Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 08/06/2007 22:46, kenneth greifer wrote:
> Joe,
>    
>   What exactly are you trying to prove by discussing the definite article in Isaiah 7:14? I don't see how it makes a big difference if it means "the" or "a" young woman or virgin or whatever people want to think it means.
>    
>   
Kenneth, it does make a big difference, as I would have thought you 
would realise if you are interested in "messianic mistakes" as suggested 
by your domain name. If the article in Isaiah 7:14 implies that the 
young woman or virgin was someone personally known to Isaiah (as I think 
it probably does), then any exegesis or translation which implies that 
this some kind of a reference to the birth of the Messiah is a 
"messianic mistake". That is not to suggest that later writers were 
wrong to claim this as somehow prophetically prefiguring the birth of 
the Messiah, but only that the primary referent about whom Isaiah wrote 
was not the Messiah's mother but a woman in his own time.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://www.qaya.org/blog/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/