Muslims have a very uncomfortable reality to deal with. Their claimed (near) perfect, moral example in their prophet has clear evidence that he married a 6 year old and slept with here when she was age 9. It has been said there over 200 pieces of authentic, Islamic literature to support this claim.
There have been many forms of attempted deflection, and they all fall flat because the texts are so clear. One of the most common forms is to claim “The Bible says Rebekah was 3 years old when Isaac married her at age 40.”
There is no comparison.
1) The Bible never says Rebekah was 3 years old.
2) Rebekah carried heavy water jars up and down a creek bank to get water for the camels. A 3-year-old could not do this.
3) She watered 10 camels, which is the equivalent 1000-1500 liters of water which is around 265-400 gallons of water she carried single-handedly.
4) She was called a “young woman” suitable for marriage. The Hebrew wording in Genesis 24:16 refers to a mature maiden, not a toddlen (Gen 24: 5,8,11,14,16,28,39,43,57).
5) She made independent decisions. In Genesis 24:58, her family asked, “Will you go with this man?” and she answered for herself. That reflects maturity.
6) She problems solves, speaks with initiative, and walks in significantly full sentences which is not the behavior of a 3 year old (Gen 24:18-24 below).
7) Abraham’s servant viewed her as marriageable. The entire context assumes she was of normal marriageable age in that culture.
8) The description of her beauty implies maturity. Genesis 24:16 emphasizes her physical attractiveness in a way not used for a small child
9) If the next textual topic means chronological next, then Rebekah would have become pregnant at 3 with twins and delivered healthy babies –
“These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived” (Quran 25:19-21).
10) Even if it was true (which it is not) that Rebekah was 3, Isaac is not the perfect, moral example of Christians. Only Jesus is our example. In fact, the Bible is full of sinners. Only Jesus is our perfect model.
So no, it doesn’t work. Muslims are still left having to acknowledge that their central figure did abominable things, this being one of many. It may deflect the conversation, but it will never deflect the truth.
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