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Question:
Dear Rabbi Singer,
I have listened to your tapes and I have also read a number of your
articles on your web site regarding Christ’s virgin birth and you make some
very good points. I have
discussed this issue with my pastor and although he did remark that he
finds your arguments “interesting” he brought up a good argument (I
think). He asked that if the
Hebrew word alma only meant “young woman” and not “virgin,” why is
it that in every place the word alma appears in the Bible it is
always referring to a virgin?
I think he has made a good point and will relate your answer to
him. I thank you in advance.
Answer:
Your pastor’s contention that “every place the word alma appears in
the Bible it is always referring to a virgin” is incorrect. This is not the first time I have
come across a Christian who has made this erroneous assertion; and each and
every time I hear it I am puzzled as to why these apologists do not do
their research before making this claim. This is especially the case in our modern age where
computer technology has made simple word studies so quick and easy to
research. I will briefly
explain your question for the readers of our website who are unfamiliar
with this subject.
For nearly two millennia the church has insisted that the Hebrew word alma
can only mean “virgin.” The
church must hold this position because Matthew 1:22-23 translates alma
in Isaiah 7:14 as “virgin.”
The first Gospel quotes this well-known verse to provide the only
“Old Testament” proof text for the supposed virgin birth of Jesus. The stakes are high for
Christendom, because if the Hebrew word alma does not mean virgin,
Matthew is misquoting the prophet Isaiah, and both a key tenet of
Christianity and the credibility of the first Gospel collapses.
How accurate is this Christian claim?
The place to explore this issue is in the Jewish scriptures. If the Hebrew word alma
means virgin then each usage in the Bible must be either a clear reference
to a virgin or at least be ambiguous.
The word alma appears in the Jewish scriptures seven
times. If even one reference
clearly refers to a woman who is not a virgin, then Matthew’s rendition of
Isaiah 7:14 becomes untenable.
One of the places where the uncommon Hebrew word alma appears in the
Bible is in Proverbs 30:18-20 which reads,
There are three things which
are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the way of an
eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the
middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman [b’alma]. This is the way of an adulterous
woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.”
In the above three verses, King Solomon compares a man with an alma
to three other things: an eagle in the sky, a serpent on a rock, and a ship
in the sea. What do these
three things all have in common?
They leave no trace.
After the eagle has flown across the sky, determining that the eagle
had ever flown there is impossible.
Once a snake has slithered over a rock, there is no way to discern
that the snake had ever crossed there (as opposed to a snake slithering
over sand or grass, where it leaves a trail). After a ship has moved across the sea, the water comes
together behind it and there is no way to tell that a ship had ever passed
through there. Similarly, King
Solomon informs us that once a man has been with an alma there is
also no trace of the fornication that had occurred between them. Therefore, in the following verse
(verse 20) King Solomon explains that once this adulterous woman has eaten
(a metaphor for her fornication), she removes the trace of her sexual
activity by exclaiming, “I have done no wrong.” The word alma clearly does not mean virgin.
In the same way that in the English language the words “young woman”
have no bearing on whether virginity is present or not, in the Hebrew
language there is no relationship between the words alma and
virgin. On the contrary, it is
usually a young woman who bears children. Had Isaiah wished to speak about a virgin birth, he
would have used the word betulah1
not alma. Betulah
is a common word in the Jewish scriptures, and can only mean “virgin.”
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Tovia Singer
Footnote:
Click on the footnote
to return to the article
1In fact, although Isaiah used the Hebrew word alma
only one time in his entire corpus (7:14), the prophet uses this word
virgin (betulah) five times throughout the book of Isaiah (23:4;
23:12; 37:22; 47:1; 62:5).
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