The Sign of Isaiah 7:14

Q. What was the “sign” spoken about in Isaiah 7.14?

A. The verse reads: “Therefore, the L-rd him-self shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” To develop this out would take many hours, and I will do this with our congregation during the nest few weeks but I am going to try to condense this out as best as possible in this limited space. This is a good question for this time of year. By the time you read this, we will be into the Feast of Sukkot (tabernacles) week. Yeshua was born around the first day of the festival, which was Sept. 20th this year.

We know he was conceived around the feast of Chanukah from the information given in Luke 1 and Josephus. In past articles I have already shown that he was born around Sukkot, and not December, so I won’t develop that aspect of this, but let’s concentrate on 2 aspects of Isa. 7.14. Let’s look at the word ‘virgin” and “sign.” The word for virgin used is the word “almah” and it can be used for a virgin or young woman. This prophecy in Isaiah was literally fulfilled with Isaiah’s wife, who gave birth to a son, and she certainly wasn’t a virgin, having been married. But, in the case of Miriam, she was a virgin and the Scriptures are clear about that. So, G-d used a word that could apply to both situations. Now, does the Messiah have to have a virgin birth? In Genesis 3.15 it is the “seed” of the woman that crushes Satan’s head, not the seed of a man. Also, In Jer.22.30 there is a curse on Jeconiah that said none of his descendants would sit on the throne of David. But, G-d promised David that one would, so there is a problem.

How does G-d fulfill both? The virgin birth fulfills both. Yeshua descended through David and Solomon and Jeconiah down to Joseph (Matt1). Miriam his mother descended through David and his son Nathan, avoiding the Jeconiah line, which was the kingly line. But, Nathan was older than Solomon so there was a legal heir aspect to this. Yeshua was conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus avoiding the curse and physical descent through Jeconiah. Now, some have said that his father Joseph should have been king in Israel, but he could’ve never been king because he was a descendant of Jeconiah and G-d said one would not rule as king again. But,Yeshua can because his father was G-d, but he had the credentials through his mother, who was also from the tribe of Levi. Another interesting point in this is this.

Even if you don’t believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, as many Orthodox/religious Jews do, you still have to have a Messiah born through a virgin birth to fulfill the Scriptures. I believe that Messiah is Yeshua and he fulfilled this to the letter. That’s why Joseph kept Miriam a virgin until after Yeshua was born, to fulfill Isaiah 7.14.

Now, the second word is “sign”, Hebrew “ot” and can mean “miracle.” It is spelled with the first letter of the Hebrew alpha-bet,” aleph” then the” vav” which is the number six, the number of man, and the” tad”, the last letter of the alphabet. So, the aleph-tad, which is a symbol for the word and the L-rd, has “man in the middle, which is exactly what Yeshua is, G-d and man. But, what kind of “sign’ is it for a young woman to have a son, and how does she go about proving she was a virgin?

There is a scriptural way to prove she was a virgin and that she remained faithful to her husband Joseph. In Numbers 5 there is a procedure described called “the Seta”, or the adultery test. The jealous husband could submit his wife to this test. The Mishmash (Seta) describes the procedure and it was not entered into easily. But, one could volunteer to go through it, and I believe that is what Miriam does, with the help of Zechariah and Elise her cousin (Luke1).

They would serve as witnesses to the fact that she had known no man. Miriam, after hearing the angel and her conception, immediately goes to stay with them till she is “showing” (3 moss). We know that Elise and Joseph knew she was innocent, but nobody else knew for sure. If she submitted to this ordeal, it would be a clear sign to all Israel that this pregnancy and child was no ordinary one. She could prove her innocence to those who accused her or doubted her story, and that of her son, by pointing to the fact that she submitted to this ordeal, and survived as the proof of her virginity and the fact that her son was born through G-d and not the normal agency of man. This test was done publicly and before many witnesses in the Temple. I believe that this is the sign that the L-rd spoke about and that he would do himself, fulfilling Isaiah 7.14.