Letter 72: Vitalis had asked Jerome Is Scripture credible when it tells us that Solomon and Ahaz became fathers at the age of eleven? The difficulty had previously occurred to Jerome himself (Letter XXXVI. 10, whence perhaps Vitalis took it) and in this letter he suggests several ways in which it may be met.
Letter 72: To Vitalis, On Young Fathers in Scripture (398 AD)
[Vitalis had asked Jerome a question that sounds whimsical but actually touches on biblical chronology: does Scripture really claim that Solomon and Ahaz became fathers at the age of eleven? Jerome had flagged this problem himself years earlier (in Letter 36) and now offers several possible solutions. He is perfectly prepared, if necessary, to accept the claim at face value: "There are many things in Scripture that sound incredible and yet are true, for nature cannot resist the Lord of nature." But he is also inclined to think the question trivial, not worth losing sleep over. The tone is characteristic: simultaneously learned and dismissive.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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