Mary and Joseph
CNN reports:
An Alabama state official is citing the Bible to defend GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore against sexual assault allegations on a 14-year-old girl decades ago.
Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, a Republican, dismissed the charges brought forth in a Washington Post article about Moore Thursday, telling The Washington Examiner that the relationship would be akin to that of Joseph and Mary.“Take the Bible: Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance,” Zeigler said. “Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.”
An unusual defence strategy. According to religious texts Joseph was 90 years old and Mary 12 years olds when they married. So is Zeigler saying he’s fine with that? If he had a 12 year old daughter, he’d want her to marry a 90 year old?
Also biblical texts do not state there was a big age difference between Zachariah and Elizabeth. The bible states they were both “well advanced in years”.