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Rebecca was NOT 3 years old when Isaac married her

It is a common claim by Islamic Dawah people that Rebecca was only 3 years old when marrying Isaac. The reason they make this claim is because their prophet Muhammad married a 6 year old girl and had sexual inter course with her at the age of 9 (nine). And since outside of their perverse ideology this type of behavior is universally shunned, they must make up lies to defend this.

Not by trying to make Muhammad look better, but only by trying to find a random Bible person and smear his reputation. As if throwing mud at someone else excuses being covered in filth.

The argument goes that Isaac was born when his mother was 90, and his mother Sarah died at the age of 127, when Isaac was 37 years old. (Genesis 17:17;21:2-5;23:1) Before she died, Genesis 22:20-24 mentions that Bethuel became father to Rebecca. And since Isaac was 40 when he married Rebecca, this would mean Rebecca was only 3 years old when Isaac married her. (Genesis 25:20)

This is of course false.

Isaac was called a boy

Genesis 22 happens somewhere between the birth of Isaac in Genesis 21 and him being an adult man of 37 in Genesis 23. But when?

In Genesis 22:5 we see that Isaac was “a boy” at the time. And looking at the age of others called “boy” in Genesis (in reference to their age, and not their social status), we have Ishmael who is a “boy” at the age of 13-16 (Genesis 21:12), and Joseph is called a boy at the age of 17 (Genesis 37:2)

The oldest person in Genesis called a “boy” with reference to their age was 17 years old. So we can generously say that at the almost-sacrifice of Isaac he would have been at most 17 years old.

At the end of Genesis 22, Abraham gets the news that several generations of relatives have been born, among them Rebecca. At this time Rebecca might have already been several years old. But for the purpose of steel manning the Muslim position (giving them the benefit), the most generous estimate we could put on this is that at the end of Genesis 22, Rebecca is a newborn of 0.

And thus we can see that there is a maximum of 17 years age difference between Isaac and Rebecca, more likely less. So when they met and got married when Isaac was 40, Rebecca would have been at least 23 years old.

Rebecca was called a woman

Genesis 24:16,28 calls Rebecca a “bethula” or “young woman”. The word “Bethula” signifies an unmarried woman, which means it is someone who is of marriagable age. Some of our Muslim friends seem to have a problem understanding this fact, but a 3 year old is not of marriageable age.

In Genesis 24:56,57 they ask her if she wants to go with Abraham’s servant to be married to Isaac. What parent or guardian would let a 3 year old decide such a thing? This shows they considered her to be above the age of majority, an adult capable of long term decisions about her life.

In fact if you read the account in Genesis 24, there is not a single thing indicating that Rebecca is a child. Everything she says and does and the way people refer to her and speak to her shows that she is an adult woman.

Rebecca was strong

When Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, he prayed to God that whichever young woman would give him a drink and water his camels would be the one chosen by God. Rebecca not only gave him a drink, but also watered his camels.

Abrahams servant had ten camels. (Genesis 24:10) And a camel can drink 200 L (53 US gal) of water in three minutes. That’s 2000 liters or two metric tons of water.

So Rebecca went back and forth to the well, carrying up to 2000 kilograms of water in her jar. And our muslim friends would have us believe that a 3 year old would be able to do that? Such a 3 year old must be built like the offspring of Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Sherman tank.

A Mesopotamian water jar would hold 5-20 liters (kilograms) of water. A three year old can be expected to be able to lift about 10% of their own weight, or approximately 1.5-2.5kg for a short time. A 3 year old would not be able to lift even one half of the smallest of water jars when full. A 3 year old would have to go back and forth between the well and the camels at least a thousand times. If she went once a minute it would take her 16 hours.

So in short, if you think that Rebecca was 3 years old, your mind is in fact not connected to reality.

Christians don’t follow Isaac as an example

Suppose muslims are right.

  • Suppose that Isaac was an adult man of 37 rather than as the Bible says a “boy”.
  • Suppose that there was only 3 years between when the messenger came to Abraham and when Sarah died.
  • Suppose that Rebecca was born exactly when the messenger was leaving
  • Suppose the messenger just had time enough to learn the name of the newborn before he left
  • Suppose he then rode at maximum speed for 900 km to deliver this news.
  • Suppose they called a 3 year old a “woman” of marriageable age, and asked her opinion on major life decisions.
  • Suppose said 3 year old was stronger than Superman at that age.
  • Suppose Rebecca actually was 3 years old when Isaac married her.

Suppose all these nonsensical things were true.

It still would make no difference, because Christians do not follow Isaac as a morally perfect example. Christians follow Jesus as their moral example.

However Muslims do follow Muhammad as a morally perfect example, and Muhammad did marry a 6 year old, and did have sexual intercourse with her when she was 9 years old. That is the “perfect moral example” that Muslims follow.

The only reason Muslims make this argument is because they KNOW that what Muhammad did was evil, morally reprehensible, disgusting, and unacceptable, but they want to justify it by pointing fingers at others.

The fact that there may be other degenerate perverts in the world does not make Muhammad less of a degenerate pervert.

If Isaac married Rebecca at age 3, all it would mean is that Isaac was a degenerate pervert like Muhammad.

Summary

  • There was likely about 17 years age difference between Isaac and a Rebecca.
  • Rebecca was likely about 23 years old when she married Isaac.
  • Rebecca was an adult woman.
  • Rebecca made adult decisions about her future.
  • Rebecca was strong as an adult. It is simply impossible for 3 year olds to do what Rebecca did.
  • Trying to make Isaac look like a degenerate pervert doesn’t make Muhammad less of a degenerate pervert.
  • Christians do not follow the moral example of a degenerate pervert, but Luslims follow the moral example of a degenerate pervert.