-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Isaiah Chapter 7. Virgin Birth.
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 17:49:01 +0800
From: "Nigel Mitchell" <>
Organization: St George
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
References: <>


On Tue, 25 May 1999 16:47:10 +0800, Able wrote
(in message <>):

 
> Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin 
> shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 
> 
> In Matthew we have a referral to this prophesy fulfilled. Mat 1:22 Now all 
> this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by 
> the prophet, saying, 
> 
> Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, 
> and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with 
> us. 
> 
> There has been some measure of controversy raised regarding this quote from 
> Isaiah 7:14, primarily because the Hebrew word Almah can be translated as 
> either a virgin or just a young woman 
> 
>   In this context, clearly Almah indicates a virgin, because the Old 
> Testament never uses the word in a context other than "virgin" and because 
> the Septuagint translates it categorically "virgin" . 

Haven't we been through all this before?

In the Hebrew Bible:
Almah is used to mean "young woman" in the following verses:
Genesis 24:43, Exodus 2:8, (Isaiah 7:14), and Proverbs 30:19.  Isaiah
7:14 is 
the only occurence where it _might_ mean Virgin, but the context makes
this 
translation very unlikely.

In the Septuagint:
Parthenos (Greek) is used to mean "young woman" or "girl" in the
following 
passages:
Genesis 24:13, 43 (Almah), 55, (Isaiah 7:14), Jeremiah 2:32.

The same word is used to mean "Virgin" in Genesis 24:16, Deuteronomy
22:23, 
Judges 19:24, 2 Samuel 13:2, 2 Kings 19:21, 4 Maccabees 18:7, Amos 5:2,
(Isaiah 
7:14), 37:22, 47:1, Jeremiah 18:13, 31:4, 21, Lamentations 2:13. 

Of all of these verses only Genesis 24:16, Deuteronomy 22:23, Judges
19:24, 1 
Samuel 13:2, and 4 Maccabees 18:7 (5 out of 20 occurences, if I have
counted 
correctly) mean literally "virgin = woman who has not had sexual
intercourse".

The closest English equivalent to both words, Almah in Hebrew and
Parthenos in 
Greek, is "girl". Except in some of the prophetic passages, where the
term 
"Virgin Israel" gives the poetic sense, "girl" is the best translation
in all 
of the above passages - and does not do great violence to the sense of
Matthew 
and Luke's accounts of the Nativity either.

>  Considering that the Septuagint was written centuries before the birth of 
> Jesus, we can be assured that the Jews understood that this was what was 
> meant by the context of Isaiah 7. 

The Septuagint is a translation. It was completed no more than 150 years
before 
the time of Jesus.

In translating Isaiah 7:14 "parthenos" they wrote "a girl shall conceive
and 
bear a son..." Hebrew scholars have taught since before the time of
Jesus that 
this prophecy was fulfilled in Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz. Modern
historians and 
biblical scholars have worked out that it is likely that Hezekiah was
already 
alive at the time of the prophecy, and it was more likely a reference to
the 
son of Isaiah, one Maher-shalal-hashbaz. 

Once the issues of translation are properly understood, there are two
distinct 
issues here.

1. The intention of the prophecy, which contains in the surrounding
verses a 
sense of urgency, that it would be (was) fulfilled at the time.

2. The understanding of Matthew, Luke and the early Church that Jesus
fulfilled 
the prophecy in their own time.

There should be no great difficulty in holding that both of these things
are 
true, or at least likely.

cheers

-- 

N+

Nigel B. Mitchell