How many Teenagers are mentioned in the Bible?

Answer 1

The term 'teenager' is an invention of the 1960s and so does not appear in the Bible. In Jewish law a girl became a woman at her first period (around the age of 13-15 - don't forget few girls in those days started periods earlier as their nutrition was not as good as ours) Boys reached manhood, however, at their bahmitzvahs at the age of 14 (a coming-of-age ceremony), after which they were no longer deemed a child but a man. So the idea of a teenager - or 'young adult' did not exist.

However there are several incidences in the Bible where teenagers, as we would understand them, have played a very important role. One obvious candidate is David the shepherd boy, who, when still a teenager killed Goliath of Gath with stones from his sling, thus freeing the Israelites, and who went on to become the great King David. Another example is the great prophet Jeremiah who it is believed started out his prophesying mission when still a teenager. In the New Testament, the two disciples James and John were no more than teenagers, as we are told their father Zebedee was still practising as a fisherman, and. as life expectancy in those days was very low, it is probable that he himself was no more than 40. Furthermore James and John were known as the 'Sons of Thunder' - suuggesting that they were beligerent teenagers! On a different note, the daughter of Herodias - the wife of King Herod danced for him in return for the head of John the Baptist. Although not mentioned in the Bible, tradition has it that her name was Salome, and she would have been no older than a young teenager.

Finally, of course, we hear that Jesus himself, when just 12, was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem where he was found by Mary and Joseph after they lost him - talking to the priests and teachers there who wwere astonished by his command of the scriptures.