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Finally, in chapter nine, we have the glorious prophecy of Emmanuel more fully stated:
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon
His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (9: 6).
Returning to the Emmanuel sign we observe that like many another Messianic
prophecy it had an immediate fulfillment in the life of the hearers, and a fuller and future
fulfillment in the Person of Christ. The immediate fulfillment is clearly indicated by the
words:
"Before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou
abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings" (7: 16).
This prophecy was fulfilled within two years of its utterance, as II Kings 15: 30 and
16: 9 will show.
The reader may feel that his faith is subjected to a strain as he reads Isa. 7:,
"Behold, a virgin". Are we to believe that on two occasions God miraculously brought
about a virgin birth? And if we do so believe, does not this lower the uniqueness of the
birth and person of the Redeemer? The answer to this problem is found by examining the
actual words employed in the Hebrew O.T. and the Greek of the N.T.
The word translated "virgin" in Isa. 7: 14 is the Hebrew word almah, the word
translated "virgin" in Matt. 1: 23 is the Greek word parthenos.
Almah occurs in the Hebrew O.T. seven times: namely in Gen. 24: 43; Exod. 2: 8;
Psa. 68: 25; Prov. 30: 19; Song of Sol. 1: 3; 6: 8; and Isa. 7: 14. This word,
while it may refer to a virgin in the strictest sense of the word, only means a young
woman, a maiden, a damsel. There is, however, another word which does indicate a
virgin in the strictest sense of the word, and that is bethulah. This word occurs also in
Gen. 24: 16, where Rebekah is said to be a "damsel, very fair to look upon, a virgin".
Isaiah knew the word, and uses it five times in his prophecy. The Hebrew bethulim is
translated "virginity". "The Companion Bible" therefore, rightly comments "While every
bethulah is indeed an almah, yet not every almah is a bethulah".
The word "Virgin" in the strictest sense is reserved for the great fulfillment of this
prophecy at the birth of Christ, there the N.T. reads parthenos (Matt. 1: 23). "The word
may, I think, be best derived from paratheinai, to lay up, set apart, and so allude to the
retired life of virgins in the eastern countries, and among the Greeks" (Parkhurst).
This word is narrower than the Hebrew almah used in the seventh chapter of Isaiah
and sets the seal of truth upon the miracle of the Virgin birth. This fundamental doctrine
of Redemption is not taught by a matter of fact statement, but is forced upon the mind of
the reader of the N.T. by a number of converging features.
First, there is the decisive word parthenos, a word that was not confined to one sex,
but could be used of men as well as of women, the essential point in either case being