Troublesome Topic: HOW CLOSE DID MARY COME TO GETTING STONED?

The principles that form the foundation of the Old Testament laws about sexual issues are the following:  Lines of authority, the type of relationship, and God’s design for human sexuality. (You can read much more about these foundational issues under Troublesome Topics starting with WHAT MADE SEXUAL DEVIATIONS WRONG?

The issues involved in sexual deviations involving individuals who were betrothed are the following:

1. Authority – She was betrothed, which means she was still under the authority of her father, and yet partially under the authority of Joseph, who was now considered her husband, even though the marriage had not yet been consummated. It was a type of shared authority but we can be sure that the father held most of it.

2. Virginity – A young girl’s greatest possession was her virginity; thus she was not likely to give it away or throw it away. Later, a married woman’s greatest possession was her ability to have children; that is why women who were barren were seen as having been cursed.

3. Punishment for improper pregnancy –  The fact that Mary turned up pregnant meant one of two things in the minds of the people, either Mary had been promiscuous with another man, or Joseph and Mary had engaged in sexual intercourse prior to their wedding.

The situation in this specific story involved a betrothed girl who got pregnant, so it was assumed that she had engaged in sexual intercourse with someone, right? Because she was betrothed (engaged to be married), having sex with another man was considered adultery which was punishable by death. If the betrothed husband formally accused her of having sexual relations with another man, and if he could convince the town fathers acting as judges that his accusation was valid, she would be stoned. If the man who got her pregnant could be identified in a way that would convince the town fathers, he would be stoned along with the girl. If the other man could not be identified and if the town fathers were convinced it was not the betrothed husband who got her pregnant, the girl would be stoned by herself – in front of her parent’s house!

4. The Romans had withheld from the Jews the power of capital punishment. On paper and in formal, very visible matters, the Jews could never exact the death penalty. However, I recall two occasions when the crowds tried to stone Jesus (Jn 8:59 & Jn 10:31, both in Jerusalem, and possibly the time in Nazareth when they tried to throw him over a cliff (Lk 4:29) because that is how a stoning often started. I think that sometimes the people got themselves into an emotional state and just did something without asking permission. Unlike Jerusalem, Galilee was not as carefully watched, and people could get away with more things. Maybe the Romans sometimes considered a Jewish stoning a favor that took another troublemaker off their hands, so the looked the other way. This legal matter made it a little less likely that Mary would be stoned, but it did not protect her completely, the risk was still there.

As this situation developed, Mary was well aware that she might be stoned. Yet it appears that she trusted God to protect her, and He did.

The next lesson in the topic The Birth of Jesus is: What Was the Procedure for Stoning Someone?