Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew

Raymond de Hoop rdehoop at tref.nl
Mon Jan 29 10:58:47 EST 2001


No doubt the question why Matthew read Isaiah 7:14 in the way he did, is 
interesting. However, in that case we are dealing with the "historyof 
interpretation", some 700 years after Isaiah spoke these words, and 
notwith philology. It seems more appropriate to follow Jonathan's 
suggestion to read the text first in context (litteral and historical): 
Isaiah promised a sign to Ahaz, so if Isaiah would have referred 
exclusively to a messiah 700 years later, it was a pity for Ahaz but he 
never would have seen thepromise being fulfilled. It stands to reason 
that Isaiah's words were meantto have a message for the people of his 
own time....

Raymond

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Dr Raymond de Hoop	   Telephone: ++31-(0)50 553 0115
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The Netherlands		   E-mail:    rdehoop at tref.nl

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