@Anon-e-moose
I’ve been doing some research and found out that Palestinian Jewish girls married around mid to late teen years, so Mary could have been 18-19. One source said around late teen to early 20s. Another said around 15-20. She could have been 20. Mary was never even called a girl so idk why you call her an underage child bride. She was called a woman and Jesus called a 12 year old a little girl.
Although girls are promise for marriage around 12-17. the actual marriage doesn’t happen until later. God could have cause the bethoral to last for several years. The age that scholars said about Mary is an educate guess. Yes educated, but still a guess. We can’t say for sure how long the bethoral lasted. Strange how Mary parents weren’t a part of her consent. Jewish girls could married at 12, but most married later. Jewish girls in Babylon married much earlier, like around 12-15.
Sources are: Queen Salome: Jerusalem's Warrior Monarch of the First Century B.C.E.
By Kenneth Atkinson I forgot which page, but this is the one that said Jewish women in ancient times married in their early 20s. While those in Babylon around the early teens
The New Testament on Sexuality
By William Loader pg 17
Sanctified Sexuality
Valuing Sex in an Oversexed World pg 46