The Nativity Story

Reviewed by Michelle L. Thurlow

1. Apparently, a "Jewish custom in Joseph and Mary's day recognized a state called 'betrothal' that fell somewhere between our modern commitments of engagement and marriage. A betrothal was more binding than an engagement: it could only be broken with an act of divorce. And if a betrothed woman became pregnant, she was regarded as an adulteress." Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford, eds., The New Student Bible NIV. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 857.