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The Son of Elohim – part 3
The Virgin Birth

Matithyah (Matthew) 1:23 
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
And they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, Elohim with us.   

From the time of Mashiach through today there have always been those who for various reasons have discarded the virgin birth of Yeshua.  In this study we are going to examine what Scripture teaches to see if the idea of Yeshua being born to a virgin is warranted.  In the process we will also examine some of the major reasons why others have chosen to reject this concept.

Luqa (Luke) 1:26-27
26 Now in the sixth month the messenger Gabriel was sent from Elohim to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,  
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Yoseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Miriam.

Both Matithyah and Luqa specifically mention that Miriam was a virgin; specifically, that Miriam and Yoseph, while betrothed, were not yet married when she became pregnant.  In Matithyah’s account he is quoting from the prophet Yeshayah.

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 7:14 
“Therefore YHWH Himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

From the Peshitta we find that both Matithyah and Luqa have the Hebrew word בתולה – “betulah” with Matithyah having the definite article ה before it.  Part of the problem for some arises when this is compared to what is found in Yeshayah, which has העלמה – “ha-almah.”  However, the Shem Tov Matithyah also has העלמה and is more in line with Yeshayah in this particular instance.  These two words, בתולה – “betulah” and עלמה – “almah” must be very similar for them to be used in this manner.  The question for us is: “What is the difference between them?” 

עלמה – “almah” means “to cover” or “to hide.”  Another often used root word in Hebrew will help us understand what “almah” means.  This Hebrew word is גלה – “galah,” which means “to reveal, make manifest, or uncover.”  It is often used in matrimonial relations.  So in the Torah עלם – “alam,” may be considered as implying the “concealment of the virgin; i.e., till lawful marriage had taken place.”  A virgin was not called עלמה – “almah” because she was concealed by being kept at home in her father’s house; but rather, because, as a woman, she had not been uncovered; i.e., she had not known a man in a sexual manner.  This surely applies to Miriam as she states, “How can this be, seeing I know no man?” (Luke 1:34)

So, “almah” is simply a woman who has reached puberty and is now of marriageable age; whereas, בתולה – “betulah” seems to indicate a younger virgin who has not yet reached the age of puberty.  Please consider the following passage.

Melakim Aleph (1st Kings) 1:2 
Therefore his servants said to him, “Let there be sought for my master the king a young virgin; and let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my master the king may be warmed.”

When King David got old he had trouble staying warm at night.  So the plan was put forth that a young virgin would sleep with him to keep him warm.  The use of “young virgin” in Hebrew suggests that she had not reached puberty; which would make perfect sense considering that the king would not want to sleep with a young girl who was menstruating and thus become unclean.  However, if the girl was not yet into puberty that would not be a problem.

Regardless of the exact meaning of these two individual words, it seems plain that at least Matithyah is pointing directly to the passage in Yeshayah as the birth of Yeshua being the fulfillment of that prophecy.  This we cannot dismiss or disregard in any manner.  Furthermore, both testify that Miriam had not known any man.  So, whichever word is used, this is the meaning that these two particular writers are attributing to the word used according to the context in which it is found.  Both writers are using the word to indicate that Miriam had not known a man.  Both of these words can mean this depending on the context used; and the context is clear in this case: Miriam was in fact a virgin when she conceived.

Whichever one of these two words is the correct one, whether it is בתולה or עלמה , it is clear from what Matithyah states in the following passages that what is being meant by the use of this word is that Miriam had not known any man, let alone her betrothed, Yoseph.

Matithyah (Matthew) 1:18 
Now the birth of Yeshua the Mashiach was in this manner; when His mother Miriam had been betrothed to Yoseph, before they came together she was found with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matithyah states that this child who was being born to Miriam was not Yoseph’s child.

Matithyah (Matthew) 1:25 
And he knew her not till she had brought forth a son; and he called His name Yeshua.

Furthermore, we learn that Yoseph had no marital relations with Miriam even after they were married until after she had given birth to Yeshua and she had gone through the commanded time of cleansing according to Torah.

There are those today who are teaching that Yeshua was the physical son of Yoseph.  This teaching not only ignores the testimony of Scripture, but actually takes a portion of Scripture and discards it.  Anytime one discards even one stroke of Scripture, he is on a fast road towards discarding Mashiach Himself.  Since He is the Word made flesh, to take a portion of the written word (Scripture) and toss it aside is to take Mashiach Himself and toss Him aside.  This is not a wise or prudent thing to do!

When we look at how Yoseph handled this situation we learn a lot of pertinent information.

Matithyah (Matthew) 1:19-20 
19 And Yoseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
20 But when he thought on these things, behold, a messenger of YHWH appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Yoseph, son of David, fear not to take unto yourself Miriam your wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

When Yoseph learned that his bride who was betrothed to him was pregnant, it was his intention to put her away.  Why?  He was going to put her away because he knew that this was not his child.  However, as he contemplated putting her away, in essence divorcing her (for a betrothal in that culture was as binding as a marriage) he had a dream.  In this dream YHWH came to him and told him that he was to go ahead and marry Miriam, for this child was not the child of a man, but rather this child was that which was promised through the prophet long ago.

Regardless of whose child this was, it was not Yoseph’s physical child.  Of that we can be certain!  In fact, in this dream YHWH states that it was His child, via the Ruach Qodesh (Holy Spirit).  In part one of this series we examined the following passage.

Luqa (Luke) 1:35 
And the messenger answered and said to her, “The Ruach Qodesh shall come upon you, and the power of Elyon shall overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of Elohim.”   

We examined how both the Father aspect of Elohim (Elyon) as well as the Mother aspect of Elohim (Ruach Qodesh) were both involved in the bringing forth of this child and that Miriam contributed no DNA to this child; i.e., it was not her egg that was fertilized.  Both the Father and the Mother aspects of the bringing forth of Mashiach were manifestations of Elohim.

Miriam had never known any man when she became pregnant.  Neither had she known her Creator as some teach.  She was simply a vessel through which to bring forth Mashiach.  When she became pregnant she was a virgin in every sense of the word, since it was not one of her eggs that was used. 

In our world today those woman who cannot become pregnant on their own use a process called in vitro fertilization.  This process can use an egg donated from another woman which is fertilized outside the womb and then placed inside the womb of the surrogate mother.  So, if man can do this with his technology, then surely YHWH who created man can do this!  Surely YHWH can plant a fertilized egg inside the womb of a woman without any difficulty.  This is what Scripture teaches us that He did in the above passage.

While many people are focused upon Yeshayah 7:14 as pointing to the virgin birth of the coming Mashiach, there is perhaps another passage that is as equally significant; perhaps even more so.  In order to see this passage, or even the passage in Yeshayah 7:14, one needs to understand the context of this section of Yeshayah.

In chapter seven of Yeshayah the prophet writes of the coming Mashiach; i.e., His future birth as we quoted this passage above.  In chapter 9 he writes of Mashiach having been born.

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 9:6 
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty El, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Then in chapter eleven the prophet writes of the Mashiach as reigning.

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 11:1-4 
1 And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Yishai, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of YHWH shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of YHWH.
3 And His delight shall be in the fear of YHWH; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither decide after the hearing of His ears;
4 but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth; and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.

So the context of these chapters is about the coming of Mashiach.  What we are going to look at now is a hidden reference to the virgin birth; perhaps one of the clearest in all of Scripture, at least to this writer.  It is found in the verse immediately following Yeshayah 9:6.

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 9:7 
Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever.  The zeal of YHWH Tzava’ot will perform this.

What is contained in this verse cannot be seen in any other language except for the language in which it was written: Hebrew.  It is important to keep in mind the context here and specifically the verse that immediately precedes this verse.

Please note that the verse before this one states that a child is going to be born and then it lists some of the names by which He will be known.  The word that we are interested in examining in 9:7 is translated as “Of the increase.”  This is the first word following the list of names in the previous verse. 

In Hebrew there are five characters which are written in a different form if that particular character comes at the end of a word.  This form is called “sofit” (soe-feet).  Those five characters are כ – kaf and ך - kaf sofit; מ – mem and ם – mem sofit; נ – nun and ן – nun sofit; פ – fey and ף – fey sofit; and צ – tzadi and ץ – tzadi sofit.  In this case, the character in which we are interested is the ם – mem sofit.

Normally, this word would be written as למרבה – “l’marbeh.”  However, that is not what is written in this passage.  What we find in this passage is לםרבה .  This does not change the pronunciation of the word, nor does it change the meaning of the word.  This is one of those “jots and tittles” that Mashiach spoke of being fulfilled.  So, what does this mean?

The מ – “mem” is symbolic of water.  “Water” in Hebrew is spelled מים – “mayim”; (mem, yod, mem sofit).  Then by extension it is associated with the water of the womb.  So, we have pictured an open womb with the מ – “mem” and we have a closed womb pictured with the ם – “mem sofit.”

So, this child who is to be born who will be known as “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty El, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” whose increase shall never end, would be born from a closed womb; i.e., a virgin.  For this is what the ם – mem sofit symbolically represents: a virgin.

There are those who object to this whole idea of a virgin giving birth because so many pagan cultures have a similar story found in their mythologies.  But we should expect to find such stories in many cultures because this is what is contained in the story of the stars: the mazzarot.  Just because some of the older records predate the reality, does not in any way negate the reality!  In fact, they actually help to verify the veracity of the prophecy.

Today man has the technology to implant a fertilized egg into the womb of a woman.  This woman could easily be a virgin.  Since man has the technology to make a virgin pregnant, don’t you think that the Creator of man could just as easily do this very thing as well?  To be sure!

The conclusion of the matter is as follows.  Yoseph knew without any doubts that this child from Miriam was not his.  Miriam’s testimony is that she had not yet known any man, including Yoseph.  Therefore, she must have been a virgin just as Scripture states that she was when she became pregnant with Yeshua. 

ABBA YHWH, we know that all things are possible with You.  Continue to teach us Your truths; in the name of Mashiach Yeshua.

Amein and Amein.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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