CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Many studies have been done dealing with Isaiah
7:14 to answer this problematic text. The phrase, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and
shall call His name Immanuel” or in Hebrew, הָעַלְמָ֗ה הָרָה֙
וְיֹלֶ֣דֶת בֵּ֔ן וְקָרָ֥את שְׁמ֖וֹ עִמָּ֥נוּ אֵֽל הנֵּ֣ה לָכֵן יִתֵּ֙ן אֲדֹנָ֥י ה֛וּא לָכֶ֖ם א֑וֹת (Isa 7:14 WTT)
has evoked a long dispute among scholars. To Whom is the Immanuel and his
mother meant or here predicted?. In this limited paper, it is impossible to
discuss all the opinions, however, in short it could be said there are three
major interpretations have been given to this difficult text. The various
answer to this question may be all reduced into three fundamental hypothesis.
The first hypothesis is that the only birth
and infancy referred to in this verse are the birth and infancy of a child born
(supposed to be born) in the ordinary course of nature, and in the days of
Isaiah himself. The unessential variations, of which this hypothesis is
susceptible, have reference chiefly to the question what particular child is
intended. The second is by supposing that the prophecy relates to two distinct
births and two different children. The first supposes one child to be mentioned
in ver.14, and another in ver.16. The third is that proposes to effect this by
applying all three verses directly and exclusively to the messiah, as the only
child whose birth is there predicted and his growth made the measure of the
subsequent events. [1]
The
most reasons why there are so many disputes and different interpretations of
this verse because the difficulties of the meaning of the words and also different
ways to approach this biblical text. Then, the question comes: what did Isaiah
mean in and to whom the child is predicted in 7:14, when he said “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and
shall call His name Immanuel”?
In order to reach the purpose of this study
that is to answer the statement of the problem exegetically, the following
steps will be done: 1) to study historical context of Isaiah 7:14; 2) To do
grammatical and syntactical analysis of Isaiah 7:14; 3) to draw some
conclusions and applications.
[1]See Alexander A. Joseph,
Commentary on the prophecies of Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1978), 166-168.
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