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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Almah vs. Bethulah in Isaiah 7

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  • From: Evgeny Ivanov <evi7538 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Almah vs. Bethulah in Isaiah 7
  • Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 06:15:08 -0800 (PST)

It's interesting that the argument of early christians
was exactly the opposite - the Is.7.14 is a message of
prophesy.

>However, the author draws no particular
> attention to this amazing fact

"For this reason the sovereign master himself will
give you a confirming sign". If the message is just a
routine birth by a young women, then what is this
phophesy about, what is the sign?

Evgeny

--- tladatsi AT charter.net wrote:
> It is the case that both the Hebrew word *almah* and
> the
> Greek word *parthenos* have two meanings, either a
> woman of
> any age who has never had sexual relations or simply
> a
> young woman of marriageable age. It is not that
> different
> from other languages, e.g. German (Jungfrau vs.
> Junge
> Frau). The word by itself can have either meaning
> or both
> at the same time. The only way to determine the
> intended
> meaning is by the context.
>
> For me, the key contextual element is it is not all
> unusual
> for a young woman to give birth to a baby but it is
> completely unheard of in the OT for a virgin to give
> birth.
> Nowhere else in the OT does such an event occur. If
> the
> author of Isaiah had meant that the mother of
> l)wnmm( was a
> virgin, an unexpected, unprecedented, and miraculous
> event,
> it would be reasonable for the author to call
> attention to
> this fact. However, the author draws no particular
>
> attention to this amazing fact. It is stated as a
> flat
> fact and not mentioned again. This would suggest
> that the
> author was not attempting to describe something
> unusual.
>
> The second contextual element is how the rest of the
> text
> handles the same issue. Isaiah uses the word
> *bethulah*
> (hlwtb) in other settings where the author clearly
> means
> virgin (Isa 23:12, Isa 37.22, Isa 62.5). Both of
> these
> contextual elements would suggest that the author of
> Isaiah
> had meant in 7:18 a routine birth by a young women
> rather
> than miraculous birth by a virgin.
>
>
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