devote themselves to God? A single woman would have difficulty supporting herself, a older man would need a helpmate. Not every marriage in those days resulted in children for a variety of reasons. Not to mention the fact that men were allowed multiple wives.
Celibacy was also embraced by the Jews, either temporarily or permanently, as an adjunct to devotion to God. “And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments, [15] He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives.”
Paul says: Now concerning the thing whereof you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. [2] But for fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Of course we don’t know the details of the marriage arranged between Mary and Joseph, except that they did abstain at least until after Jesus was born, but I do believe an agreed celibate marriage is a reasonable possibility.
Love,
O2