A) NO SPECIFIC TEXT AND JEWISH TRADITION.

B) THE ONES OWNING A HOUSE.

C) OCCUPATIONS.

D) MASTER AND MARRIAGE.

E) NICKNAMES.

F) YOUNGER THAN 30.

 

 

A) NO SPECIFIC TEXT AND JEWISH TRADITION

 

Upon this subject matter there are those who have something to say, and then there are those who have to say something.

 

No specific text or texts state the ages of the Disciples.  However, we have a few clues from Scripture which can help us with this question.

 

It has been established in Jewish tradition that a young man would begin following a Rabbi between the ages of 12 to 30 (This information provided by historian Rob J. Hyndman).  Thus, we take note that the Disciples called Jesus, “Rabbi,” John 1:38 & 49; 3:26; 6:25.  However, one would usually begin their ministry before the age of 20.  That would make most of the Disciples teenagers.

 

By contrast, upon our Lord’s return to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax (a didrachma, or half a sacred shekel, see Exo. 30:15), which every Israelite of twenty years old and upwards had to pay, came to Peter and reminded him that Jesus had not paid it (Mat. 17:24-27).  Our Lord instructed Peter to go and catch a fish in the lake and take from its mouth the exact amount needed for the tax, viz., a “stater,” or two half-shekels.  “That take,” said our Lord, “and give unto them for Me and thee.”  This discourse provides us proof that for sure Peter, and possibly even more of the Disciples of our Lord, were some over 20 years of age.  See my Bible Commentary on Matthew 17:24 & 17:25-26.

 

 

 

B) THE ONES OWNING A HOUSE

 

 

That we can possibly establish the Apostle John as being the youngest can be evidenced by the fact that he lived until about 96 A.D. (when the Book of Revelation was written; although some of the others, being martyred, exempts us from establishing their ages based upon how long they would have lived).  96 A.D. would be 65 years after the death of Jesus.  People in those days rarely, if ever, lived to be 80 years old (information provided by historian Rob J. Hyndman), and at the least, this would make John to be about at the least 77, and at the most 85; but more likely 80.  However, just because tradition holds that John was the youngest, the Bible is unclear to that presumption.  Martyrdom of the Disciples has held their ages from us.

 

Matthew 17:24-27, may also provide us with a definitive clue.  In this passage, Jesus and Peter pay the “temple tax.”  This tax was required to be paid by every man aged 20 years and older (see Exodus 30:13-14).  However, the other Disciples do not seem to have had to pay the “temple tax.”  Therefore, it is possible that they were still in their teenage years.  Also, “a piece of money,” Matthew 17:27, according to “Thayer’s Greek Definitions,” is “a silver stater equal to four Attic or two Alexandrian drachmas, a Jewish shekel.”  Also, according to historian David Paul Kirkpatrick, this would only be enough money to pay for two men.  In other words, Jesus and Peter.

 

Speaking of Peter, he was married and owned a “house” Matthew 8:14, which our Lord went to, only to find Peter’smother-in-law to be sick.  The age of marriage I will discuss later.  To own a “house,” one was usually 17 or older.  Therefore, for Peter to be 20 or older would not be unreasonable.  However, Peter is not the only one spoken of as owning a “house.”  In John 19:27, we learn of Jesus giving the care of His mother over to John, who owned a house (see DG:57; 3SP:160-161).  Therefore, John may have been closer to the age of Peter then we think, possibly 22 at this time (being 19 when starting his ministry with our Lord), and as such, not necessarily the youngest.  Lastly, there is Matthew, who also owned a house (See Luke 5:29).  Others may have also owned a “house,” but these are the only ones we find record of.

 

 

C) OCCUPATIONS

 

 

Some may argue that a few of the Disciples already had well established jobs, such as being fisherman, which would include Peter, Andrew, James and John, and the tax-collector Matthew.  However, Jewish schooling of those days normally ended at 12 years of age, and males began working at the age of 12 (information provided by historian Rob J. Hyndman), or 13.  This would have given them plenty of time to still be very young when joining with Jesus.  No information can be found in history to provide us with an age for a tax collector; while 13 was normal for fishermen to become employed, even if it was their fathers business, they would still become paid employees.  Even Jesus, after His loss for three days in the Temple by His parents, being 12 at the time, may have become employed as a carpenter upon becoming 13 years old.  The fact that the Rabbi’s were even listening to Him, indicates that they considered a 12-year-old to be of adequate age to teach.

 

 

D) MASTER AND MARRIAGE

 

 

It is not well expressed in our English Versions, when attempting to translate the Greek word for “Master,” which is “didaskalos,” the fact that when the Disciples referred to, or called our Lord, “Master,” what the Greek expressed better is that they were really calling Him “School-Master.”  Other translations attempt to bring in this understanding of the Greek better by translating the word as, “Teacher.”  Either way, it wasn’t until later on in their relationship with Jesus, that “Master” began to take upon itself a more Divine nature to it (check the contextual evidence around the word in your own studies).  An example would be Matthew 23:12, where the Greek word for “Master” changes to “kathegetes.”  I mention this because that would make most of the Disciples 13 to 18 years old when they began calling our Lord, “School-Master.”

 

However, in Luke, Chapter 11, our Lord is asked specifically by one of the Disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray,” verse 1.  And still speaking directly to His Disciples, Christ states in verse 11, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?”  Here we can correctly denote that some were already fathers, possibly for sure, Peter.  According to Jewish custom at the time [see “McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia,” s.v. “Marriage”], eighteen was considered the proper time for Jewish men to be already married, because 17 was generally when they married.  In a side note, the “Talmud” “forbade marriage in the case of a man under thirteen years and a day.”

 

Another thing to understand about the Greek and the times of Jesus, is that being called a “Disciple” really meant, “learner,” or “pupil.”  A great example would be a literal translation of Matthew 10:24, which would read, “A pupil is not above his school-master.”  Again, this makes most of the Disciples around 13-18 years of age.  Other examples would be Mark 4:34:  “Privately to His Own pupils He expounded all things,” and Mark 9:31:  He taught His pupils and said unto them,” and even better, Luke 11:1:  “Professor [or School-Master], teach us to pray, even as John also taught his students,” and lastly, John 12:16:  “These things His pupils did not understand.”

 

Finally, on the subject of Jewish schools of the time, the “Jewish Encyclopedia,” in, s.v. “Education,” states “that schools for boys six or seven years old were held in all cities,” and then describes what it calls, “district schools,” which were “intended only for youths sixteen or seventeen years of age who could provide for themselves away from home.” This seems to be the best summation of what the true age of most of the Disciples were.

 

 

E) NICKNAMES

 

 

Still others may argue the fact that Jesus never gave Andrew a nickname, which is a fraternal designation, and therefore may mean that he was older than most of the others.  However, that would eliminate the “temple tax” (see above) concept where Peter and Jesus would have had to pay; while also, Jesus did not nickname Philip.  Contrariwise, others still may argue that since Andrew was the first one called, this makes him older.  Good luck with that argument.

 

Since Jewish men received a wife only after the age of 18 (according to historian David Paul Kirkpatrick), Peter may have been the oldest, for he was married (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39; and possibly 1Co. 9:5), while even his brother Andrew was not (or at least no mention of any of the others being married is recorded).  However, Christ’s Words about those that had left children for His sake in Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29; & Luke 18:29, may infer that one or two or more of His Disciples may have been married.

 

In Matthew 20:20 & Mark 10:35, we have a mother coming to ask of Jesus who He should have sit at His right and left hand.  It would hardly be appropriate for an adult man, in that culture, to have his mother be asking such a thing, let alone, any such thing, if these men were already married.

 

 

D) YOUNGER THAN 30

 

 

In Jewish history and tradition, a Rabbi would begin to take upon himself students at or after the age of 30 (according to historian David Paul Kirkpatrick), but not before.  This not only establishes that Jesus was “about thirty years of age,” Luke 3:23, but that all of His chosen Disciples would definitely be younger than Himself.  In John 13:33, Jesuscalls His Disciples, “little children,” although this term can be used of grown men, but not mature upon the subject that the teacher may be speaking.  Whereas, in John 21:5, the literal translation states:  “Children, have ye aught to eat?”  In today’s language we would say, “Boys, do you have anything to eat?”  The point is, Jesus is definitely addressing them as being younger than Himself, and that not just in knowledge.

 

Finally, the fact that Jesus is always concerned about “little children,” and that mostly it was children that followed Him, is an indicator of where we should focus our evangelistic crusades towards.

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