Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:22-23, Luke 1:34-35
The Most Debated Prophecy
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14). Matthew explicitly identifies this as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:22-23). It is also one of the most debated prophecies in the entire Bible.
The Original Context
Isaiah 7 is set in a specific historical crisis: King Ahaz of Judah is threatened by a coalition of Syria and Israel. God offers Ahaz a sign — any sign he chooses. Ahaz refuses to ask. God provides a sign anyway: a young woman will conceive and bear a son called Immanuel ("God with us"), and before the child is old enough to distinguish good from evil, the threatening kings will be gone.
The immediate context suggests a near-term fulfilment — a child born in Isaiah's own time who was a sign of deliverance. Many scholars believe Isaiah's own son (Isaiah 8:3-4) or a child born to a young woman in Ahaz's court fulfilled the immediate aspect of the prophecy.
The Hebrew Word Debate
The Hebrew word translated "virgin" is almah — meaning a young woman of marriageable age, with the implication (in its cultural context) of virginity. The Greek Septuagint, translated around 250 BC, rendered almah with parthenos — specifically meaning "virgin." Matthew quotes the Septuagint.
The debate: does almah specifically mean "virgin," or simply "young woman"? The word betulah more explicitly means "virgin" in Hebrew. Critics argue Matthew overread the text.
The defence: almah in all its Old Testament occurrences refers to young women who are unmarried and by implication virginal. The Septuagint translators, working three centuries before Christ, chose parthenos — their understanding of the word's implication. And for Matthew's purposes, the sign God gave — a child born in miraculous circumstances, called "God with us" — finds its ultimate and complete fulfilment only in the incarnation.
Double Fulfilment
The most coherent reading sees a double fulfilment: a near-term historical sign in Isaiah's day, and an ultimate, complete fulfilment in the virgin birth of Jesus — the one who is truly and fully "God with us." Many Messianic prophecies operate this way: an immediate historical referent that is also a pattern pointing forward to the one in whom it is fully realised.