Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jonathan Mohler <jonathan.mohler AT gmail.com>]

On Jul 22, 2013, at 8:19 PM, b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

On 22 Jul 2013, at 13:53, Isaac Fried wrote:

Bear in mind that many of the biblical heroines, Rebekah, Rachel,
Lea, Ruth, Esther, were just little girls (if I correctly remembers
Rashi says Rebekah was 3 years old when she married Isaac, then she
was "childless").

Abraham may very well have asked his servant to bring a child that they could raise up for Isaac; the story, however, does not read this way.

The fact that Ruth was still a childless widow at
the time, means she was about 14 years old. How old was Naomi? I
would say about 30.

I'll buy that.  I agree with Jim also that Rebekah may have been 15, although he bases this on a half-year shanah.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Jonathan Mohler

Baptist Bible Graduate School

Springfield, MO