Transcript Document

Counter-Missionary Education
Isaiah 7:14 – Part 2 of 2:
Refuting Christian Apologetics
A Counter-Missionary Education Lesson
by
Uri Yosef, Ph.D., Director of Education
Virtual Yeshiva of the Messiah Truth Project, Inc.
http://virtualyeshiva.com
[The article on this topic is located here - http://thejewishhome.org/counter/Isa714_2.pdf]
Copyright © Uri Yosef 2011 for the Messiah Truth Project, Inc.
All rights reserved
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 1 of 8
Introduction
Ever since the advent of Christianity, 20 centuries ago, Christian
apologists have been busy in fashioning arguments to defend their
theology (ergo, the title “apologist” and the product “apologetics”). As
these arguments were countered and refuted by responses from the
Jewish Sages, new and more sophisticated arguments were created
by Christian theologians – a chain of events that has continued to the
present time. The verse Isaiah 7:14, being a foundational element of
the Christian theological framework, has received a significant amount
of attention in this “debate”.
In this lesson, several popular apologetics Christian missionaries use
in their effort to defend their interpretation of Isaiah 7:14, the so-called
“proof text” for the “Virgin Birth”, are presented. Each of these
arguments is followed by Judaism’s response that refutes it.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 2 of 8
Claim: The word ‫[ ַע ְלמָה‬almah] means "virgin", therefore,
this prophecy foretells the miraculous birth of Jesus.
() Missionary Argument #1
• Every other instance of ‫ ַעלְמָ ה‬in the
Hebrew Bible refers to a virgin
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• ‫ ַעלְמָ ה‬represents an age group, not
a state of sexual purity & innocence”
• ‫( בְתּולָה‬betulah) is “a virgin”
• Isaiah uses ‫ בְתּולָה‬five (5) times
() Missionary Argument #2
• Isaiah uses ‫ ַעלְמָ ה‬to remove
ambiguity and add precision
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• The omitted reference proves Isaiah
knew how to apply ‫בְתּולָה‬
- Isaiah applies ‫ בְתּולָה‬four (4) times
in reference to a nation
• Jeremiah uses ‫ בְתּולָה‬15 times, eight
(8) of which refer to a virgin/virgins
- Jeremiah applies ‫ בְתּולָה‬seven (7)
times in reference to a nation
• A study of all 50 instances of ‫בְתּולָה‬
leaves no doubt it means “a virgin”
Conclusion: ‫ בְתּולָה & ַע ְלמָה‬are not interchangeable nouns. The
female in Isaiah 7:14 is about a (very) pregnant young woman.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 3 of 8
Claim: This is a "dual prophecy“ with a “dual fulfillment” – a
prophecy that was fulfilled on two separate occasions.
() Missionary Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• “1st fulfillment”
- Immanu’el born in 8th century BCE
• “Dual prophecy” & “dual fulfillment”
are unbiblical concepts
• “2nd fulfillment”
- Jesus born at the turn of the Era
• If there were two “virgin births”, what
makes the 2nd one more special?
• Does Isaiah 7:15-16 apply to Jesus?
() Missionary Counter-Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• “Dual prophecy” is hinted at by
Isaiah’s use of singular and plural
“you” pronouns in addressing Ahaz
- Singular pronoun aimed at Ahaz
and his personal current crisis
- Plural pronoun aimed at the House
of David and its future
• Both King Ahaz and the House of
David were threatened by situation
- Reference to House of David and
plural “you” pertain to military crisis
- Ahaz addressed both in singular
and plural “you” to signify he and
Davidic dynasty will be preserved
Conclusion: The ideas of “dual prophecy” and “dual fulfillment”
are unbiblical notions that were born out of desperation.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 4 of 8
Claim: Biblical Hebrew has no tenses.
() Missionary Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• Biblical Hebrew is an “aspectual”
language without the conventional
temporal tenses
• The argument is irrelevant. As was
demonstrated in Part 1 (Page 7), the
term ‫ ה ָָרה‬is not a verb in Isaiah 7:14
• Context and grammatical cues
determine the temporal state of a
verb rather than conventional past,
present, and future tenses
• Any language that is used for human
communication, such as Hebrew has
been over the past several millennia,
needs to have at least one past, one
present, and one future tense, due to
the fact that human experience
depends on the linear progression of
time from past to present to future
• Almost all verbs in the Hebrew Bible
appear conjugated in all three tenses
and in the imperative
Conclusion: The fact that almost all verbs in the Hebrew Bible appear
conjugated in the three tenses and in the imperative, proves the claim
that Biblical Hebrew has no tenses to be false.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 5 of 8
Claim: ‫ בְתּולָה‬is not exclusive to "a virgin" in the Hebrew Bible.
() Missionary Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• Once the claims regarding females
who are not virgins are refuted it will
be clear that ‫ בְתּולָה‬means “a virgin”
without exceptions
- Ezekiel 23:3 uses the noun ‫בְתּולִים‬
(betulim), “a hymen”, the sign of
virginity, not the noun ‫בְתּולָה‬
- Esther 2:17 uses the noun ‫בְתּולֹות‬
(betulot), “virgins”, which, when
considered in context of the nearby
passage, Esther 2:19-20, leaves no doubt that it means “virgins”
- Joel 1:8 uses the noun ‫בְתּולָה‬. In the context of the traditional two-phased
Jewish marriage process, this female was betrothed to a man who met an
untimely death prior to their marriage being consummated and, therefore,
she was still a virgin
• The term ‫בְתּולָה‬, as applied in the
Hebrew Bible, is ambiguous since in
some cases it refers to
- females who are virgins (e.g.,
Leviticus 21:3,14, Ezekiel 44:22)
- females of unknown sexual status
(e.g., Deuteronomy 32.25,
Psalms 148:12, 2Chronicles 36.17)
- females who are not virgins (e.g.,
Ezekiel 23:3, Joel 1:8, Esther 2:17
Conclusion: The claim that ‫ בְתּולָה‬is not the exclusive term for "a virgin"
is not supported from within the Hebrew Bible and is false.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 6 of 8
Claim: Ruling out a “Virgin Birth” limits the power of the Creator
() Missionary Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• To rule out the possibility that the
female in Isaiah 7:14 was a virgin
who conceived of God and remained
a virgin, would place limitations on
what God can do
• The possibility that a woman can
conceive with her virginity remaining
intact is recognized in the Talmud,
though it can occur only by means
of normal fertilization
• God is omnipotent
• God is incorporeal
Conclusion: Given the Jewish view of God, the question is not whether
God is able to incarnate via a “Virgin Birth” by impregnating a virgin
and fathering an offspring who is God Himself. Rather, the issue is the
need for self-incarnation, the realization of which is excluded by His
incorporeal nature.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 7 of 8
Claim: ‫ ָה ַע ְלמָה‬is rendered παρθενος (parthenos) in the Septuagint
(LXX)
() Missionary Argument
(Y) Judaism’s Response
• The Septuagint (LXX) is an ancient
• The original Septuagint was a
translation into Greek of the Hebrew
mid-3rd century B.C.E translation
Bible by bi-lingual Jewish scholars
into (Koine) Greek of only the Torah
• These learned Rabbis would have
known to translate this term
correctly
• Extant evidence shows that today’s
LXX is a Church-rendered Greek
translation of the Hebrew Bible
- Works of Josephus & St. Jerome
- Errors, omissions, inconsistencies
- Koine Greek vs. Later dialect
- παρθενος not exclusively “a virgin”
Conclusion: Today’s LXX is not the same as the original Septuagint.
The LXX is a Church-rendered translation of the Hebrew Bible, and the
latter is a translation of the Torah by Jewish bi-lingual Rabbis/scholars.
February 10, 2011
Isaiah 7:14 and the “Virgin Birth”
Part 2 of 2
Page 8 of 8