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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Definite Article 7:14
  • Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:24:24 -0500

Dear Joseph,
You would agree I assume that the Hebrew definite article always indicates the definite per Hebrew. An English translation of the indefinite would be the exception. If it's unlear what the related English should be than it probably should be translated as definite. Only providing a general exception to the definite translation does not force an indefinite translation for English where you think it might aply to a specific passage. You need to demonstrate WHY the translation should be indefinite in English.
"The article may also mark nouns definite in the imagination, designating either a particular person or thing necessarily understood to be present or vividly portraying someone or something whose identity is not otherwise indicated"
How do you apply this than to 7:14?
HH: I would apply it to Isa 7:14 because there is no specific person in view. There were many virgins, so unless the context indicates a particular one, it seems best to translate the Hebrew as an indefinite. The context does not indicate any specific virgin, and one is not really needed. The woman could be a nameless person in Israel known to the Lord but not to the king and his court. The prophecy about the virgin particularly signals the time when the northern coalition will be defeated (Isa 7:14-16):

Is. 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Is. 7:15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.
Is. 7:16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

HH: This prophecy gives a more narrow time frame than the one Isaiah had mentioned earlier:

Is. 7:6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
Is. 7:7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘It will not take place, it will not happen,
Is. 7:8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

HH: Isaiah says that by the time a virgin/young woman conceives, bears a child named Immanuel, and raises him until he is almost old enough to judge good from evil, the northern coalition will be defeated. This could imply that a marriage would have to intervene. But it is only a few years. Isaiah's prophecy also seems hopeful, because the birth of the child with the name "God is with us" is linked to the defeat of the northern kingdom. Isaiah's linkage of the two events could imply that the victory came by God's favor.

HH: The NIV Study Bible assumes that the northern coalition attacked about 735/734 B.C. Damascus was defeated by Tiglath-Pilesar in 732 B.C., as was Ephraim. The fall of Ephraim was in 722 B.C. So these events were all within the reign of Ahaz, which has received varying dates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahaz

Albright: 735 BC – 715 BC
Thiele: 732 BC – 716 BC
Galil: 742 BC – 726 BC

HH: Whatever the exact dates, Isa 7:14-16 is much more accurate than the earlier figure in 7:6-8 and describes events that occur prior to the Assyrian defeats of Ephraim and Damascus. The hopeful tone of the prophecy is really ironic in a number of ways, but specifically because God sent Isaiah to dissuade Ahaz from trusting Assyria rather than the Lord. This defeat of Ephraim at Assyria's hands would come due to Ahaz's disregard for God's words and would lead to catastrophe for the southern kingdom as Assyria invaded it. So the woman and her son's name play a sort of iconic role. They represent the young life of Israel, its families, and its faith in God, and yet doom would ultimately befall them because of Ahaz's disobedience.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard







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