14. The "Virgin Mary" MYTH

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the L-rd Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman is pregnant and shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curd and honey when he knows how to refuse evil and choose good. For before the child knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

The New Testament misquotes Isaiah 7:14 as foretelling Jesus' birth. Even though his name was not Immanuel (Matthew 1:21), nor was he called by it:
Matthew 1:22-23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel."

King Ahaz of Judah was distressed by the imminent invasion of Syria and the kingdom of Northern Israel (7:1-9). G-d promised to intervene, and told Ahaz to choose a sign as an reassurance:
Isaiah 7:11 "Ask the L-rd your G-d for a sign..."

Ahaz refused, so Isaiah responded with the verse under discussion.
1st sign: She will give birth to a son.
2nd sign: When the child is born, she would unknowingly give him a name with a symbolic message for Ahaz: Immanuel, which means: "With us is G-d."
3rd sign: The defeat of Ahaz's enemies while the child is still young. The victory is related in 2 Kings 15:29-30, 16:9.
One must be able to see and recognize a sign. Thus, a virgin birth is disqualified.

All signs given in the Hebrew Bible, whether supernatural or natural were fulfilled in the near future:
Deuteronomy 34:11 "For all the signs & the wonders that G-d sent [Moses] to do in the land of Egypt,"
Exodus 12:13 "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are."

Why didn't Jesus give his "virgin" birth as the sign from Heaven to the Pharisees? Instead, he warned:
Mark 8:11-12 "...no sign will be given to this generation."

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The Hebrew "harah" means: is pregnant. All Christian translations agree in the verses below:
II Samuel 11:5 "And Batsheba conceived, and she sent and told David: "I am pregnant."
Genesis 16:11 "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael."

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The definite article "the" young woman (ha'almah) indicates that she was known to Isaiah and Ahaz. The footnote to Isaiah 7:14 in the Vatican's "The New American Bible" correctly defines almah as "a young, unmarried woman." If the Christian narrative is correct, betulah, the explicit Hebrew word for virgin would be written.
Note: The earliest Scroll of Isaiah extant, dated 200 B.C.E. has almah. It was found at Qumran near the Dead Sea.

These words describing Rivkah are rendered correctly in the vast majority of Christian translations:
Genesis 24:16 "The maiden was beautiful, a virgin (betulah), no man had known her."
Genesis 24:43 "When the young woman (ha'almah) comes out to draw water..."

Christians theorize that "almah" must mean virgin because the Greek Septuagint translates it as parthenos. However, if this is true, then there was a virgin birth in the time of Ahaz. That has serious theological ramifications. That mother and son would be the originals.

Nevertheless, parthenos (TTapOevoc) means virgin OR maiden. The Septuagint employs this word interchangeably. For instance, AFTER Dinah was raped, it refers to her twice as a parthenos (Genesis 34:3).

All Christian translations correctly have "elem", the masculine form of almah as: a young man, boy, lad etc (1 Samuel 20:22).- - - Our source for translations is biblehub.com

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It cannot be known if Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin. Paul and Mark, the earliest authors say nothing about it. And the Jews living in Jesus' hometown thought Joseph was his biological father:
John 6:42 "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say: 'I came down from heaven'?"

Nevertheless, she was definitely not a virgin later on:
Matthew 1:25 "And Joseph took Mary, but did not know her UNTIL she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus."
Mark 6:3 "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters with us?"

The virgin birth story was not the only myth Matthew invented. Sadly, there were others:
Herold was furious because the infant Jesus escaped. In revenge he killed all the boys two years and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity (Matthew 2:16).

After the crucifixion, tombs broke open and many saints were resurrected. They went into Jerusalem and appeared to many people (Matthew 27:53).
These bizzare and unhistorical happenings were written by the anonymous "Matthew" some 50 years after they supposedly occurred. He has a definite credibility issue that should not be ignored.

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Isaiah 7:14 Wikipedia.org:
"In the original Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14 the word almah meant a young woman of childbearing age who had not yet given birth; however the Greek translation, rendered it as parthenos, a word which can mean virgin or maiden."

Almah Wikipedia.org
"The Bible uses an unrelated word, betulah, to refer to a virgin, as well as the idea of virginity, betulim."
"The sign is that an almah is pregnant and will give birth to a son who will still be very young when these enemies will be destroyed."

 


Isaiah 54:1

"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break into song and cry aloud, you who did not labor, for the children of the desolate are more than the children of a married woman," says the L-rd.

Isaiah 54:5-6

"For your Maker is your Husband, the L-rd of hosts is His Name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, `The G-d of the whole earth,' He is called. For the L-rd has called you like a woman deserted and distressed in spirit and like a wife of one's youth who was rejected," says your G-d.

These verses are referring to the Messianic redemption of the Jewish people, and the repopulation of the "barren" Land of Israel, as this chapter continues to state:

Isaiah 54:7

For a brief moment I [G-d] forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.

Isaiah 54:17

"No weapon that is formed against you shall succeed, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the L-rd, and their just reward from Me," says the L-rd.

Similarly:

Isaiah 66:7-8

Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she had delivered a son. Whoever heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Is a land born in one day? Is a nation brought forth in one moment? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her children.

G-d is Israel's "Husband":

Hosea 2:18

"And on that day," says the L-rd, "you [Jews] will call Me, `my Husband,' and no longer will you call Me `my Master.'"

Missionaries claim that the verses under discussion refer to Mary, who is said to be "married" to G-d!