Prophecy 6: Virgin & Child 2

You need to read the previous post to make sense of this one.

Matthew 1:23
And the Virgin shall be with child and give birth to a son.

The Greek literally says "the virign shall have a belly" which is an expression for pregnant. The key word is parthenos, which is virgin. This literally means someone who has not had sexual experiences. In a broader sense, it means a young woman of marriagable age, a maiden. Obviously, in those days, promiscuity and pre-marital sex were not acceptable. To be an unmarried, young woman would automatically mean that one was a virgin.

Matthew says that this has been spoken through the prophet. It takes little research to uncover his proposed source: Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah is written in Hebrew. He uses the Hebrew word, almah, which literally means young woman. Now, as I said above, in this culture the expectation was a young woman would be virginal. However, it is not primarilly a designation of one's sexual status. The term is used seven times in the OT and is translated into English both as maiden and as virgin.

What is interesting to me is this verse is not a Messianic prophecy and the idea of a pregnant young woman, which is the original context, does not imply anything miraculous at all. It seems to be the case that Matthew is working backward. He starts with the historical event (Mary's virginal pregnancy) and works back to an OT verse which triggers a connection for him (the Isaiah quote; though it may be he knew it in Greek because the Greek translation was widely in use). This is significant for apologetic reasons. Here are a couple.

1. If there was a clear expectation that the Messiah was to be born of a Virign, then the proponents of Jesus as Messiah would have had to make such a claim. From a neutral view point, the claim would have less weight because it might have been a "forgery" or "made up" as a proof. However, if no such expectation existed, there would seem to be little reason to make it up and therefore, it is more likely to be true. The Gospel writer would have no motivation to make this up if it did not happen, but would  have plenty of motivation to make sense of it if it happened. I believe the latter is the case.

2. In the NT, there are only two places where the virginity of Mary is spoken about, the two "Christmas" stories found in Luke and Matthew. Only Matthew makes mention of fulfilling SS (which we have seen is typical of Matthew, not the others). If there had been a widely accepted belief that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin, one certainly would think that Paul and other NT letters would make reference to it. As it is, there is none. [Although there is the odd, "son of Mary" reference in Mark 6:3. One would expect Son of Joseph. The reference to Mary alone may indicate something unusual was afoot. And in John the Jews tell Jesus that they are not the children of fornication, once again, perhaps, a veiled insult at Jesus and His rumored illegitimate birth.] Something happened to lead detractors of Jesus to claim  his parentage was at question. This seems to point to the fact that his conception and birth was not normal. The birth sequence never enters the public disputes about Jesus. No detractors claim, "The Messiah must be born of a virgin, so how were you conceived?"

This raises the question, did Isaiah have the virgin Mary in mind in his prophecy. I think the answer to that is unquestionably "no." I base that on a simple reading of Isaiah chapter 7.  http://www.esvbible.org/Isaiah+7/
I am not going to copy it all here, I suggest you get a Bible out and read it (work alert!!!!)

King Ahaz is all upset. His kingdom is being threatened by an invading army. Isaiah and one of his sons (Shear-jashub= "a remnant will return") go to meet him. Note, the son's name is a prophetic declaration. In chapter 8 another son with a meaningful name [Name him Maher-Shalal-hash-baz, for before the child knows how to call his father of mother by name the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried off."] Take note of the time reference, it is also present in Chapter 7 where we talk about Emmanuel. The fact is symbolic names of children are all over this section of Isaiah. Pay heed and attention to that.

The troubled king is aware of the threats made against him and his kingdom. But, Isaiah says, do not worry for God has declared it shall not happen. Then Isaiah offers the king a sign, which the king refuses. God offers, man declines; this is disobedience and disrespect. What Isaiah then offers the king is a promise. We will look at that tomorrow and see its connection to Jesus.