Refuting Christian Proof-Texts

[Guest yoshi]

Here's my next one, this time it's a rebuttal to the average Christian translation of Isaiah 7:14. This article is partly incomplete - I have not yet added the references to Homer's works (which use the greek parthenos in reference to young mothers who have given birth)

 

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Christian Missionaries will often point to Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of the virgin birth. This article will examine the translation of Isaiah 7:14, specifically the word ha'almah, and show why the Christian translations are incorrect. In another article titled "Failed Conditions", I explain why Jesus did not fulfill the prophecy as a whole (i.e. the entire prophecy in Isaiah 7, not just verse 14).

 

Isaiah 7:14

 

לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אוֹת | הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ עִמָּנוּ אֵל

 

Isaiah 7:14 – Christian Translation (King James Version)

 

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

 

Isaiah 7:14 – Jewish Translation (Judaica Press)

 

Therefore, the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel

 

The criticial issue in the translations of Isaiah 7:14 is the meaning of the word האלמה (ha'almah). The original Hebrew text, along with a Christian and Jewish translation, is shown above. The word ha'almah and the translations of it are highlighted in red.

 

The word ha'almah is composed of two parts: the prefix ha (ה) and the word almah (עלמה). The prefix ha means "the" in Hebrew; for example, "the man" is ha'adam (האדם). Thus, we see that the translation should be "the almah". To give them credit, some Christian translations include this into their translations, such as the NKJV and NIV, among others.

 

The second part of the word ha'almah is the word almah (עלמה) which most Christian Bibles translate as "virgin". However, almah does not mean "virgin" - it means "young woman". All Jewish Bible translations have rendered almah as either "maiden" or "young woman". Had Isaiah meant the prophecy to be about a virgin, he would have used the word betulah (בתולה), which does mean virgin. almah and betulah are similar to square and rectangle. A betulah may be an almah, but an almah isn't always a betulah.

 

Let us examine some of the the instances where the word almah is found in the Tanakh.

 

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go!" So the girl went and called the child's mother (Exodus 2:8, Judaica Press)

 

Behold, I am standing by the water fountain. When a maiden comes out to draw [water], I will say to her, 'Please, give me a little water to drink from your pitcher.' (Genesis 24:43, Judaica Press)

 

In both these instances, it cannot be derived whether or not the text is speaching about a virgin with certainty. However, it can be derived in other instances, such as Proverbs 30:19.

 

There are three things that are concealed from me, and four that I do not know; The way of the eagle in the heavens, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman. So is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats and wipes her mouth, and she says, "I have committed no sin." (Proverbs 30:18-20, Judaica Press)

 

We see here that "the way of a man with an almah" is compared to the "way of an adulterous woman". In other words, "the way of a man with an almah" refers to sexual relations before marriage. This shows us that almah can in fact refer to non-virgins.

 

Next, let us examine the ancient Greek translation of the Bible into Hebrew, the LXX. Christians point out that the translators of the LXX (who may or may not have been Jews) translated the word almah as the Greek parthenos (παρθενος) in Isaiah 7:14, and they say that it means "virgin". It is true that parthenos can refer to virgins; however, like almah, it does not neccessarily mean "virgin". For example, in Genesis 34:2 we read that Shechem raped Dinah. However, in the next verse the LXX refers to Dinah as a parthenos, though she was obviously not a virgin.

 

In summary, the Hebrew word almah does not mean virgin, as it is used to describe non-virgins (See Proverbs 30:19, or the LXX of Genesis 34:3), but it can refer to one.

[narcissist]

I remember John Shelby Spong pointing out the same thing regarding the Isaiah verse, if my memory serves me correctly.

 

I love the way (actually, I don't) this religion has "reinterpreted" its scriptures to fulfil its own purposes, whilst accusing and judging others of doing the same.

 

So much for integrity.

[Mr. Neil]

This prophecy is such a mess, because it doesn't even foretell what Christians think it foretells. It's meant to be a sign to King Ahaz of Judah, but they don't stop to think that a sign that takes place seven hundred years in the future would render the prophecy useless to the person for whom it was meant.

 

I was trying to get IvdYou to own up to this, but he kept dodging it.

 

 

One thing about Almah. Christians try to get away with these wussy arguments like, almah could still refer to a virgin, but they can't deny that the word simply doesn't carry such a connotation on its own.

 

The problem that they face is that the woman in the prophecy will conceive. Well, if a woman is going to have a child, that more or less negates the notion that she's a virgin. It then becomes important for the prophet to specify that the woman is a virgin, because you would simply assume otherwise.

 

There is literally no reason to assume that a prophecy talking about a woman conceiving a child is referring to a virgin. And unfortunately for the Christians, there is a Hebrew word for "virgin". Basically, if Isaiah was talking about a virgin, he would have said so.

[TruthWarrior]

Plus his name wasn't Immanuel.

[- AUB -]

I've done Isaiah 7:14 to death, what Yoshi says is correct, but its the accumulative effect of the translation, context and succeeding verse that does it. But then they just special plead with "oh, its a duel prophecy!"

 

http://www.outreachjudaism.org/virgin.html

 

and "the spirit deceives you!" so there’s no point in arguing, I prefer going through all the "Jesus prophecies" and debunking the lot, "cleansing" the OT of all so called references to Jesus, it may not be my holy book, but I’d rather it wasn’t filled with the stench of xtian propagnda.

 

http://www.outreachjudaism.org/matthew.html

 

http://www.outreachjudaism.org/alma.html

 

Jews actually have the facts on their side on this, its possible to be a ruthless ultra atheist (like me) and still agree with them, as they have the plain reading and reason on their side, a rare event for a faith to be empirically correct, but when dealing with xtianity everyone is a step up.

[Guest yoshi]

The problem that they face is that the woman in the prophecy will conceive.  Well, if a woman is going to have a child, that more or less negates the notion that she's a virgin.

 

Another part that I don't touch in this article is that the Hebrew more strongly supports a translation of "is with child" rather than "will be with child." It's not one of the core issues of this debate, so I didn't cover it in the article.

[Guest yoshi]

Plus his name wasn't Immanuel. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually, if Jesus was God, there would be no problem with the Immanuel thing. The problem is that we're looking at the text from a 21st century American perspective, rather than from the ANE understanding of things.

 

The hebrew word שם, which is translated as "name", carries with it more than just our modern concept of what a name is. It can also refer to a person's character, title, literal name, etc. So they could pull a fulfillment of "and his name shall be called Immanuel."

 

According to Jewish tradition, the child was called "Immanuel" (meaning, God is with us) as a way of God saying "Hey, I haven't abandoned you. Your troubles will pass, and everything will be OK"