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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is. 7:14)”
This is the proclamation of the miraculous and virgin birth of the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Made by the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before it actually happened.
Isn’t our God truly amazing?
Despite what you might think, there is more to it than meets the eye. You have to know a lot about the Bible to be able to “decode” it.
First and foremost, I will tell you something that is highly controversial but I will explain why this is important and why it actually matters.
Secondly, I will scrutinize a particular word in the same text and last
I will use something known as numerology and I do know that this is, in fact, controversial for some Christians but I will use it only to prove a point.
If you already have noticed that the number 7 is important, it is correct, as well as the number 14. It isn’t a coincidence that in both the Hebrew and Greek versions of Isaiah, this prophecy is located in the 14th verse of the 7th chapter.
There is a divine plan hidden behind it.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God but he is also referred to as the son of David 22 times throughout the Gospels, according to English Standard Version.
What has this to do with the numbers 7 and 14 you might wonder?
The Hebrew letters that form the name David consists of three letters where one, the letter Dalet that corresponds to our D, repeats twice.
Each Hebrew letter also has a numerical value, since they didn’t have specific characters for numbers as we do today. The same is true with the contemporary Greek and Latin alphabets.
The letter Dalet has the numerical value of 4. The other letter, Vav has the numerical value of 6. A simple addition will clarify it:
| Hebrew Letter | Corresponding English Letter | Numerical Value |
| ד | D | 4 |
| ו | V | 6 |
| ד | D | 4 |
| ד+ו+ד= | D+V+D= | 14 |
The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ
The word “virgin” has caused a fierce debate about a decade ago among different biblical scholars. Some want to keep the translation “virgin” while others claim that “young woman” should be a more accurate translation.
Both sides agree that the Greek version of Isaiah clearly says virgin.
The debate is whether the Hebrew word הָעַלְמָ֗ה shall be translated as the virgin or the young woman.
My position in this matter is to translate it with “virgin”. My argumentation is based on culture, society, theology, tradition, and language.
The culture wasn’t like the Western modern culture, it was a patriarchal society where a woman, in order to be virtuous and be able to marry a man needed to be chaste, which means being a virgin.
A woman who wasn’t was considered an outcast and could face capital punishment if she wasn’t able to run away.
In the best case scenario, she would be marginalized in the village and were only able to work as a prostitute. Best case means that she would be able to live although she would not be able to participate in ordinary village life.
Every woman would also look down on her and so would every devout man do.
This fully corresponds with the Virgin Mary’s response to the Archangel Gabriel’s message that she has conceived a child (Luke 1:34).
To keep it short, my argumentation from a language perspective is the same thing. A young woman needed to be a virgin in order to be able to participate in everyday life, especially in the countryside.
Especially surrounded and guarded by men in a highly conservative society.
A young woman, like Mary, would probably not be able to go outside unless she was accompanied by a male relative before she was betrothed to Josef.
After betrothal, he would accompany her when she moved around in the village.
From a traditional, as well as a theological perspective there has been a tradition to translate the word הָעַלְמָ֗ה in Isaiah 7:14 as the virgin.
This is supported by Luke 1:34 as well as the New Testament that clearly translates the Hebrew word הָעַלְמָ֗ה with the virgin when it quotes Isaiah 7:14 in the Gospel of Matthew 1:23.
Lastly but not least, my theological argumentation is that the translation of the virgin is biblical and it also corresponds with the tradition of most churches, both Eastern Orthodox, the Catholic Churches and the Protestant (mainly Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican) Churches of the West.
The Virgin Mary is often referred to as God-bearer or mother of God, Theotokos in Greek. The council of Ephesus in AD 431 stated this.
The verb lacks a proper English translation and is rendered as (the) bearer.
The Promise of Isaiah: Immanuel (God with us)
The last part of this text is probably the prophecy’s greatest promise: Immanuel, which translates as God with us.
This goes back to the New Testament and the Gospel of Matthew 1:23.
Since Isaiah wrote in Hebrew for people who didn’t need an explanation, he didn’t has to add an explanatory sentence while Matthew, at least the preserved version of his Gospel, wrote in Greek.
There are indications within the Gospel itself that it was originally written in Aramaic or Hebrew and later on translated to Greek.
People who knew Greek didn’t necessarily know Hebrew, especially if they weren’t of Jewish origin.
For this reason, Matthew needed to explain certain key phrases and expressions for the gentile listeners of the Gospel to help them get the correct understanding of the texts.
This prophecy comes with the great promise of the Messiah (Moshiach in Hebrew), the Anointed One or Christ (Christos in Greek).
However, Isaiah doesn’t use this. He uses another name for the future king: Immanuel.
This is probably the greatest mystery of this prophecy but I believe that it is intentional. He uses this name to describe that it is a promise that God will restore the throne of David.
I just need to set another thing straight. The word son could also mean rightful heir to. In this case, it is to the throne of David.
Who is referred to 22 times in the Gospels as “the son of David“?
The answer is Jesus Christ!
He is born by God before the beginning of time. Born by the Virgin Mary at a specific time. Never created, hypostatically the same as the Father.
Predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament and preached in the New Testament and throughout the world.
He who is the second Adam was sent to redeem us from our sins by his heavenly Father.
This is what I truly believe. Now the only question is: Do you believe this too?
Have a happy, blessed and Merry Christmas,
Next Article
My next article will be published on the 30th of December 2017.
It will be a summary of the year 2017.
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