Within the Christian faith particular benchmarks define the valid and meaningful - one such being the fact of Christ's birth to a virgin.
Unfortunately, even among those committed to the premise, questions sometimes attend. Why, for example, do certain Bible translations render Immanuel's mother in Isaiah 7:14 "a young woman" whereas Matthew 1:23 defines her as a "virgin?" Again, if Immanuel's birth constitutes a prophetic sign to King Ahaz regarding the impending deaths of two kings then threatening Judah, how could his birth hundreds of years later fulfill the prophecy?
Answer is found in Isaiah 8:18: "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion." Why then, the prophet continues, should answers be sought from mediums and spiritists (vs. 19)?
The name Isaiah meant, "The LORD is salvation (i.e., deliverance)." As such, the prophet's presence was to serve as ongoing reminder that the nation's hope lay in the Lord. Not only so, but on occasion Isaiah and his young wife (herself a prophetess, Isa. 8:3) would be given a child whose birth not only commemorated a particular prophecy, but by bearing a name related to that prophecy, likewise provided continuing awareness of that which God had spoken (e.g., Shear-jashub: ["A remnant shall return," Isa. 7:3]; Maher-shalal-hash-baz: ["Haste to the booty; haste to the spoil," Isa. 8:3).
The day came in which Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of the northern ten tribe confederation (Israel, also known as Ephraim) entered into a military pact. Soon after, much to the distress of the neighboring kingdom to the south, they began making threats against Judah.
At this point, Isaiah was sent to Ahaz, king of Judah, with the message that another child of prophetic significance was to be born. His name would be Immanuel (i.e., "God is with us"). While yet a small child, King Rezin and King Pekah would both pass from the scene, no longer posing a threat (7:16). As with his older siblings, Immanuel's name and presence would offer an ever present reminder - in this case, to trust in God, because "God is with us."
What then of Matthew's reference to Jesus as Immanuel, born of a virgin? The Hebrew word "almah" was used in the sense of both young woman and virgin. In Isaiah 7:14, immediate reference is to Isaiah's son Immanuel, borne to him by his wife as a "young woman." Indeed, Isaiah 8:8 records the prophet's speaking to the child.
However, a far greater meaning inhered Isaiah's prophecy as well. Hundreds of years later, long after the passing of both Isaiah and King Ahaz, to whom the birth of Isaiah's son was designated a "sign," another infant was born. This time the child not only bore the name Immanuel: He was in fact, "God with us"; "God in the flesh" (I Tim. 3:16), "reconciling the world to Himself" (II Cor. 5:19). And his mother? In this far greater fulfillment, of which the earlier event constituted a "type" or prefiguration, she was "almah," not merely in the sense of young woman, but as the virgin.
Burl Ratzsch
