The Meaning of עַלְמָה in Isaiah 7:14

 

Isaiah 7:14 is one of the most debated passages between Jews and Christians concerning the Messiah. In this article, I will be examining a very common Jewish claim that the Hebrew word almah means "young women" or "maid" rather than the specific word "virgin". 

First, I will list the 7 times that this word is is used in the OT (except its occurance right here in Isaiah) and comment on a couple of them that are relevant for our understanding. 

"behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin [ha-almah] who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, 'Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,' " (Genesis 24:43)

Here the word is used in describing Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. Note verse 16 which says explicitly that "no man had known" (meaning in a sexually intimate way) her, thus saying that Rebekah is a virgin.

"And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the girl [almah] went and called the child's mother." (Exodus 2:8)

It is likely that the almah here was not older than around 9 or 10, and hence was most likely a virgin. 

" the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins [alamoth] playing tambourines: " (Psalm 68:25)

"your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins [alamoth] love you. " (Song of Solomon 1:3)

"There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins [wa-alamoth] without number. " (Song of Solomon 6:8)

This verse is significant and important for our understanding of almah. Because right here, the alamoth are distinguished quite clearly from the queens and concubines (who were obviously not virgins). John Owen makes a similar point in his dissertation on the Messiah:

"In Song of Solomn 6:8, the עֲלָמוֹת are distinguished first from מְלָכוֹת, the “queens,” or the king’s married wives; and then from the פִילַגְשִׁים, or “concubines,” those who were admitted “ad usum thori,” to the marriage-bed, though their children did not inherit with those of the married wives: and therefore none but those who were properly virgins could be designed by that name" (John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews with Preliminary Exercitations, Vol 1, Concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Messiah, the Jewish Church, pg. 390)

Often Jews have gone to Proverbs 30:19-20, to support their interpretation of almah:

"the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with almah. This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.” (Proverbs 30:19-20, with Hebrew word substituted)

John Owen again answers this spot-on:

"There remaineth only one place more wherein this word is used, whence the Jews would wrest somewhat to countenance their exceptions. This is Pro_30:19, בְּעַלְמָה וְדֶרֶךְ גֶּבֶר; —  “And the way of a man with a maid.” And who is intended by עַלְמָהthere, they say the ensuing words declare: אִשָּׁה מְנָאָפֶת כֵּן דֶּרֶךְ; —  “So is the way of an adulteress,” or a woman an adulteress, an harlot. So that עַעְמָהmay, it seems, be such an one. But,

[1.] Suppose the word should in this place be used in a sense quite contrary unto that of all other places wherein mention is made of it, is it equal that we should take the importance of it from this one abuse, rather than from the constant use of it in other places, especially considering that this place will by no means admit of that signification, as we shall immediately evince?

[2.] It is used here peculiarly, with the prefix בְּ, בְּעַלְמָה, whence it is rendered by the LXX. in the abstract, ᾿Εν νεότητι, “The way of a man in his youth;” which sense Jerome follows, “Viam viri in adolescentia;” and it may thus seem to be differenced from the same word in all other places. But,

[3.] Indeed the meaning of the wise man is evident, and it is a virgin that he intended by the word, and בְּעַלְמָה דֶרֶךְ גֶּבֶרis the way that a man taketh to corrupt a virgin, and to compass his lust upon her. This is secret, hidden, full of snares and evils, such as ought not to enter into the thoughts of a good man to conceive, much less to approve of. And therefore, whereas he says of the residue of the quaternion joined with this, Pro_30:18, נִפְלְאוּ, “They are too wonderful for me,” he adds, on the mention of this evil, לֹא יְדַעְיתּי, “I know it not,” or as Jerome, “Penitus ignoro;” which he could not say of the way of natural generation. And by this means she who is called עלְמָה, “a virgin,” Pro_30:19, is made מְנָאָפֶת אִשָּׁה, “an harlot,” Pro_30:20, and has become impudent in sinning. A man having, by subtle wicked ways, prevailed against her chastity, and corrupted her virginity, she afterwards becomes a common prostitute. And this I take to be the genuine meaning of the place, though it be not altogether improbable that the wise man in Pro_30:20 proceedeth unto another especial instance of things secret and hidden in an adulterous woman, כֵּן signifying as much as “so also,” which it doth in sundry other places."   (John Owen)

It should be pointed out that if almah means young woman (in the specific way the Jews intend it) here, then it does not really fit the purpose of the sign (אוֹת). A "sign" is generally something extraordinary, that doesn't happen very often. A virgin giving birth would be a clear-cut and fitting example. However, a young woman giving birth literally happens every day. This is not something which would be a fitting "sign" for King Ahaz. 

Jews often object that the birth of the virgin-born Messiah hundreds of years after the time when Isaiah 7:14 was given would be pointless, since they (the Jews) claim that a sign must occur prior to the thing signified. This is a false assumption. Here are two OT examples where the sign (oth) is after the thing being signified:

"He said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)

Here YHWH is speaking to the prophet Moses from the burning bush concerning the deliverance"" of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Notice that the sign is a future event, and yet the sign is given before they ever get to the mountain. 

"And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day." (1 Samuel 2:34)

How would be the birth of Jesus be a sign to King Ahaz? First of all, it should be noted that King Ahaz himself refused any sign from God at all (Isaiah 7:11-12). Secondly, the birth of the Messiah was a sign to the children of Israel that they had not been utterly forsaken by God and that there was still hope for the nation of Israel as God's covenant people.