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DUAL PROPHECY, VIRGIN BIRTH, AND JESUS? FULFILLED OR UNFULFILLED?

First we must become familiar with the passages in question so lets take time to read from Isaiah chapter 7:

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, marched on Jerusalem to wage war against it, and he could not wage war against it.  It was told to the House of David, saying, Aram has allied itself with Ephraim, and his heart and the heart of his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble because of the wind.  The Lord said to Isaiah, Now go out toward Ahaz, you and Shear-Yashuv your son to the edge of the conduit of the upper pool, to the road of the washers field, and you shall say to him, Feel secure and calm yourself, do not fear, and let your heart not be faint because of these two smoking stubs of firebrands, because of the raging anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.  Since Aram planned harm to you, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: Let us go up against Judah and provoke it, and annex it to us; and let us crown a king in its midst, one who is good for us.  So said the Lord God, Neither shall it succeed, nor shall it come to pass . . . .   The Lord continued to speak to Ahaz, saying, Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord, your God; ask it either in the depths, or in the heights above.  Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not test the Lord.  Then he said, Listen now, O House of David, is it little for you to weary men, that you weary my God as well?  Therefore the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign: Behold the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.  Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows to reject bad and choose good; for, when the lad does not yet know to reject bad and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread, shall be abandoned.

When done reading not only the above verses but the entire chapter then it should be very apparent to the reader that Isaiah chapter 7 is Isaiah's prophecy and declaration of the forthcoming unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the two armies of the Kingdoms of Israel and Syria and not a prophecy concerning a virgin birth more than 700 years later.  Now you need to think and use your mind that G-d gave you as you approach the next question.

Answer for yourself: If we interpret this chapter, as some professing Christian scholars attest, as referring to Jesus' birth, then what possible comfort and assurance would Ahaz, who was surrounded by to overwhelming military enemies, have found in the birth of a child seven centuries later?  The profoundness of such a question should stop both you and these supposed Christian scholar dead in their tracks as its implications are staggering and questions the intelligence of G-d no less! Both King Ahaz and his people would have been long dead and buried and never had seen such a sign. Such a proposition is plumb stupid!  Such a sign would make no sense.

Let us now move on to another part of the verse; in particular verses 15-16 which state that by the time this child reaches the age of maturity ("he knows to reject bad and choose good"), the two warring kings, Pekah and Rezin, will have been removed. 

Answer for yourself: Was this part of Isaiah's prophecy of the demise of these kings by the time that a "born child" maturity realized historically? Do you understand that if it can be proven that these kings were removed then the "child in question" had to be born already?

II Kings 15-16 reveal to us that this prophecy was fulfilled when these two kings were suddenly assassinated. With an understanding of the context of Isaiah 7:14 alone along with the historical removal of these two kings as military threats to King Ahaz, then it becomes very evident that the child born in Isaiah 7:14 is not referring to Jesus or to any future virgin birth.  Rather, the prophecy as Isaiah received it from G-d is referring to the divine protection that Ahaz and his people would enjoy from their impending destruction at the hands of these two enemies, the northern Kingdom of Israel and Syria.

Now some Christian commentators maintain that this is a "Dual Prophecy." They attempt to explain away this alarming problem of Matthew's complete indifference to the biblical context of Isaiah 7:14 by claiming that Isaiah's words to Ahaz had two different applications.  They agree with my contention that the first application of Isaiah's prophecy must have been addressed to Ahaz and his immediate crisis.  That child that was born contemporaneously and the first leg of this dual prophesy was fulfilled at the time of Ahaz, 2,700 years ago.

But here is where they disagree. They maintain, however, that the second leg of this dual prophecy applied to Jesus' virgin birth less than 2,000 years ago. In short, these Christians claim that Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled twice: once in 732 B.C.E., and a second time in the year 1 C.E. 

Answer for yourself: This sounds plausible; but is it? What are the problems that surround such hypothetical situation of such a "dual prophecy"?

Without realizing it such a scenario creates an enormous amount of problems.

• First of all, the proposal of dual prophecy is entirely contrived and has no basis in the Bible.  Nowhere in the seventh chapter of Isaiah does the text even hint of a second fulfillment.  The notion of a dual prophecy is thoroughly unbiblical and was fashioned in order to explain away a stunning theological problem.
• Secondarily, if, as some Christians maintain, the word ha'almah means a "virgin," and, as they insist, Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled twice, then there had to be two virgin births.
  • Answer for yourself: Who was the first virgin to conceive in Ahaz's time? 
  • Answer for yourself: Were there two virgin births? 
  • Answer for yourself: That is to say, if these Christians claim that the virgin birth of Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled twice, who then was the first virgin having a baby boy in 732 B.C.E.? 
  • Answer for yourself: Where is the record of that major event? Should it not have drawn some attention and be written in some record somewhere?
  • Answer for yourself: With the Hebrew Scriptures chronicling the many miracles worked by G-d for Israel when why is not mentioned among the sacred Hebrew Scriptures as are the many others?
  • Answer for yourself: Is Christianity by taking this "dual prophecy" approach claiming that Mary was not the first and only virgin to conceive and give birth to a child?

Consider with me for a minute that these Christians insist that the word ha'almah can only mean virgin.  They are snared by the words of their mouth since they refuse to use the real meaning of the Hebrew word "almah" which does not mean "virgin" but only "young woman." To force such a meaning to "almah" as meaning "virgin" when it does not along with a proposed "dual prophecy" means that there has to be two virgin births as well. History is completely silent as well as all of Jewish history on such an event.

• Thirdly, if Christianity claims the seventh chapter of Isaiah is a dual prophecy, how does Isaiah 7:15-16 apply to Jesus when these verses continue to speak of this lad?

Remember, Isaiah 7:14-16 reads

Therefore the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign, "Behold the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.  Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows to reject bad and choose good; for, when the lad does not yet know to reject bad and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread, shall be abandoned.

• Answer for yourself: If Isaiah's words are the substance of a dual prophecy, at what age did the baby Jesus mature? 
• Answer for yourself: Which were the two kingdoms during Jesus' lifetime that were abandoned? 
• Answer for yourself: Who dreaded the Kingdom of Israel during the first century when there had not been a Kingdom of Israel in existence since the seventh century B.C.E.?  Surely it was not Rome with their military might!
• Answer for yourself: Besides the prophecy of the birth of a child when or where was Jesus ever called Immanuel as required also by this prophecy?
• Answer for yourself: When did Jesus eat cream and honey?  Does any of this make any sense to you? 

I would think by now that this is beginning to add up. If you have been a student of Bet Emet Ministries for any length of time then you KNOW that Christianity and its hermeneutic [interpretation] of the Hebrew Scriptures are not only flawed concerning Isaiah 7 but is flawed concerning a great part of the Hebrew Scriptures. This as you have seen is not just "another rendering" but a purposeful attempt to alter the Hebrew Revelation to suite the theological agenda of the Gentile Church which did not want to live under the Law of G-d. Back to our point the whole of their interpretation of Isaiah chapter 7 according to traditional Christian tradition just does not add up because this argument of a dual prophecy was born out of the desperation of Christianity when confronted by the Jewish people and their scholars who know their own Scriptures better than Rome will ever know them. All of the forged and altered translations of the Hebrew Scriptures found in our Christian Bibles that are nothing more than purposeful mistranslation, misquotations, creations, and verses purposefully taken out of context in order to foist upon the unsuspecting Gentile world of yesteryear a replacement religion and in so doing they destroyed much of the Divine Revelation and many of the truths concerning the Jewish Messiah and the historical Jesus as well.

GOOD NEWS ON THE HORIZON

Things, they be a changing. It does my heart good to see that several Christian Bible translations today are reversing the error of their predecessors and translating "almah" and Isaiah chapter 7 correctly concerning the Hebrew. These newer translations are taking not of the forgery of Isa. 7:14 as found in the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures]. They are no longer going with the forged Greek Septuagint and the following translations attest to the renewed integrity of current Christian commentators and translators. May they be blessed of G-d for their honesty and efforts that go against the current of tradition Catholic tradition.

Revised Standard Version

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Revised English Bible

Because you do, the Lord of his own accord will give you a sign; it is this: A young woman is with child, and she will give birth to a son and call him Immanuel.

New English Bible

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and will call him Immanuel.

New Revised Standard Version

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

The Message of the Bible

He will give you a sign.  A young woman shall bear a son who shall truly represent the hopes we have inherited from the days of David.  His very name, God-is-with-us, shall express the secret of his power.

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

(Jehovah Witnesses) Therefore Jehovah himself will give you men a sign: Look!  The maiden herself will actually become pregnant, and she is giving birth to a son, and she will certainly call his name Immanuel.

Good News Bible

Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: A young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him "Immanuel."

The Jerusalem Bible:  Readers Edition

The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign.  It is this: The maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.

The Bible: :A New Translation

An omen you shall have, and that from the Eternal himself.  There is a young woman with child, who shall bear a son and call his name Immanuel (God is with us).

The Bible: :An American Translation

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold!  A young woman is with child, and is about to bear a son; and she will call him God is with us.

The International Critical Commentary

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, a damsel is with child, and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel.
The New Jerusalem Bible

The Lord will give you a sign in any case.  It is this: The young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.

The Layman's Bible Commentary

In reply, Isaiah says that the Lord will provide a sign.  It will be a most unusual and remarkable event.  A young woman shall bear a son and name him Immanuel, meaning God is with us.

World Biblical Commentary

Therefore my Lord himself will give you (plural) a sign.  Behold, the woman shall conceive and bearing a son -- she shall call his name Immanuel.

The Bible in Basic English

For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.

Now you know the truth of the matter.....blessings... Craig M. Lyons M.Div.

Bennoah1@verizon.net