Virgin Desires?
A thing doesn't have to be factual to be true and neither does a thing have to be factual for us to believe what we want to believe. William Blake put it this way, "What seems to be IS- to those whom it seems to be"! In other words, we believe whatever we want to believe and the "Almah controversy" is a good example.
How is one to interpret Isaiah 7:14?
The answer is, however we want to interpret it. If you're Jewish you have one conclusion, and if you're a Christian you probably have another- though not everyone Christian does." Most fundamentalists believe that Matthew 1:23 is speaking of Isaiah 7:14. Was Matthew making his words fit what he thought the historical ecord was? Or?
From the earliest days of Christianity, Jewish critics have argued that Christians were mistaken in their reading of almah in Isaiah 7:14. Because the author of Matthew 1:23, believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, he quoted Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son" as a proof-text for the divine origin of Jesus.
But the word Hebrew word Almah means young woman!
The Hebrew word bethulah ("?????"), is most commonly the word that the Old Testament uses for virgin even in modern Hebrew. And the tense that's used is "present tense" meaning that the woman was pregnant already. Finally the context is in regards to Ahaz and the prophecy was completed then- not when Jesus came.
Judaism affirms that ha-almah ("young woman") does not refer to a virgin and that had the Tanakh intended to refer to such, the specific Hebrew word for virgin (bethulah) would have been used. This view is often disputed by Christians and has been a point of contention between Jews and Christians since the formation of the modern Church.
So, whatcha wanna believe? You've got free will here. :-)
1-If you WANT to believe and NEED that Jesus was of a virgin birth then you have your proof text.
2-If don't NEED a virgin birth for Jesus to be DIVINE and the first begotten Son of God, then Isaiah 7:14 stands as literally completed an not a metaphor looking ahead to Jesus.
Our DESIRES (what we WANT-NEED to believe) may have nothing to do with facts nor truth. What you can tell for sure though is a person's LOVE or lack thereof. Fundamentalists an others who get angry, mad, and demand that you BELIEVE as they DO, certainly aren't projecting the "image nor mind of Christ."
Got love? :-)
Or, got condemnation for those that differ from your beliefs? :-(
Related Tags: divine, christian, christianity, jewish, virgin, hebrew, fundamnetalists, virgin desires, isaish 714, matthew 124, almah
As a spiritual-futurist my commentaries and articles deal primarily with an interpretation of current events in light of macro-universal forces at play.
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