Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JoeWallack AT aol.com]

In a message dated 6/3/2007 9:24:28 PM Central Daylight Time,  
hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net writes:
 
[Responding to JW question of how use of the Hebrew definite article could  
be translated as indefinite in English for 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




JW:
Thank you for the long response. I think the starting point here is a/the  
reason for the use of the definite article in 7:14. I'm still assuming that 
you  
agree that use of the Hebrew definite article always indicates the Definite 
in  Hebrew in some sense. Assuming you agree with this, rather than my 
guessing, can  you please tell me in what sense you think the Hebrew usage of 
the 
Definite  article here indicates something definite?
 
 
Joseph
 



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