In the gospel according to Matthew, there is a story about a virgin called Mary who becomes pregnant and conceives a child by the Holy Spirit. To prove this the writer quotes scripture from the Old Testament as if it were a fulfillment of bible prophecy.
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Mat 1:22,23)
The “Prophecy” in Context
Isaiah, a Jewish prophet who lived in the 8th century BCE, writing about King Ahaz, king of Judah. In his day Syria banded with Israel to make war against Jerusalem, but could not prevail. As the story goes, God tells king Ahaz that God would make his enemy’s attack come to nought if he would believe.
It appears that Ahaz is doubting God and God is trying to encourage his faith. For some reason the king refuses to ask for a sign, and God gives him a sign anyway because they are afraid. And to give them confidence and faith the prophet says:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14)
Now the word that is (purposely) mistranslated to “virgin” is the word ‘almah’ which has nothing to do with virginity, and actually simply means a young woman or maiden. She would have a son and name him Immanuel, which means “God is with us”. This verse has nothing to do with a virgin getting pregnant, only that a young woman gets pregnant and has a son.
Now, “God is with us” is significant in the context of the situation since the whole idea is God trying to encourage King Ahaz that he is on their side and that they will win if he only trusts in God.
(Opinion: I say “purposely” mistranslated because if it were just a simple error, it would have very little effect on the religious theology aspect. But this mistranslation has resulted in the creation of a very different kind of religion than the early Jewish believers ever even dreamed of.)
(The reason I believe this is that the followers of Jesus didn’t believe Mary was a virgin; Joseph, to them was the flesh and blood father of Jesus; they were very against the idea that Jesus was God; and that Jesus became the Son of God at his baptism and not from eternity. See: What the Early Christians Really Believed
(Moreover, this the mistranslation has been known about and has persisted for hundreds of years, and was never corrected, but in fact, has turned into an enormous world-wide religion — based on a mistranslation.)
(Continuing with the story:) He goes on to tell Ahaz that before the boy is old enough to know the difference between good and evil, both kings of the enemy nations that are at war with Judah will be forsaken. It goes on to describe how the Lord will defeat all of king Ahaz’s enemies. (Isa 7:15-25)
As it turns out, it seems that (in the very next chapter) the young woman who gives birth to the boy is impregnated by the prophet himself, and the young woman who conceives is a prophetess. It is very likely the same woman and the boy, and it is certainly a continuation of the same sign God was giving to the king since it sounds very similar and is an obvious continuation of the sign in the previous chapter. (Isa 8:1- 10)
And exactly as in chapter 7 the prophecy has the phrase, “God is with us”, which gives credence to the idea that the prophetess and the young woman (virgin) from chapter 7 are one and the same woman. If so, then it’s the prophet himself who impregnates the young woman and not the Holy Spirit.
Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us (Isa 8:10)
It was a sign was about an actual existing woman who bore a son, not a prophecy about virgin who would supposedly exist several centuries later.
It was an encouragement for the king to trust that God was on his side (God is with us), not a prophecy that Mary’s son Jesus would be God with us in the flesh.
The correct translation for the word “almah” should have been young woman or maiden, not virgin. The word for virgin, correctly translated is “parthenos”.
Purpose of the Forgery in Matthew
When you read the passages about the virgin birth story very closely and in context, it becomes obvious that the mistranslation was intentional to fortify the Church’s false doctrine that Jesus was born of a virgin.
This was done to convince readers and followers of Christianity that Jesus was God come in the flesh (to the Roman church), because back in that era to qualify as a god-man one had to be born of a virgin.
Opinion: The writers of the gospels never expected their Messiah King to fail to fulfill the prophecies and not deliver God’s People from their enemies the Romans — they expected to be rescued. They didn’t expect that their king sent from God would fail, be captured, tortured and executed — fortunately he escaped death!
Opinion: If a story hadn’t been written to convince people that their expectations were misunderstood and Jesus came and actually fulfilled the mission that he was “sent” to accomplish, the followers of Paul and Christianity would never have survived. Fortunately, much of the beautiful teachings of Jesus survived, even though most of the original manuscripts were lost, hidden or destroyed.
Jesus was not God
The passages were not a future prophecy but a sign to king Ahaz. They were intentionally mistranslated to read “virgin” instead of young woman.
And the expression “God is with us” (Immanuel) does not refer to Jesus, but God literally telling the king centuries before that He was on the side of Judah and was meant to be a sign of encouragement that He would defeat Judah’s enemies, at that time, and NOT a prophecy of future events.
Main Takeaways:
- This is not a prophecy about a virgin birth or Jesus, it is about a sign God gives to encourage a king that He is with him.
- Jesus was never named Immanuel, Immanuel meant that it was a sign to the king that God was with them.
- The word “almah” is purposely mistranslated to make it look like a fulfilled prophesy about a virgin birth.
- Emmanuel did NOT refer to a future prophecy of God with us in the flesh.
- Jesus was not God.
- Jesus becoming God come in the flesh of man, gave Christianity an exclusivity that helped them win converts from the Pagans, the cult of Mithras, etc.
- The story in Matthew about the virgin birth and Jesus coming as God in the flesh could only be a forgery.
Next: Jesus’ Childhood | Flight Into Egypt