The Virgin’s Baby

Isaiah 7-8

            Isaiah 7 is the classic example of how prophecy works. In it’s original context, it’s not messianic at all, but in Christian reflection it is completely messianic.

            Here’s the context: King Ahaz, about who 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles have almost nothing good to say, is under military pressure. Aram, to his northeast, and Samaria, his neighbor immediately north, are trying to convince Ahaz to form an alliance with them against Assyria. Meanwhile, Ahaz is trying to secure an alliance with Assyria. The kings of Aram and Samaria are preparing a way again Ahaz to force his hand. In chapter 7, we find Ahaz checking the fortifications of Jerusalem.

            The sign of the virgin has nothing to do with a miraculous birth. It is a time marker: in the time it takes a virgin to conceive and give birth to a son—that is about 9 months—this apparent threat will pass. Indeed, by the time such a child knows right and wrong (maybe age 7, certainly by the time the child was a teen) the threatening countries will be completely crushed. So, the prophecy makes complete sense in its original context and its first meaning is for that context.

            I don’t know of any Jewish tradition in the 700 years between Ahaz and the birth of Jesus that pondered these verses and thought, “The messiah will be born of a virgin,” and even if they had, they would have taken it exactly the same way.

            But in light of the angels’ messages to Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25) and to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), the prophecy takes on a wholly unexpected meaning. The messiah is literally born of a virgin, one who according to both Matthew and Luke had never known a man. There is a fullness to Isaiah’s words that prophet himself probably never even imagined.