Is 7.14: Virgin or Young Woman?

Once again, it was a gimme that an unmarried almah was a virgin. I believe that 'almah' was used to show it wasn't gonna be just any ole virgin woman who was gonna give birth to Immanuel. She was to be of high character, etc.

And, as Doc Cas & others have pointed out, EVERY use of 'almah' in the OT is shown by the context of its use to refer to a virgin. We see both bethuwlah and almah used for Rebekah in Gen.24.

 

Prov 30:19 is an ambiguous use of almah. It may mean virgin, but it may not.

If v. 20 is a contrast of v. 19, then almah would be a virgin. If v. 20 is an explanation (a common phenomenon), then the almah is a young woman who is an adulteress.

Isa 54:4 uses an abstract form of almah (alumim) to describe a barren woman. She could only be described as barren if she had been given the opportunity to bear children and had not been able to.

So the argument that almah only ever means virgin is suspect. I believe it fails. However, I think the context and the NT citation are clear proof that Isaiah did intend a virgo intacta.

BTW, the use of parthenos in the LXX is not conclusive either since Gen 34 uses parthenos to describe Dinah, a woman who had been raped. She could hardly have been considered a virgin. Some argue (and perhaps rightly) that that by the time of Matthew and NT Greek, parthenos had a more limited meaning than it did in the LXX. Of course, if you believe in a late date for the LXX, that is a moot point. I don't believe in the late date for the LXX.

 

Are you saying "parthenos" was used in the LXX at Gen.34?

With all due respect, she WAS a virgin before she was raped/seduced, whatever happened between her and Shechem.

The seven uses of 'almah' in the OT are teanslated 'virgin' 4 times, 'maid' twice, and 'damsels' once. The context shows that those three entries referred to virgins.

 

Yes, in Gen 34:3, Dinah is a called a parthenos AFTER she is raped in 34:2. So she was no longer a virgin when she is called a parthenos. Now remember, that has nothing to do with what "almah" means, but rather with what parthenos means in classical Greek (not Koine).

I actually made a chart of the uses of Almah and the major translations. The fact is that they don't translate it as "virgin" everytime. And you still have Isa 54:4 where the root word is used of barren women, and Prov 30:19 where there is at least the possibility (and I think probability) that the almah is not a virgin.

But the case for virgin is not built best by the word almah. It is best built by the context and Matthew's citation of it.