Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dan Wagner <Dan.Wagner AT datastream.net>]

TODAY:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jason Hare 
> Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 16:09
> 
> Fellow Listers,
> 
> I'm just wondering what significance there could be in the 
> fact that Isaiah
> 7.14 uses HFRFH (harah), apparently an adjective ("pregnant, 
> with child")
> when speaking of HF`ALMAH (ha`almah).  It would be in 
> predicate position
> ("the young woman [is/was/will be] pregnant...").  What do 
> you make of it??

AND RECENTLY:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Richards [mailto:jhr AT universalist.worldonline.co.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 14:42
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: "out of Egypt" not a proof text (Hos 11)
> 
>
> "Behold a VIRGIN shall conceive . . . " ?? If he was such a 
> good OT scholar,
> why did he not realise that the LXX here was a bad 
> translation?! Anyway,
> since there is no "antitype" of a virgin birth in the Jewish 
> scriptures, how
> can this be a "type"? Matthew clearly intends it as a direct 
> prophecy of a
> unique miraculous event.

For Jason, we would normally assume "is" in the verbless clause, which
doesn't indicate time by itself. The future idea comes from the context of a
sign that is promised to those beyond the Ahaz of that moment. It is not
presented as a far-away event by the language, but by the context (i.e.,
that Ahaz rejected it, so it was no longer to "you" singular, but now to
"you" plural, _LAKEM_, referring to the "house of David" for the remote
future, v. 13). 

Since "sign" _)OT_ often indicates a miracle as Isaiah uses it in 38:6-7 as
a sign for deliverance from enemies, and since it's a "sign" as "deep as
Sheol or as high as the heights" in context (v. 11), and since Ahaz's
problem is lack of faith in divine ability to do the impossible by
protection from the enemy apart from man-made methods, and since it is
Adonai "Himself" who emphasize his special divine intervention of power in
this matter, and since the phrase is prefixed with _HINNEH_ as the Hebrew
exclamation point to introduce something outstanding, and since (ALMAH never
indicates anything except a "young virgin" in Hebrew usage (with which
Ugaritic is consistent), and since it's probably from the root _(ML_ meaning
"to conceal" as an antonym to _GLH_ "to reveal/uncover" (used of sexual
intercourse), and since _BeTULAH_ cannot be the Hebrew word exclusively for
"virgin" as it is used of the sexually experienced such as widows (Joel 1:8;
Est. 2:17; cf. Job 31:1) and requires explicit qualifying statements to
indicate its reference to a virgin or youth, and since HA(ALMAH has the
definite article indicating a "unique referent" or at least someone specific
rather than just "any old girl," and since the LXX translated it as
_parthenos_ ("virgin") long before Christ or post-Jesus Christian
interpretation came (and the LXX translator[s] of Isaiah were rather astute
in there knowledge of Hebrew as compared to some other portions of the LXX),
and since it could not be something directly relevant to Ahaz's time because
he rejected the sign so that it would be relevant only for the deliverance
of the Davidic "house" of the future (as i noted above), and since the
following context refers to the child eating "curds and honey" due to the
non-sovereignty of Israel in a future time of foreign occupation, national
distress, and non-productivity (vv 15-25, like under Rome), and since the
child would be uniquely named as "God-with-us"--a divine title, and since
virgins don't get pregnant or give birth apart from divine intervention,
(and since Matthew says this refers to Jesus' birth in consolation to Joseph
in view of his concern for Mary's apparent sexual infidelity), then Isaiah's
intent is to refer to a unique, miraculous birth of a Person of Divine
Imminence.

But of course some will not accept such a conclusion regardless of the
evidence, and will attempt to go through and disprove each of my points with
any conceivable stretch of interpretation in order to avoid what Isaiah
intended. But there is, indubitably, a purpose for all such things.

Dan Wagner