"Many Christians believe that Isaiah 7:14 is a prophecy of the coming Messiah (Jesus) who will be born of a virgin. The Isaiah passage says,“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (7:14).
Like other scriptural passages, this takes place within a specific historical context. In this case, the prophet Isaiah is addressing king Ahaz of Judah when he and Jerusalem were under attack by the Kingdom of Israel and its ally Aram-Damascus (Syria).
Their goal was to get king Ahaz to join them in an alliance that would unite to fight against the powerful Neo-Assyrian Empire.Nonetheless, Assyria would soon come to king Ahaz’s assistance and destroy the Kingdom of Israel and Syria.
Before this, however, Isaiah promised Ahaz that God would destroy his enemies, and, as a sign that what he said would come true, the prophet predicted that an almah (the Hebrew word for a woman of childbearing age) would give birth to a child.
The child’s name would be Immanuel which translates to “God is with us,” and that the threat from the enemy kings would be ended before the child grows up. This historical setting is important to consider."
