My first Bible Questions Answered (Jesus Went to Hell?) blog was nearly a month ago.  And guess what?

It's That Time Again!

Since my left eye is nearly swollen shut today, I will keep this blog sort and sweet, though I look forward, as always, to reading and responding to your comments.  I am keeping a list of your questions and will do my damnedest (pardon the quasi-pun) to address them all.

Here's today's offering:

Jesus W. Bush, Dick Tater asks:

Being a proponent of Abstinence Only sex education, I've always been fascinated by the Virgin birth.  Isn't it true that the Old Testament specifically predicts (or prophesies) that the Messiah will be born of a Virgin?

My response:

No.  The Old Testament does not predict or promise a virgin birth.

However, the New Testament gospels of Matthew (1: 19-25) and Luke (1: 26-35) do say that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus.  (Mark and John are silent on the matter.)  And Matthew even goes so far as to avow that this "virgin" birth is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Here's the selection from Luke:

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you. ²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' ³⁴Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?'  ³⁵The angel said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. (NRSV)

Here's the selection from Matthew:

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
²³'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel',
which means, 'God is with us.' ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son and he named him Jesus. (NRSV)

Every time the word "virgin" is mentioned in these passages, it is a translation of the Greek word parthenos, which means (you guessed it) VIRGIN.

"So what's the big deal?" you might ask.  "Even in Matthew 1:23, when he quotes the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, he uses the Greek word parthenos, or 'virgin'!"  That would seem to close the case.  "Isaiah says virgin!"

Actually, no he doesn't....

The quoted verse is Isaiah 7:14.  I could tell you why this verse in its original context doesn't even refer to Jesus.  But that's not the question here.  Let's suspend disbelief for a moment and assume Matthew is correct that this verse does refer to Jesus.  The question is... Does this Old Testament prophecy, which we're assuming does refer to Jesus, proclaim that he would be born of a virgin?

You see, Matthew didn't actually quote the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, which was written in Hebrew.  He and most of his readers probably didn't even know Hebrew (this may explain why he wrote his gospel in Greek).  He quoted instead the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, which uses the word parthenos (virgin) in Isaiah 7:14.

For comparison, here's how the King James version (from the early 1600's) translates Isaiah 7:14:

"Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

So the Old Testament does predict a virgin birth? 

No, it doesn't.  The English translators of the King James Bible made the same mistake the author of Matthew's gospel made - they relied too heavily on the Greek Septuagint, which inaccurately translates Isaiah's original Hebrew text.

The original text of Isaiah does not say Immanuel (or Jesus) would be born of a parthenos, a "virgin."  It says he would be born of an 'alma (a Hebrew word meaning simply "young woman").  Isaiah (or God speaking to Isaiah) could have chosen to use the Hebrew word betulah (which does mean "virgin") here.  But he did not.  Isaiah uses betulah ("virgin") five times in his prophecy to refer to other people (see 23:4, 23:12, 37:22, 47:1, and 62:5).  But instead he intentionally uses alma, "young woman," to refer to Immanuel's mother in 7:14.

So the real Old Testament never says Jesus will be born of a virgin, though Matthew claims that it does.  One can understand his misunderstanding, since he used a flawed Greek translation of the Old Testament and had apparently no access to another version and/or no knowledge of the original Hebrew text.

Still he was wrong.  If I know nothing but the King James translation of the Bible, and thereby conclude that Isaiah prophesied a virgin birth - I may be excused for making an honest mistake.  But it is a mistake nonetheless.

I'm not saying Mary was or was not a virgin when she had Jesus - that's another question altogether that I have no desire or time to get into today.  I'm just saying that the Old Testament never predicted a virgin birth.