Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Kevin,
> Does the prophecy really work with a generic young woman?  If the child is
> the sign, and it is specifically his age that is important as the end-point
> of the prophecy, wouldn't we need to know which child, and therefore which
> young woman?  
>   

HH: No, we don't need to know any specifics because the timing is in the 
identity of the woman and child. She is an "almah," a young woman, 
presumably a virgin, I think. She needs to get pregnant and have a 
child. That involves a certain temporal calculability, nine months. The 
rest of the immediate timing, or the first part of the prophecy that 
concerns the northern kingdom and Damascus, is given in the next two verses:

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: So the boy has to grow up, but not to the point where he can discern 
good and evil. This is obviously not an exact timing, but it is in the 
ballpark of three to four years, perhaps: pregnancy plus two or more 
years of growth in the child. At age three we are teaching children 
right and wrong in Sunday school, and they can learn it.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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