The Mother of the Infant King, Isaiah 7:14: alma and parthenos in the World of the Bible: a Linguistic Perspective

by Christophe Rico, Peter J. Gentry (Translator)

Jerusalem, around 735 BC. Two armies threaten the Holy City to overthrow the dynasty of David. Ahaz, king of Judah, is consumed by fear and worry. Then the prophet Isaiah delivers his the ‘almâ is pregnant, she bears a son, and gives him the name Emmanuel.
What is the meaning of the word ‘almâ ? Without doubt more has been written on the interpretation of this term than on any other verse in the Old Testament. Is it a question of a virgin, as claimed by the fathers of the church, or of a young woman, as asserted by the majority of modern scholars?

232 pages, Paperback

Published March 2, 2020

Reviews

[Fred Kohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice linguistic analysis of the Hebrew term almah with some attentioned paid to the term parthenos. I would have gotten more out of it if I had known Hebrew. I disagree with the author's decision to disregard Proverbs 30.19 in his analysis of almah on the grounds that that word was probably not in the original text. After all, somebody along the way must have inserted that word into the text and therefore it is pertinent to the subject matter to ask how that person understood the word.