Irenaeus exposes the innovators who distort the meaning of Isaiah 7:14 (Irenaeus was a Christian scholar who wrote his work AGAINST HERESIES in about 170 A.D.) While his explanation is a bit lengthy, it provides us with an insight into the origins of the "young woman" interpretation.
Again, the ancient Hebrews understood that the context of the verse in Isaiah 7:14 demanded that "almah" mean virgin just as it did in Genesis 24:43, in Song 1:3 and Song 6:8, an not simply "young woman". A young woman bearing a son could never have been a sign.
"Chapter XXI.-A Vindication of the Prophecy in Isaiah (VII. 14) Against the
Misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority of the
Septuagint Version.arguments in Proof that Christ Was Born of a Virgin.
1. God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the token of the Virgin. But
not as some allege, among those now presuming to expound the Scripture, [thus: ] "Behold, a young
woman shall conceive, and bring forth a son,"400 as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and
Aquila of Pontus,401 both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these, assert that He was
begotten by Joseph; thus destroying, as far as in them lies, such a marvellous dispensation of God,
and setting aside the testimony of the prophets which proceeded from God. For truly this prediction
was uttered before the removal of the people to Babylon; that is, anterior to the supremacy acquired
by the Medes and Persians. But it was interpreted into Greek by the Jews themselves, much before
the period of our Lord's advent, that there might remain no suspicion that perchance the Jews,
complying with our humour, did put this interpretation upon these words. They indeed, had they been
cognizant of our future existence, and that we should use these proofs from the Scriptures, would
themselves never have hesitated to burn their own Scriptures, which do declare that all other nations
partake of [eternal] life, and show that they who boast themselves as being the house of Jacob and
the people of Israel, am disinherited from the grace of God.
2. For before the Romans possessed their kingdom,402 while as yet the Macedonians held Asia,
Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being anxious to adorn the library which he had founded in Alexandria,
with a collection of the writings of all men, which were [works] of merit, made request to the people
of Jerusalem, that they should have their Scriptures translated into the Greek language. And they-for
at that time they were still subject to the Macedonians-sent to Ptolemy seventy of their elders, who
were thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the languages, to carry out what he had
desired.403 But he, wishing to test them individually, and fearing lest they might perchance, by taking
counsel together, conceal the truth in the Scriptures, by their interpretation, separated them from each
other, and commanded them all to write the same translation. He did this with respect to all the
books. But when they came together in the same place before Ptolemy, and each of them compared
his own interpretation with that of every other, God was indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were
acknowledged as truly divine. For all of them read out the common translation [which they had
prepared] in the very same words and the very same names, from beginning to end, so that even the
Gentiles present perceived that the Scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of God.404 And
there was nothing astonishing in God having done this,-He who, when, during the captivity of the
people under Nebuchadnezzar, the Scriptures had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years,
the Jews had returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, inspired
Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recast405 all the words of the former prophets, and to
re-establish with the people the Mosaic legislation.
3. Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such fidelity, and by the grace of God,
and since from these God has prepared and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has
preserved to us the unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt, where the house of Jacob flourished, fleeing
from the famine in Canaan; where also our Lord was preserved when He fled from the persecution
set on foot by Herod; and [since] this interpretation of these Scriptures was made prior to our Lord's
descent [to earth], and came into being before the Christians appeared-for our Lord was bern about
the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus; but Ptolemy was much earlier, under whom the
Scriptures were interpreted;-[since these things are so, I say, ] truly these men are proved to be
impudent and presumptuous, who would now show a desire to make different translations, when we
refute them out of these Scriptures, and shut them up to a belief in the advent of the Son of God. But
our faith is stedfast, unfeigned, and the only true one, having clear proof from these Scriptures, which
were interpreted in the way I have related; and the preaching of the Church is without interpolation.
For the apostles, since they are of more ancient date than all these [heretics], agree with this
aforesaid translation; and the translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles. For Peter, and
John, and Matthew, and Paul, and the rest successively, as well as their followers, did set forth all
prophetical [announce-merits], just as406 the interpretation of the elders contains them.
4. For the one and the same Spirit of God, who proclaimed by the prophets what and of what sort
the advent of the Lord should be, did by these elders give a just interpretation of what had been truly
prophesied; and He did Himself, by the apostles, announce that the fulness of the times of the
adoption had arrived, that the kingdom of heaven had drawn nigh, and that He was dwelling within
those that believe on Him who was born Emmanuel of the Virgin. To this effect they testify, [saying, ]
that before Joseph had come together with Mary, while she therefore remained in virginity, "she was
found with child of the Holy Ghost; "407 and that the angel Gabriel said unto her, "The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God; "408 and that the angel said to
Joseph in a dream, "Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, Behold, a virgin shall be with child."409 But the elders have thus interpreted what Esaias
said: "And the Lord, moreover, said unto Ahaz, Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God out of
the depth below, or from the height above. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not tempt the
Lord. And he said, It is not a small thing410 for you to weary men; and how does the Lord weary
them? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son; and ye shall call His name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat: before He knows or
chooses out things that are evil, He shall exchange them for what is good; for before the child knows
good or evil, He shall not consent to evil, that He may choose that which is good."411 Carefully, then,
has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a virgin, and His essence, that
He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates this). And He shows that He is a man, when He says,
"Butter and honey shall He eat; "and in that He terms Him a child also, [in saying, ] "before He knows
good and evil; "for these are all the tokens of a human infant. But that He "will not consent to evil, that
He may choose that which is good,"-this is proper to God; that by the fact, that He shall eat butter
and honey, we should not understand that He is a mere man only, nor, on the other hand, from the
name Emmanuel, should suspect Him to be God without flesh.
5. And when He says, "Hear, O house of David,"412 He performed the part of one indicating that He
whom God promised David that He would raise up from the fruit of his belly (ventris) an eternal
King, is the same who was born of the Virgin, herself of the lineage of David. For on this account
also, He promised that the King should be "of the fruit of his belly," which was the appropriate [term
to use with respect] to a virgin conceiving, and not "of the fruit of his loins," nor "of the fruit of his
reins," which expression is appropriate to a generating man, and a woman conceiving by a man. In
this promise, therefore, the Scripture excluded all virile influence; yet it certainly is not mentioned that
He who was born was not from the will of man. But it has fixed and established "the fruit of the
belly," that it might declare the generation of Him who should be [born] from the Virgin, as Elisabeth
testified when filled with the Holy Ghost, saying to Mary, "Blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy belly; "413 the Holy Ghost pointing out to those willing to hear, that the
promise which God had made, of raising up a King from the fruit of [David's] belly, was fulfilled in
the birth from the Virgin, that is, from Mary. Let those, therefore, who alter the passage of Isaiah
thus, "Behold, a young woman shall conceive," and who will have Him to be Joseph's son, also alter
the form of the promise which was given to David, when God promised him to raise up, from the fruit
of his belly, the horn of Christ the King. But they did not understand, otherwise they would have
presumed to alter even this passage also.
6. But what Isaiah said, "From the height above, or from the depth beneath,"414 was meant to
indicate, that "He who descended was the same also who ascended."415 But in this that he said, "The
Lord Himself shall give you a sign," he declared an unlooked-for thing with regard to His generation,
which could have been accomplished in no other way than by God the Lord of all, God Himself
giving a sign in the house of David. For what great thing or what sign should have been in this, that a
young woman conceiving by a man should bring forth,-a thing which happens to all women that
produce offspring? But since an unlooked-for salvation was to be provided for men through the help
of God, so also was the unlooked-for birth from a virgin accomplished; God giving this sign, but man
not working it out.
7. On this account also, Daniel,416 foreseeing His advent, said that a stone, cut out without hands,
came into this world. For this is what "without hands" means, that His coming into this world was not
by the operation of human hands, that is, of those men who are accustomed to stone-cutting; that is,
Joseph taking no part with regard to it, but Mary alone co-operating with the pre-arranged plan. For
this stone from the earth derives existence from both the power and the wisdom of God. Wherefore
also Isaiah says: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I deposit in the foundations of Zion a stone, precious,
elect, the chief, the corner-one, to be had in honour."417 So, then, we understand that His advent in
human nature was not by the will of a man, but by the will of God.
8. Wherefore also Moses giving a type, cast his rod upon the earth,418 in order that it, by becoming
flesh, might expose and swallow up all the opposition of the Egyptians, which was lifting itself up
against the pre-arranged plan of God;419 that the Egyptians themselves might testify that it is the finger
of God which works salvation for the people, and not the son of Joseph. For if He were the son of
Joseph, how could He be greater than Solomon, of greater than Jonah,420 or greater than David,421
when He was generated from the same seed, and was a descendant of these men? And how was it
that He also pronounced Peter blessed, because he acknowledged Him to be the Son of the living
God?422
9. But besides, if indeed He had been the son of Joseph, He could not, according to Jeremiah, be
either king or heir. For Joseph is shown to be the son of Joachim and Jechoniah, as also Matthew
sets forth in his pedigree.423 But Jechoniah, and all his posterity, were disinherited from the kingdom;
Jeremiah thus declaring, "As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechoniah the son of Joachim king of Judah had
been made the signet of my right hand, I would pluck him thence, and deliver him into the hand of
those seeking thy life."424 And again: "Jechoniah is dishonoured as a useless vessel, for he has been
cast into a land which he knew not. Earth, hear the word of the Lord: Write this man a disinherited
person; for none of his seed, sitting on the throne of David, shall prosper, or be a prince in Judah."425
And again, God speaks of Joachim his father: "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joachim his
father, king of Judea, There shall be from him none sitting upon the throne of David: and his dead
body shall be cast out in the heat of day, and in the frost of night. And I will look upon him, and upon
his sons, and will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, upon the land of Judah, all
the evils that I have pronounced against them."426 Those, therefore, who say that He was begotten of
Joseph, and that they have hope in Him, do cause themselves to be disinherited from the kingdom,
failing tinder the curse and rebuke directed against Jechoniah and his seed. Because for this reason
have these things been spoken concerning Jechoniah, the [Holy] Spirit foreknowing the doctrines of
the evil teachers; that they may learn that from his seed-that is, from Joseph-He was not to be born
but that, according to the promise of God, from David's belly the King eternal is raised up, who sums
up all things in Himself, and has gathered into Himself the ancient formation [of man].427
10. For as by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death obtained [a place] through sin; so also
by the obedience of one man, righteousness having been introduced, shall cause life to fructify in
those persons who in times past were dead.428 And as the protoplast himself Adam, had his
substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil ("for God had not yet sent rain, and man had not tilled
the ground"429 ), and was formed by the hand of God, that is, by the Word of God, for "all things
were made by Him,"430 and the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man; so did He who is the
Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling Him to gather up Adam [into
Himself], from Mary, who was as yet a virgin. If, then, the first Adam had a man for his father, and
was born of human seed, it were reasonable to say that the second Adam was begotten of Joseph.
But if the former was taken from the dust, and God was his Maker, it was incumbent that the latter
also, making a recapitulation in Himself, should be formed as man by God, to have an analogy with
the former as respects His origin. Why, then, did not God again take dust, but wrought so that the
formation should be made of Mary? It was that there might not be another formation called into
being, nor any other which should [require to] be saved, but that the very same formation should be
summed up [in Christ as had existed in Adam], the analogy having been preserved." |
