Dr. Mohler’s recent re-post of his article Must We Believe the Virgin Birth? had me thinking on this issue. Over the centuries post-Enlightenment, thinkers have used the doctrine of the virgin birth from evidence of mythologized Christianity to proof of Christ’s divinity. Mohler defended the necessity of the doctrine of the virgin birth to the Christian faith, and I will refer the Christian reader questioning if they must hold to this doctrine to his article. In this essay, I will map out the prophecy, fulfillment of, and importance of this doctrine from a biblical standpoint. An important question that demands an answer is does the Bible truly prophesy that the Messiah will be born of a virgin? The answer to this question is of ultimate value for or against the truth claims of Jesus of Nazareth.
Isaiah 7:14 in the English Standard Version reads: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” A few things to deliberate here: is this passage speaking of something near or far future from Isaiah, is this son literal or figurative, and is the word for “virgin” translated appropriately? In this first part of the series, we will discuss the translation challenges for the word "virgin" followed by the other two in upcoming articles. This will be a four-part series that will likely take a few months to gather. Patience please!
Let us first deal with the word translated “virgin.” This is the most controversial aspect of Isaiah 7:14; thus, needs to be addressed first. The word in Hebrew is הָעַלְמָה (ha-almah). The word is singular prefixed with ה (ha), correctly translated “the”. The word “the” is important theologically because of the prophecy as a whole. The promised child is thus singular, and a specific person (or event if thinking allegorically, which I contend is incorrect) is referenced here. In other words, this is not “a virgin will soon be pregnant,” but rather “THE virgin will be pregnant.” This makes the beloved NASB translation incorrect.
Now, what about almah, is this translated to be “virgin” correctly? The Tanakh (Jewish Scripture) translates the word as "young woman." The word itself is utilized in other areas of the Old Testament as a young woman of marriageable age. The age group is from puberty to consummation. Rebekah is referenced in Genesis 24:43. The word for “virgin” is quite fitting in this context, especially considering verse 16, suggesting this almah no man had known (a “virgin” or בְּתוּלָה, betulah). This is a fitting woman for Isaac to marry, a girl of marrying age that is a virgin. The author appears to use the words almah and betulah interchangeably. Now, Jewish scholars might suggest that the usage of almah in 43 is to avoid repetition from betulah in 16. This is a point I read from around the web, and I must sit back and scratch my head wondering how this is supposed to be linguistic evidence that almah does not mean “virgin.” If the author was avoiding redundancy, then the author presumes the original word betulah in almah. In other words, in so far as this passage goes, the usage of the two words is seen as synonymous, not in contradiction. Therefore, almah can mean “virgin” if the context calls for it.
Another usage of the word almah is found in Exodus 2:8. The Pharaoh’s daughter finds the baby Moses in the river, and Miriam asks if she should find a Hebrew to nurse the child. The Pharaoh’s daughter tells her to go, then the Scripture reads “And the maiden (הָעַלְמָה) went and called the child’s mother.” Miriam (likely referenced here as the maiden) apparently was a young woman not yet married. In this usage of almah, the woman referenced here is in the age group as described, yet the context does not give information regarding sexual purity. I provide this information to show that the meaning of almah is a woman of the age group post puberty yet before marriage. Thus, the context of the passage enlightens the reader to the full definition of the word. Isolated, almah simply means young woman of marrying age. Yet, the context of the use of the word may mean “virgin” as argued above. However, the context of this passage also does not suggest Miriam was not a virgin. A thought to consider. In fact, as Martin Luther pointed out, in every case of the Old Testament, the use of almah never refers to a married woman or a sexually impure woman.
Let us return to the passage at hand. Isaiah’s usage of almah is to be correctly translated as “virgin.” First, the use of the word with הָרָה (harah), meaning “soon to be pregnant.” Why would this information be given if this was just some young woman of marrying age? A sign from God ushered in with the word הִנֵּה (hinnah), translated “behold”, shows the reader that something extraordinary is about to occur. A young woman that is about to be pregnant could mean anyone, or shall I say THE young woman. A young woman that is about to be pregnant is not a sign, but a common occurrence. A virgin about to be pregnant then bearing a son is a sign, a miraculous sign. Thus, the context of almah in Isaiah 7:14 is referring to the virgin getting pregnant and having a son as a sign, not simply a young woman giving birth which would be too insignificant to be a sign. Second, the word almah in the Greek Septuagint, that is the Greek translation of the Old Testament prior to Jesus, is translated to παρθενος, which only means “virgin.” Lastly, Matthew, a Levite, uses παρθενος in reference to Isaiah. Matthew was a Hebrew speaker, and would know that mistranslating this word to the Greek would be destructive to the Hebrew readers, especially if they are from the diaspora. The Jews of the diaspora would immediately see the abuse of the language from Isaiah 7:14 and reject Matthew’s writings outright. However, this did not occur, and Matthew quoted this passage from Hebrew to Greek as he saw appropriate as a Hebrew speaker.
Given the context as well as other uses of the word, ha-almah is appropriately translated as “the virgin.” Next time, I will consider whether or not Isaiah 7:14 is a near or far future prophecy from Isaiah’s time.
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