In light of Isaiah 7:15-16, how could Jesus be the promised child born of a virgin?

Question

Isaiah 7:14 is the famous verse in which King Ahaz is promised that a virgin (or a young woman—I know the translation issues) shall conceive. This prophecy is even quoted in the New Testament and clearly is supposed to be Jesus.

What gets me is that verse seems to be taken way out of context.

The next verse, for example, talks about that child eating curds and honey, and to reject evil before he even knows right and wrong. If that applies to anybody, it sounds more like John the Baptist than Jesus.

Even worse for this passage as prophecy, 7:16 seems to make it clear that the prophecy is supposed to be fulfilled right away. The whole point was that this child would be just barely be born before Ahaz's enemies will be routed.

In short, any "plain" reading of this prophecy in context should seem to eliminate Jesus, and yet, the Bible itself says this is speaking of Him.

So, as someone who actually believes in the Virgin birth, and believes in the prophecy, how is it that I am supposed to interpret the context in which this prophecy is given?

Answer 1

Hermeneutic principles for understanding this passage:

• The Christology of the the law and the prophets. It's all is about Christ; even if you were to disagree with this personally, this is certainly the overarching principle of hermeneutics that Matthew is working with (see my answer here for a few example passages). This gives us pause in claiming that Matthew has quoted the passage out of context.
• The multiple fulfillment of prophecy. This ties in directly to the previous point: there are often multiple types of Christ which fulfill to some degree the prophecies of Messiah, but only Christ fulfills if fully and finally. An example of this is the son promised to David in 1 Chronicles 17. Thus, yes, the prophecy will have an immediate fulfillment; but it will also have a later, fuller fulfillment. Because God himself is supplying the sign, he is graciously giving more than just a sign of the defeat of the enemies who are at hand. Because of this multiple fulfillment, there are sometimes details which fit more closely with the near-at-hand fulfillment, and some the fit more closely with more distal fulfillments.
• The progressive nature of revelation. Thus, King Ahaz almost certainly did not understand the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy. Nevertheless God was pointing forward to something that Isaiah could have only dimly seen in the distance.

Specific notes concerning the passage:

• As noted in the question, the equivocal nature of the Hebrew word maid. This fits with the nature of multiple fulfillment.
• Eating curds and honey refers to the fact that the child will still be a small infant when the kings are already defeated (i.e. not yet having enough teeth to eat solid food).
• The reference to discerning good and evil is a parallel way of emphasizes that the child will be a small infant yet at the time of the destruction of the enemies. It is not a comment on whether the child will be sinless (though that might be similarly resolved by the dual nature of the prophecy).