IN DEFENSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH
Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which
means, God with us).
Matthew 1:23 [NRSV]
In the biblical passage quoted above, Saint Matthew is quoting from the Old Testament Book of the prophet Isaiah. It is a quote from the “sign” Isaiah gave to King Ahaz in Isaiah 7:14. The Greek Septuagint translation, in use during Jesus’ lifetime, translates the Hebrew words ha almah into the Greek as “the virgin,” using the Greek word parthenos. Since the Christian era Jewish scholars have maintained that the Hebrew word almah does not mean “virgin” but instead refers to a young woman recently married. The Septuagint translation of this Hebrew word as “virgin,” however, is an important witness to an early Jewish interpretation of this word as “virgin”, a translation accepted by Saint Matthew and applied to the virgin birth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Saint Matthew, who was a Levite and therefore, because of his Temple education understood how to both read and write Hebrew, clearly understood that the interpretation of the prophetic words “ha almah” in Isaiah 7:14 to refer to “the virgin” since he links that prophetic utterance to Mary of Nazareth and Jesus’ virgin birth in Matthew 1:23. In the book Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary’s Queenship, author Edward Sri notes on page 140 that the Hebrew word almah is used 9 times in the Old Testament, however, he does not list those passages. I could only find 7 references to almah: 1). Genesis 24:43; 2). Exodus 2:8; 3). Isaiah 7:14; 4). Song of Songs 1:3; 5). 6:8; 6). Psalms 68:25; and 7). Proverbs 30:19. In each case the Hebrew word almah explicitly means “virgin” or implies it; in each case almah always refers to an unmarried woman of good reputation. It is never used to refer to a married woman in Scripture. In Genesis 24:43 the word is used for Rebekah, Isaac’s future bride. The passage also records that she had never been with a man [24:16]. In Exodus 2:8 almah describes the infant Moses’ older sister Miriam. In Psalms 68:25 almah describes maidens being courted, in Proverbs 30:19 almah is used to suggest the mystery of marriage and procreation—a virgin giving herself to a man; and in Song of Songs 1:3 and 6:8 the Hebrew word almah is applied to virgins of the royal court as opposed to women who are sexually experienced.
The Jews maintain that the word bethula is the Hebrew word for “virgin.” It is true that this word is also used for a girl or young woman, and in the passage about the young Rebekah, both bethula and almah are used [see Genesis 24:16 = bethula; 24:43 = almah]. However, while bethula may refer to a virgin, it is also used in the Old Testament Scriptures to refer to a young married or sexually active woman as it is in Joel 1:8 [bethula is found at least 50 times in Scripture]. Some translations in English render this passage “as a virgin bride in sackcloth mourns for the bridegroom of her youth,” accepting the revised Jewish rendering of the word bethula, but bridegrooms have brides and brides are no longer virgins. If this passage was referring to a betrothed young woman and not a young woman whose marriage is already consummated, the Hebrew would have been bethula meorasah [The Book of Isaiah, Edward Young, volume I, page 288]. Also, in later Aramaic translations of Scripture the Aramaic equivalent to bethula refers to a married woman. Isaiah did not use the word bethula because he did not want to confuse his readers—his prophetic statement clearly intends us to understand that “the virgin” with child is the force of the sign—the use of the words ha almah are deliberate [for more information on the use of bethula and almah see The Book of Isaiah, Edward Young, volume I, Edermans Publishing, 1996, pages 286-288].
In defense of Isaiah 7:14 being applied by St. Matthew to Mary and Jesus in Matthew 1:23, the Protestant leader Martin Luther pledged to a pay a hundred pieces of gold [gulden] to the scholar who could show any passage where almah referred to a married woman in the Old Testament. So far, to my knowledge, no one has collected on the pledge [The Book of Isaiah, Edward Young, volume I, page 287, note 35].
Michal Hunt, copyright 2006