Perpetual Virginity Of Mary
by Br. Anthony Opisso, M.D.
From the earliest biblical days adultery
carried with it a sense of defilement,
so that a woman who had know contact
with another man, even if by force,
was considered no longer fit to be
visited by her husband (Genesis 49:4; 2 Samuel 20:3, re ibid. 16:21-22; Book of Jubilees 33:6-9; Epstein,
Marriage Laws in the Biblical Talmud,
p.51).
The deuteronomic code teaches that
a woman who is divorced by her husband
and thereafter marries another man
likewise cannot return to her former
husband (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). As
the Lord said through the prophet
Jeremiah:
"If a man put away
his wife and she goes from him and
becomes another man's wife, shall
he return to her again, shall not
the land (his wife's body) be greatly
polluted?"
(Jeremiah 3:1; see Targum
to Deuteronomy 24:1-4). |
In rabbinic law a woman who has committed
adultery is "defiled" and
cannot remain the wife of her husband,
but must be divorced. (Sifre on Deuteronomy,
edit. M. Friedman (1864) 270 p. 122b;
Sifre on Numbers, edit. M. Friedman
(1915) 7 p. 4a and 19 p. 66) Furthermore
any intimate male contact by the
wife with Jew or gentile, potent
or impotent, natural or unnatural
makes divorce compulsory. (Sotha 26b;
Yebamoth 55a, b, 87b; Kethuboth 9a,
Babylonian Talmud; Kethuboth 25a;
Sotah 27a, Yad, Sotah 2,2, Jerusalem
Talmud)
Betrothed.
In Jewish Law a man betrothed to
a woman was considered legally married
to her. The word for betrothed in
Hebrew is Kiddush, a word that is
derived from the Hebrew word Kadash which means holy, consecrated, set
apart. Because by betrothal,
(as in Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:27),
or marriage, a woman became the peculiar
property of her husband, forbidden
to others.
The Oral Law of Kiddushin (Marriages
and Engagements) states:
"The
husband prohibits his wife to the
whole world like an object which
is dedicated to the Sanctuary"
(Kiddushin
2b, Babylonian Talmud). |
We know from the Gospel of Matthew
1:14 that Joseph, the husband of Mary,
was a righteous man, a devout law-abiding
Jew. Having noticed that Mary was
pregnant and that he, her betrothed,
had nothing to do with the pregnancy,
Joseph had either to:
- publicly condemn
her and have her put to death for
adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22-29) or
- put her away privately.
His decision was made when an angel
appeared to him in a dream, saying:
"Joseph,
son of David, do not fear to take
Mary as your wife; for that which
is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit; she will bear a son, and
you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their
sins"
(Matthew 1:20-21). |
The
angel does not use the phrase for
marital union: go in unto (as
in Genesis 30:3, 4, 16) or come
together (Matthew 1:18) but
merely a word meaning leading her
into the house as a wife (paralambano
gunaika) but not cohabiting with
her.
For when the angel revealed to him
that Mary was truly the spouse of
the Holy Spirit, Joseph could take
Mary, his betrothed, into his house
as a wife, but he could never have
intercourse with her because according
to the Law she was forbidden to him
for all time.
Marriage to the Holy Spirit.
We also have to take into consideration
that when Mary was told by the archangel
Gabriel:
"Behold, you shall conceive
in your womb, and bring forth a Son,
and you shall call His name Jesus"
(Luke 1:31) |
he also added that this
was to come about because
"The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow
you; therefore the Holy one to be
born shall be called the Son of God"
(Luke
1:35). |
By stating it in those terms the
archangel declared to Mary that God
would enter into a marital relationship
with her, causing her to conceive
His Son in her womb, For to
lay one's power (reshuth) over a
woman (Targum to Deuteronomy 21:4) was
a euphemism for to have a marital
relationship with her.
Likewise to overshadow (Luke
1:35) by spreading the wing or cloak over
a woman was another euphemism for
marital relations. Thus, the rabbis
commented (Midrash Genesis Rabbah
39.7; Midrash Ruth Rabbah 3.9) that
Ruth was chaste in her wording when
she asked Boaz to have marital relations
with her by saying to him:
"I
am Ruth you handmaid, spread therefore
your cloak (literally, wing: kanaph)
over your handmaid for you are my
next-of-kin".
(Ruth 3:9) |
Tallith, another Aramaic-Hebrew word
for cloak, is derived from tellal
= shadow. Thus, to spread one's
cloak (tallith) over a woman means
to cohabit with her (Kiddushin 18b,
see also Mekhilta on Exodus 21:8). Did not the Lord say to His bride
Israel:
"I am married to you" (Jeremiah 3:14), and
"your Maker is your
husband"? (Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 31:32)?
And, what is more intimate than what
the Lord said to His bride:
"You
developed, you grew, you came to
full womanhood; your breasts became
firm and your hair grew... you were
naked... and I saw that you were
now old enough for love so I spread
my cloak over you... I gave you My
oath, I entered into a covenant with
you and you became Mine, says the
Lord God"
(Ezekiel 16:7-8). |
Mary prohibited to Joseph.
Having been enlightened by an angel
in a dream regarding her pregnancy, and perhaps further by Mary concerning
the words of the archangel Gabriel
to her at the Annunciation, Joseph
knew that God had conducted himself
as a husband in regard to Mary. She
was now prohibited to him for all
time, and for the sake of the Child
and Mary he could only live with
her in an absolutely chaste relationship.
Living a celibate life within marriage
was not unknown in Jewish tradition.
It was told that Moses, who was married,
remained continent the rest of his
life after the command to abstain
from sexual intercourse (Exodus 19:15)
given in preparation the seventy
elders abstained thereafter from
their wives after their call, and
so did Eldad and Medad when the spirit
of prophecy came upon them; indeed
it was said that the prophets became
celibate after the Word of the Lord
communicated with them.
(Midrash Exodus
Rabbah 19; 46.3; Sifre to Numbers
99 sect. 11; Sifre Zutta 81-82, 203-204;
Aboth Rabbi Nathan 9, 39; Tanchuman
111, 46; Tanchumah Zaw 13; 3 Petirot
Moshe 72; Shabbath 87a; Pesachim
87b, Babylonian Talmud)
Celibacy according to tradition.
Elijah and Elisha were celibate al
their lives (Zohar Hadash 2:1; Midrash
Mishlei 30, 105, Pirke Rabbi Eliezer
33). When for the sake of the Torah (i.e., intense study in it), a rabbi
would abstain from relations with
his wife, it was deemed permissible,
for he was then cohabiting with the
Shekinah (the "Divine Presence") in the Torah
(Zohar RE: Genesis 1:27; 13:3 and Psalm 85:14 in the Discourse
of Rabbi Phineas to Rabbis Jose,
Judah, and Hiya).
It is well known that the rabbis
spoke concerning the obligation of
all males to be married and procreated:
"He
who abstains from procreation is
regarded as though he had shed blood"
(Rabbi
Eliezer in Yebamoth 63b, Babylonian
Talmud; see also Shulkhan Aruch (Code
of Jewish Law) section Evenhar-Ezer
1:1,3,4).
According to Yebamoth 62b,
B.T. a man is only half a man without
a wife, citing
Genesis 5:2 where
it is said:
"Male and female
He (God) created them and blessed
them, and called their name Adam (lit. "Man").
Nevertheless,
"if a person cleaves
to the study of the Torah (i.e.,
dedicates all his time to it) like
ben Azzai, his refusal to marry can
be condoned"
(Skulkhan Arukh
EH 1:4).
Rabbinic scholar ben Azzai
(early second century A.D.) was extraordinary
in his learning:
"with the passing
of Ben Azzai diligent scholars passed
from the earth"
(Sotah 9:15).
He never married and was celibate
all his life so as not to be distracted
from his studies, and because he
considered the Torah his wife, for
who he always yearned with all his
soul (Yebamoth 63b). He was an outstanding
scholar (Kiddushin 20a, B.T.) and
also renowned for his saintliness (Berakoth 57b, B.T.).
Other celibates.
Jewish tradition also mentions the
celibate Zenu'im (lit. "chaste
ones") to whom the secret of
the Name of God was entrusted, for
they were able to preserve the Holy
Name in "perfect purity" (Kiddushin
71a; Midash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 3:11;
Yer. yoma 39a, 40a).
Those in hope of a divine revelation
consequently refrained from sexual
intercourse and were strict in matters
of purity (Enoch 83:2; Revelation
14:2-5).
Philo (Apol. pro Judaeis 1X, 14-17),
Josephus, (Antiq. XVIII. 21) and
Hippolytus (Philosophumena IX, IV,
28a) wrote on the celibacy of the
Jewish Essenes hundreds of years
before the discovery of their settlements
in Qumran by the Dead Sea.
Philo Judaeus (c. 20 B.C.-50 A.D.),
a Jewish philosopher, described Jewish
women who were virgins who have kept
their chastity not under compulsion,
like some Greek priestesses, but
of their own free will in their ardent
yearning for Wisdom.
"Eager
to have Wisdom for their life-mate,
they have spurned the pleasures of
the body and desire no mortal offspring
but those immortal children which
only the soul that is dear to God
can bring forth to birth."
(Philo,
Cont. 68; see also Philo, Abr. 100).
For
"the chaste are rewarded
by receiving illumination from the
concealed heavenly light" (Zohar
11. 229b-230a).
Because
"if
the understanding is safe and unimpaired,
free from the oppression of the iniquities
or passions... it will gaze clearly
on all that is worthy of contemplation" (Philo,
Sob. 1.5).
Conversely,
"the
understanding of the pleasure-loving
man is blind and unable to see those
things that are worth seeing... the
sight of which is wonderful to behold
and desirable" (Philo, Q. Gen.IV.245).
|
Joseph as celibate caretaker.
As the recipient of the great revelation
that what was conceived in the womb
of Mary, his betrothed, was of the
Holy Spirit and that the Child to
be born was destined to save His
people from their sins, surely Joseph
knew that he was called to take care
of Mary and her Child, the Messiah,
for the rest of his life, which is
why the angel told him to take Mary
as his wife.
We may reasonable assume that Mary
herself now shared with him all that
the archangel Gabriel said to her.
No less a Person than the Son
of God (Luke
1:35) was to be
entrusted to his care under the shelter
of his humble home, now become the
Holy of Holies.
Jewish tradition mentions that, although
the people had to abstain from sexual
relations with their wives for only
three days prior to the revelation
at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:15), Moses
chose to remain continent the rest
of his life with the full approval
of God. The rabbis explained that
this was so because Moses knew that
he was appointed to personally commune
with God, not only at Mount Sinai
but in general throughout the forty
years of sojourning in the wilderness.
For this reason Moses kept himself "apart
from woman," remaining in the
sanctity of separation to be at the
beck and call of God at all times;
they cited God's command to Moses
in Deuteronomy 5:28 (Midrash Exodus
Rabbah 19:3 and 46.3).
Again, we may be sure that Saint
Joseph remained celibate all his
life because throughout his married
years he was in daily attendance
and communication with Jesus, the
incarnate Word of God.
This article was written
by Brother Anthony M. Opisso, M.D.,
who has been a hermit for the past
thirty-one years. He lives in the
woods of the Cistercian Abby in Rogersville,
New Brunswick. Born in Manila, in
the Philippines, he is a physician-surgeon
graduate of Loyola University Medical
School, Chicago, Illinois (1950).
A Scriptural and Rabbinic scholar,
he is the author of five books: The
Bread of God, The Secret Joy of Repentance,
The Revelation of Bethlehem, The
Revelation of the Son of Man and
The Book of Understanding. |