The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ
By Kerry A. Shirts
January 17, 2003
This supplement is a special one for many reasons, but most of all for highlighting and contrasting two very fascinating ways of looking at and understanding the virgin birth of Jesus. I will use one major study of this which demonstrates one of the most fascinating arguments for the virgin birth of Christ from the Early Christian Church Fathers’ perspective that I have ever seen, namely that of Jerome, though Origen’s ideas will also be touched upon. They were arguing against the Jewish understanding of how Isaiah was to be interpreted. How they came about showing that Isaiah’s prophecy of a virgin giving birth as a messianic prophecy is very interesting. This is a little bit involved, but It never hurts to stretch just a little in understanding points about how Jesus Christ was understood in early Christian times. It is, indeed, a most beautiful argument and well worth understanding, even if you have to read this twice or more times.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin (hml( - "almah") shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Adam Kamesar describes the various words which are used in the various editions of the Bible (Septuagint, Massoretic text, etc.) for the word "virgin," and share the significance of the theological argument of Jerome, most especially. ("The Virgin of Isaiah 7:14: The Philological Argument from the Second to the Fifth Century," in "Journal of Theological Studies," 41/1 (April 1990): 51-75.
He notes that Matthew 1:23 utilizes this prophecy of Isaiah to confirm the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. "The Jews denied that this verse referred to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ on various grounds, the principle one being that a proper interpretation of the text required the word neanij ("neanis" - young woman), not parqenoj ("parthenos" - virgin). This was of course the way in which the recentiores (Aquilan, Symmachus, and Theodotion) had translated the Hebrew word hml( (Almah)."
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and others claimed that the rendering neanij was an intentional corruption of the original version of the Septuagint (LXX – the Greek Old Testament). The early Fathers also argued that if this reference were merely to a young woman giving birth in the ordinary fashion that this would not constitute a sign. This particular argument was repeated for centuries after. But Jerome argued differently.
The word neanij which is employed by the three above recentiores in Isaiah 7:14 can have the same meaning as parqenoj ("parthenos" - virgin) in the biblical idiom. So the fact that the word neanij is used does not mean that the girl is not a virgin. The scripture used most often to invoke this argument was Deuteronomy 22:23-29, where, in verse 23, the betrothed virgin is described by the expression paij parqenoj. However in the following two verses the description is replaced by the word neanij showing that the two designations are used interchangeably. This was then used in the controversy regarding Isaiah 7:14.
Eusebius, the church historian, noted that while the word neanij in Deuteronomy does not exclude the meaning of "virgin" it does not necessarily have that meaning. John Chrysostom used the proof-text of Psalms 148:12, in which the expression neaniskoi of the common biblical phrase neaniskoi kai parqenoi ("both young men and maidens…") were understood to be virgins.
It was Origen who first took the argument back to the original text of the Hebrew. To his time the argument was based on the Greek text alone. Origen noted that the Hebrew hml( and not the Greek word neanij is used of a virgin in Deuteronomy. Notice it is the same argument as the Greek Fathers were using. The only conclusion that
one can legitimately draw from the Greek text of Deuteronomy 22:23-29 is that the word neanij does not exclude the meaning ‘virgin’, not that it must have that meaning in Isaiah 7:14. Eusebius stated his case this way. In this same way Origen’s argument here is that "almah" does not exclude the meaning ‘virgin’ because it is clearly applied to a virgin in Deuteronomy 22:23-26. He does not state that this is the only meaning of the term or that it must have this meaning in Isaiah 7:14.
The problem for Origen in his argument going to the Hebrew text is, the Hebrew word "almah" does not appear. The Hebrew words used are "bethula" and "na’ara." One can learn nothing about the word "almah" from Deuteronomy 22, since it is not used there as Origen claimed. Origen was trying to Hebraize an already existing argument which originally was formulated on the Greek text alone. The reason Origen fails in his argument is because we read the Hebrew word "na’ara" instead of "almah" in Deuteronomy 22:24 and twice in Deuteronomy 22:26, in which places the LXX render neanij. Origen’s error lay in his assumption that there was only one Hebrew equivalent for the Greek neanij which he claimed was "almah." He assumed that underneath the Greek word neanij in the passages in Deuteronomy just mentioned lay the same "almah" which underlays the Greek neanij in the recentiores in Isaiah 7:14, and so consequently the Hebrew word could designate a virgin.
Now we get to Jerome and his argument. Jerome uses philological arguments for this prophecy in Isaiah, and bases his argument on the Hebrew text, not the Greek text as the early Greek Fathers and Origen did.
First he agree with the Jewish argument that the word hml( (almah), which underlies the Greek parqenoj/neanij in Isaiah 7:14 is not the normal word used for virgin. The other normal word used for virgin is the Hebrew hlwtb (bethula). This is the Hebrew word which indicates a woman has had no sexual relations with a man. But he then argues that neither is the Hebrew word "almah" the normal word for young woman (adolescentula), which is properly signified by the term hr(n (na’ara). He has given the Jews a dose of their own medicine!
In order for the Jews to prove that "almah" does not mean virgin, they claim that there is another word for this, viz. "bethula." Jerome likewise argues that the word "almah" does not mean purely and simply "adolescentula," (young girl) for there exists another word for this, viz., "na’ara." He argues negatively that "almah" means neither virgin, or even means young girl.
His positive contribution to what "almah" means runs like this. He shows the etymological meaning of "almah" (hml() stems from the Hebrew root "alm" (Ml(), which means to "hide" or "conceal." He noted, as well, that Aquila translates "almah" with apokrufoj ("apocryphos"– which according to "Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words," is from the root apokrupto to conceal from or keep secret, and the BDAG [Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Christian Literature," means hidden treasures, secret wisdom). Jerome then notes to the Jews that "abscondita" involves another condition as does "almah" which also involves another condition. The virginity of such a girl who is "abscondita" is guaranteed as there is no opportunity for her to know a man in the literal sense, let alone in the biblical sense. In other words, being hidden means cloistered. Even though the term "almah" itself does not mean virgin, it necessitates virginity. So "almah" does not of itself mean virgin, but it entails more than virginity in Jerome’s argument.
And this type of etymological argument is especially suited to the rabbinic arguments which discuss this very concept. The rabbinical use of "almah" is used, when for instance, in Exodus 2:8. In this verse the sister of Moses, described as an "almah", is asked by the daughter of pharaoh to fetch an Israelite woman to nurse the foundling Moses. The girl herself had offered to perform such a service in the previous verse, in order to bring the child back to his real mother. When the Rabbis discuss this they note that the text refers to her as an "almah" because she concealed her words [i.e., her identity and intention]. So here is an example which connects "almah" and the Hebrew root Ml( hence Jerome uses this at Isaiah 7:14 to show that the "almah" is hidden from the glance of men.
Finally, Kamesar shows a most interesting rabbinic text which is discussed in the b.Avoda Zara 35b. The verse being discussed is Cant 1:3, where we read Kwbh) twml( Nk l( (al ken almot ‘hbuk – therefore the maidens [plural of "almah"] love you). Based on the different etymologies of the word twml( the term is associated with Ml( - hide; twm_l( - the one appointed over death; Mlw( - world. It appears that Jerome’s interpretations and etymology is no more fanciful than the rabbis etymological excursions, and thus constituted a legitimate argument to the contemporary Jewish/Christian debate of his day, concerning Isaiah 7:14.
Jerome actually used Punic and Latin to demonstrate the concept of loan-words in Hebrew. Thus "almah" could be a loan-word, and in fact, is exploiting the view of lexicographers that "alma" could be defined as "sancta." Not that Jerome says the Latin "alma" means virgin, but it has certain connotations of virginity. It is used in connection with chastity, such as the vestal virgins. Jerome associated "almah" with the "sancta virgo" of 1 Corinthians, thus connecting the two in scripture.
Hence Jerome claims that the word "almah" is always used of virgins in the Hebrew Bible. Since "almah" is always used of virgins in the Bible, the female described at Isaiah 7:14 must be a virgin. Jerome, in contrast to Origen, claims not that there are cases where "almah" is used of a virgin, but that it always is. And in fact, in the final form of his argument he showed that even if "almah" is used as a mere substitute term for "na’ara – young girl," it still can indicate virginity, because "na’ara" can be used in this sense. Jerome used considerable philological acumen in showing his argument can be worked from the Hebrew text of the scriptures, not just the Greek.
And in fact, this argument of Jerome’s is further strengthened when we note that "almah" is used in the Hebrew Bible at Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Proverbs 30:19; Iaiah 7:14, demonstrating Jerome’s contention, that, indeed, every time "almah" is used in the Bible, it definitely means virgin. Hence, Jesus was born of a virgin, which is how the Isaiah prophecy was applied messianically to Jesus by the Gospel writers.