Did King Ahaz find a virgin mother?

Question

In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz, the Judean king, is surrounded by the armies of Aram and Israel and things look bleak. At Isaiah 7:13-17, the prophet tells Ahaz that God will give him a sign that the seige will be broken. The sign, according to the NIV is that a "virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." The NIV footnote on the word "virgin" notes that the original Hebrew word could be read to be a "young woman" rather than "virgin." But given that Christian Bibles mostly say "virgin" the question arises: Did Ahaz find this sign? How would he have found a virgin who had just given birth? How would he know she was a virgin? Of all the signs God could have given Ahaz that the seige would be lifted and his enemies destroyed, this seems difficult. If you accept that this prophecy was meant for Jesus alone, then why was it given to Ahaz at that moment in time?

Answer 1

I don't want to rehash discussion that should be placed with this question. Therefore, let's assume that Isaiah 7 had a near fulfillment. If it didn't, then the answer would obviously be no.

I believe the answer to this specific question may lie in Isaiah's use of the the article which can have the force of a near demonstrative. Isaiah says "the virgin," which (if you hold to a near fulfillment) could imply that the virgin/young woman was present when the prophesy was given. Perhaps Isaiah even pointed her out to Ahaz.

Answer 2

My reading of Isaiah 7 is a little different - as I understand it, the sign is not the birth of a child from a young woman (fairly unremarkable in itself), but rather that before this young child grows up - while he is still "eating curds and honey" and doesn't yet know between good and evil - G!d will break the siege of the two kings. This is not the only time this kind of prophecy is made; e.g. compare Isaiah 8:3-4.

To me it seems that this is a rhetorical technique — that G!d will save them "before you can say Jiminy Cricket" or something like that.

Answer 3

The explanation of this maiden (virgin mother) requires that we integrate three events that occurred in the same period.

The first event was the meeting of Isaiah with Ahaz "at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's field" (Isaiah 7:3). Isaiah's son was in attendance, and his name was A-Remnant-Shall-Return ("שְׁאָר~יָשׁוּב"). The significance of this event was that the geographical location of this meeting place was now associated with the turning (and therefore returning) of a faithful remnant to Yahweh (Isaiah 10:21). That is, the precise idea behind the A-Remnant-Shall-Return was the eventual "return" of Jerusalem to Yahweh for deliverance.

The second remarkable event at this time was the prophecy conveyed by Isaiah to Ahaz concerning the maiden (virgin mother), whose child would be named God-with-us ("Immanuel"). The word for virgin is עַלְמָה, and refers to chaste women in the six other places this word occurs in the Hebrew Bible (Gen 24:43; Ex 2:8; Ps 68:25; Pr 30:19; Song 1:3; and Song 6:8). In other words, King Ahaz would countenance the birth of the child by a chaste woman, who would name the child God-with-us ("Immanuel"). The text does not state the identity of this woman (or any other names of the child). However, there are two prophecies concerning this boy which are noteworthy.

First Prophecy: before the child was to became an adolescent (when he would not just only recognize, but be capable "of refusing evil and choosing good"), the two kingdoms of Aram and Israel (10 northern tribes) would have fallen (Isaiah 7:16).

Second Prophecy: this same child is now addressed in the second person singular in Isaiah 8:8, where he is told that a "flood will reach the neck" of Judah, but that repentance will follow (Isaiah 8:9), and then the plans devised will be thwarted because God is with us, which literally is "Immanuel" (Isaiah 8:10).

So the tell-tale sign for King Ahaz to recognize this child, was that the child would be eating curds and honey (Isaiah 7:15) at the point of his adolescence when he would not just only recognize, but be capable "of refusing evil and choosing good." (The natural disobedient tendency of pre-adolescent children is to refuse good and to choose evil.) At that precise point of time for this child, the kingdom of Aram and the 10 northern tribes will have already been defeated. That was the "sign" to King Ahaz.

Again, the identity of this child and his mother are not revealed in the text.

Now fast forward to Isaiah Chapter 22. In this chapter the two chief executive assistants to King Hezekiah are mentioned: Eliakim the son of Hilkiah (chief of the royal household) and Shebna the scribe. Shebna is condemned as a "shame" who, it is prophesied, will be cast out and will die in captivity (Isaiah 22:18-19). On the other hand, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah (chief of the royal household) "will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah" (Isaiah 22:21). In addition, Yahweh was going "to set the key of David on his shoulder" and "he would be driven like a peg in a firm place" (Isaiah 22:23). In other words, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah was a righteous man.

Now here is where we tie it all together.

In Isaiah 36:3, both Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna the scribe meet the Assyrian Rabshakeh "by the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's field." Now there is the connection with the earlier mention of this geographical location in Isaiah 7:3, when King Ahaz was met by Isaiah and his son A-Remnant-Shall-Return ("שְׁאָר~יָשׁוּב"). So what is the significance?

The significance is that Jerusalem is now at a defining moment. Hezekiah began plundering the temple and paying tribute to placate and appease the Assyrians (2 Ki 18:13-16). It was not until Rabshakeh appeared at the doorsteps that King Hezekiah finally turned to the Lord for help (Isaiah 37:21). That is, up to that point, tribute and appeasement were the means of addressing the problem.

So who is this child Immanuel, who is not identified in the text?

The child could not be Hezekiah, because Hezekiah was born when Ahaz was 12 years old (compare 2 Ki 16:1-2 with 2 Ki 18:1-2). That is, Hezekiah was born before Ahaz became king of Judah at the age of twenty.

The only other candidate that appears in the context of the narrative of Isaiah, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles is Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was the head of the royal household in Judah.

Why?

As noted, the prophecy of the sign of Immanuel was given "at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's field" to King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:3). Isaiah's son was also present, and his name was A-Remnant-Shall-Return ("שְׁאָר~יָשׁוּב"). This Immanuel would witness the "flood up to the neck of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 8:8).

It was Eliakim the son of Hilkiah therefore who met the Rabshakeh "by the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's field" (Isaiah 36:2). According to 2 Ki 19:2, he (Eliakim the son of Hilkiah) was the leader who petitioned Isaiah to plead to Yahweh "on behalf of the remnant" (Isaiah 37:4). In other words, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah was the intermediary, and his role resulted in the inhabitants of Jerusalem to turn (and return) to Yahweh for help.

In other words, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah was a righteous man. It was not Hezekiah, but Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who had the "key of David" on his shoulder (Isaiah 22:22). This same key of David is mentioned in Revelation 3:7-9, where the context is the repentance of rebellious Jews! He was the "firm peg" upon which "the throne of glory" of the house of his father (David) would rest (Isaiah 22:23), but that at some point the peg would break (Isaiah 22:25, which appears to be a reference to the later Babylonian captivity in the year 586).

Finally, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah would therefore be the type for Jesus the Nazarene, whose mother was also the chaste maiden (עַלְמָה). Jesus would call for the repentance of people of Jerusalem and Judah at a later time. Thus "God with us" does not mean so much that God is reconciled to man but that man is reconciled to God through the mediation of the "Immanuel," who makes it happen. Eliakim the son of Hilkiah mediated and was the physical link (right place at the right time) for this reconciliation and deliverance through Yahweh, and of course Jesus the Christ is the means (mediator) by which we are reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20 and Col 1:22).

Thus the "key of David" is access to covenant with God.