More from Judaism;
The answer is simply - This passage in Isaiah isn’t speaking about the Messiah or a virgin birth.
''Let’s begin by examining the context of the seventh chapter of Isaiah. In the same way that America and Korea were divided into North and South during their Civil wars, at this point in Jewish history the Jewish nation was divided into two kingdoms,
[2] known as the Southern Kingdom of Judea and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Each kingdom had its own capital, king and enemies.
The Southern Kingdom of Judea had its capital in Jerusalem and was ruled by King Ahaz. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had its capital in Samaria and was ruled by King Pekah. To the north of both these kingdoms was a third, non-Jewish ruler, King Resin of Aram (Syria) whose capital was Damascus.
God dispatched the prophet Isaiah and one of his sons to warn King Ahaz that the northern kingdom had formed an alliance with this King Rezin They had joined forces to “
wage war against Jerusalem.” Isaiah tells King Ahaz (verse 4) that he should not be afraid because God will be with him and the invasion with fail. Additionally, within 65 years the northern kingdom will cease to exist and its 10 tribes would be led into exile by Assyria. This is where the idea of ten lost tribes originates.
Although Ahaz was an evil king, God would continue to protect Jerusalem in the merit of his righteous predecessors. When Ahaz ignores Isaiah’s warning the prophet tells him to request a sign from God. After Ahaz refuses this offer, Isaiah informs him that God will give him a sign despite his stubbornness. He tells King Ahaz that “
The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold the Almah (הָעַלְמָה
shall conceive and give birth to a son and she shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
Mistranslation
The word Almah has been mistranslated by most Christians as “
virgin.” In truth, this word means "
young woman." Additionally, the definite article (Ha-ה
means "
the" and indicates that the prophet is speaking about a specific woman who he can point to. Interestingly when Matthew quotes this passage he not only mistranslates “
young woman” as “
virgin” but, to deflect the reference from a specific woman standing before Isaiah, he intentionally mistranslates
“the young woman” as “
a virgin.” To prove that “
Almah” does in fact mean "
a virgin" missionaries fallaciously assert that this word is used 7 times in the bible and that it always refers to a woman who is a virgin.
First, those who translate Isaiah 7:14 as “
virgin” inconsistently translate the other six places a as “
maiden or young woman” revealing their intentional mistranslation. The word “
Almah” should always be translated as “
a young woman.” This word alone does not teach us anything about her sexual status. It simply informs us that she is young. This is also true of the masculine form of the word “Almah” which is the Hebrew word (Alem
עָלֶם) which means "a
young man", as in the following examples:
“
Whose son is this young man (הָעָלֶם)”
Samuel I (17:56)
“
If I say thus to the young man”
Samuel I (20:22)
In both cases the word “
Alem” only teaches that this man is young, it gives no indication of his sexual status, which by men is indiscernible. The Hebrew bible has a completely different word for virgin. The specific Hebrew word is (Betulah – בְּתּוּלָה
. This word has no masculine form and indicates the physical sexual status of a woman. It is always translated as “
virgin.” For example: “
the girl was very beautiful, a virgin (בְּתּוּלָה, and no man had had any relations with her”
Genesis 24:16
“
I took the woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her a virgin (בְּתּוּלָה”
Deut 22:14
“
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh 400 young virgins that had known no man.”
Judges 21:12
These verses show us that the word "
Betulah" means "
a virgin who has not had physical relations with a man," regardless of her age. She could be 100 years old or 18 years old. If Isaiah had wanted to tell us the physical status of the woman he would have used the specific word “
Betulah,” a word he was familiar with and uses in his writings (see Isaiah 47:1). Missionary are incorrect when they claim that whenever the word “
Almah” is used it is referring to a young woman who is also a virgin.
[3] Here are some examples where it cannot mean a virgin: “
There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines and young women (Almot) without number, my dove my undefiled is but one, she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice of her that bore her,”
Song of Songs 6:8-9
“
There are three things which are to wonderful for me, yes, four which I know not. The way of the eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea and the way of a man with a young woman (Almah). Likewise, the way of an adulterous woman, she eats, and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong’.”
Proverbs 30:18-20
The common characteristic: “
the way” is that they all leave no trace, just like an adulterous woman who claims she has done nothing wrong, and
there is no trace of her act, so too the eagle leaves no trace in the air, a snake leaves no trace on a rock, a ship leaves no trace in the midst of the sea, so too the young woman (Almah) with a man leaves no sign which is not the case of a virgin
who leaves a sign of blood called
“the token of her virginity”
Deuteronomy 21:15-19.
We also see this in the verse: “
Bring out the evidence of the girl's virginity”
Deuteronomy 22:15
Missionaries attempt to prove that “
Almah” means a “
virgin” by referring to an ancient Greek translation of the Bible, called the
Septuagint, which was carried out by 70 rabbis approximately 165 years before Jesus. They claim that in Isaiah 7:14 the word “
Almah” is translated as the Greek “
parthenos” which they claim means virgin.
Problems with this claim:
First, the Septuagint also translates the Hebrew word (Narah-נַעַרָ-maiden) in Genesis 34:3 as “
parthenos-Παρθένος-.”
“
...Shechem...took her and lay with her by force. And his soul was drawn to her ...and he loved the maiden (Narah -הנער, and he spoke to the heart of the maiden (Narah- הנער.”
Genesis 34:2‑3
In context, this passage is speaking about Dinah the daughter of Jacob, after she was raped by a non-Jew know as Shechem. Obviously, she was not a virgin and we cannot rely on the Septuagint’s inaccurate translation.
Secondly, according to both Jewish and Greek traditions, (see Babylonian Talmud Megila 9a and Aristeos' letter to King Ptolemy) the Septuagint translation attributed to the 70 Rabbi’s was exclusively the Five Books of Moses and did not include the Prophets and the Holy writings, thereby distancing itself from any Greek translation of Isaiah.
Additionally, there are no original copies of the Septuagint. Today’s versions are taken from second and third century manuscripts that had been corrupted by non-Jewish writers. That is why the introduction to the Zondervan Septuagint points out that "
the Pentateuch is considered to be the best executed, while the book of Isaiah appears to be the worst.”
Numerous Christian translations like The New Revised Standard Version recognize this mistake and correctly translate “
Almah” as “
the young woman.” Whether the woman mentioned by Isaiah is a virgin is completely irrelevant. How would anyone know without doing a physical examine and even then, this is not absolute proof.
Examining the Hebrew more closely we note that the Hebrew verbs for “
conceived – harah” and “
will give birth – yoledet” are used throughout scriptures to refer to natural conceptions and birth, as in, “
And man new his wife and she conceived (tahar) and bore (taled) and bore Cain”
Genesis 4:1 These are the same verbs used in Isaiah 7:14 and refer to a natural birth. The sign mentioned in
Isaiah 7:14 has nothing to do with a miraculous birth.
In context Isaiah is speaking about a specific young woman who will become pregnant during the life time of Isaiah and King Ahaz. A miraculous virgin birth that supposedly took place over 560 years later would be irrelevant to Ahaz, who required a sign prior to an imminent military invasion.
Christians attempt to avoid this problem by claiming that this is a “
double level prophesy” that happens both during the time of Ahaz and again in the time of Jesus. If Christians want to believe that the word Almah means a virgin and simultaneously claim a “
double level prophesy” they would have to believe that a virgin birth took place in the time of Ahaz. However, this never occurred and would also contradict the claim that Jesus’ virgin birth is unique.''
https://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/isaiah-714-a-virgin-birth/
