Brian.
I have reviewed your original post and I think I now understand your question.
Brian writes:
The angel Gabriel has appeared to Mary to tell her that she is going to conceive, ... Now Mary is betrothed to Joseph, they are to be married so why does she say:
‘
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man ’
Verse 35 says
‘And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Mary’s words, and verse 35, reinforce the fact that she is not yet pregnant, so what is the problem, what makes her ask this pointless question?
I can accept that she has not had intercourse but I cannot accept that she would give a reply such as this. There really is no reason at all for her to answer in such a way.
Even if she weren’t betrothed to Joseph, why would it be surprising to her to learn that sometime in the future she would conceive?
She might be surprised if that ‘sometime’ were tonight! Which brings us to what I called urgency in the angels voice. I know this is not in the text but she did, apparently, get pregnant that same night.
Thou shalt conceive, does not specify a period of time, and if I understand the subjunctive, it need not refer to the future. Thou shalt put up thy hands, is a statement suggesting both urgency and peril. In the context of such a moment, it is clear to the listener that the speaker is not talking about
tomorrow. "Thou shalt conceive," if said just prior to mounting, would, I think, qualify as an urgent message.
I don’t doubt that the story is less than accurate but I suspect it may contain an element of truth. In those days there were ‘gods’ and there were ‘men’: Rulers and the ruled. If there is any truth to it, I must understand it as a time when one such ‘god,’ of the royal line, got a young girl pregnant out of wedlock. Wouldn't be the first time that happened. And what a line he used! -
You've got royal blood?! Cool! Me Too! "This baby could be the next king!"
Such encounters were not new at the time, and they continue to happen nowadays. But today, the horney interloper might say, "This baby could be the next president!"
The more things change the more they stay the same.
db