Isa 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Now insert your interpretation- Therefore the Lord shall give you a sign; Behold a young woman shall conceive and bear a son. Young women conceive and bear children every day. What kind of sign is that?
Notice this...
Therefore Hashem Himself shall give you an ot (sign); Hinei, HaAlmah (the unmarried young virgin) shall conceive, and bear Ben, and shall call Shmo Immanu El (G-d is with us)
Isa 7:14 ThereforeH3651 Adv lā·ḵên לָ֠כֵן will giveH5414 H8799 V-Qal-Imperf-3ms yit·tên יִתֵּ֨ן the LordH136 N-proper-ms ’ă·ḏō·nāy אֲדֹנָ֥י HeH1931 Pro-3ms hū ה֛וּא youH0 Prep+2mp lā·ḵem לָכֶ֖ם a sign;H226 N-cs ’ō·wṯ א֑וֹת behold,H2009 Interjection hin·nêh הִנֵּ֣ה the virginH5959 Art+N-fs hā·‘al·māh הָעַלְמָ֗ה N1 shall become pregnantH2030 Adj-fs hā·rāh הָרָה֙ and bearH3205 H8802 Conj-w+V-Qal-Prtcpl-fs wə·yō·le·ḏeṯ וְיֹלֶ֣דֶת a Son,H1121 N-ms bên בֵּ֔ן and shall callH7121 H8804 Conj-w+V-Qal-ConjPerf-3fs wə·qā·rāṯ וְקָרָ֥את His nameH8034 N-msc+3ms šə·mōw שְׁמ֖וֹ -H6005 No-morph ‘im·mā·nū עִמָּ֥נוּ Immanuel.H6005 N-proper-ms ’êl אֵֽל׃ N2
Not just any kind of Almah, but THE--Definite Article--Almah--Clearly, irrefutable, to Mary.............
A virgin; strictly and properly so called. The Jews, that they may obscure this plain text, and weaken this proof of the truth of Christian religion, pretend that this Hebrew word signifies a young woman, and not a virgin. But this corrupt translation is easily confuted,
1. Because this word constantly signifies a virgin in all other places of Scripture where it is used, which are Gen_24:43, compared with Isa_7:16 Exo_2:8 Psa_68:25 Son_1:3 6:8; to which may be added Pro_30:19,........
The way of a man with a maid, or a virgin: for though it be supposed that he did design and desire to corrupt her, and afterwards did so; yet she may well be called a virgin, partly because he found her a virgin, and partly because she seemed and pretended to others to be such, which made her more careful to use all possible arts to preserve her reputation, and so made the discovery of her impure conversation with the man more difficult, whereas the filthy practices of common harlots are easily and vulgarly known.
2. From the scope of this place, which is to confirm their faith by a strange and prodigious sign, which surely could not be not a young woman should conceive a child, but that a virgin should conceive, &c.
Bear a Son; or rather, bring forth, as it is rendered, Mat_1:23, and as this Hebrew word is used, Gen_16:11 17:19 Jud_13:5.
And shall call; the virgin, last mentioned, shall call; which is added as a further evidence of her virginity, and that this Son had no human father, because the right of naming the child (which, being a sign of dominion, is primarily in the husband, and in the wife only by his consent or permission, as is evident from Gen_5:29 35:18 Luk_1:60,63, and many other places of Scripture) is wholly appropriated to her.
Immanuel; which signifies, God with us; God dwelling among us, in our nature, Joh_1:14, God and man meeting in one person, and being a Mediator between God and men. For the design of these words is not so much to relate the name by which Christ should commonly be called, as to describe his nature and office; as we read that his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, &c., Isa_9:6, and that this is said to be his (the Messiah’s) name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness, Jer_23:6, although he be never called by these names in any other place of the Old or New Testament; but the meaning of these places is, He shall be wonderful, and our Counsellor, &c., and our Righteousness; for to be called is oft put for to be, as Isa_1:26 4:3, &c.
- Poole
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; this is not to be understood of Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, by his wife, as some Jewish writers interpret it; which interpretation Jarchi refutes, by observing that Hezekiah was nine years old when his father began to reign, and this being, as he says, the fourth year of his reign, he must be at this time thirteen years of age; in like manner, Aben Ezra and Kimchi object to it; and besides, his mother could not be called a "virgin": and for the same reason it cannot be understood of any other son of his either by his wife, as Kimchi thinks, or by some young woman; moreover, no other son of his was ever lord of Judea, as this Immanuel is represented to be, in Isa_8:8 nor can it be interpreted of Isaiah's wife and son, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi think; since the prophet could never call her a "virgin", who had bore him children, one of which was now with him; nor indeed a "young woman", but rather "the prophetess", as in Isa_8:3 nor was any son of his king of Judah, as this appears to be, in the place before cited: but the Messiah is here meant, who was to be born of a pure virgin; as the word here used signifies in all places where it is mentioned, as Gen_24:43 and even in Pro_30:19 which is the instance the Jews give of the word being used of a woman corrupted; since it does not appear that the maid and the adulterous woman are one and the same person; and if they were, she might, though vitiated, be called a maid or virgin, from her own profession of herself, or as she appeared to others who knew her not, or as she was antecedent to her defilement; which is no unusual thing in Scripture, see Deu_22:28 to which may be added, that not only the Evangelist Matthew renders the word by παρθενος, "a virgin"; but the Septuagint interpreters, who were Jews, so rendered the word hundreds of years before him; and best agrees with the Hebrew word, which comes from the root עלם, which signifies to "hide" or "cover"; virgins being covered and unknown to men; and in the eastern country were usually kept recluse, and were shut up from the public company and conversation of men: and now this was the sign that was to be given, and a miraculous one it was, that the Messiah should be born of a pure and incorrupt virgin; and therefore a "behold" is prefixed to it, as a note of admiration; and what else could be this sign or wonder? not surely that a young married woman, either Ahaz's or Isaiah's wife, should be with child, which is nothing surprising, and of which there are repeated instances every day; nor was it that the young woman was unfit for conception at the time of the prophecy, which was the fancy of some, as Jarchi reports, since no such intimation is given either in the text or context; nor did it lie in this, that it was a male child, and not a female, which was predicted, as R. Saadiah Gaon, in Aben Ezra, would have it; for the sign or wonder does not lie in the truth of the prophet's prediction, but in the greatness of the thing predicted; besides, the verification of this would not have given the prophet much credit, nor Ahaz and the house of David much comfort, since this might have been ascribed rather to a happy conjecture than to a spirit of prophecy; much less can the wonder be, that this child should eat butter and honey, as soon as it was born, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi suggest; since nothing is more natural to, and common with young children, than to take down any kind of liquids which are sweet and pleasant.
Gill.
This passage is vehemently denied by none other than....ready?
I have yet to witness a Christian scholar win a debate with any Orthodox rabbi....and yet we have so many "heated" disagreements among Christians, we cannot seem to come into agreement on ANY passage of the Tanach/Torah/New Covenant.
Shalom
J.
