The role of the divine in the
theme of promised progeny hinges on the belief that biological factors, though
necessary, are not sufficient to result in conception and childbirth. Jacob
reminds Rachel that her barrenness is not due to him but to God who has
withheld the fruit of her womb (Gen. 30:2). Nor does the childless Rebecca
conceive until Isaac entreats God on her behalf and God grants his plea (Gen.
25:21). This is akin to the Epic of Aqhat, where the virtuous Danel prays to El
that his wife should bear him a son; only after El grants his prayer does
Danel's wife conceive and give birth, after fulfilling the biological
requirements which are as indispensable as the divine blessing. In this regard
it may be noted that the miraculous birth of Jesus has no antecedents as such
in the extant Canaanite-Hebraic literature. The Immanuel annunciation is, to be
sure, anticipated in Ugaritic text 77. But neither the ‘almah of Isaiah, nor
the ‘almah or betulah of text 77, nor the parthenos in the
Septuagint version of the Immanuel prophecy, implies the virginity of the
mother at the time of the childbirth. In Ugarit, the Betulah Anath is
not a virgin. Her epithet (Ybmt) seems to be the same word as the Hebrew
for "widowed sister-in-law;" and text 132, though fragmentary, seems
to describe her amorous exploits with Baal. In an Aramaic incantation a woman
having difficulty in bearing her (presumably first) child is nonetheless called
betulta ( = Heb. betulah). Dr. E. J. Young calls my attention to
the fact that the betulah of Joel 1:8 must have been married for she
mourns "the husband of her youth." Dr. H. S. Gehman informs me that parthenos
as early as Homer (e.g., Iliad 2:514) may refer to a woman who is no longer a
virgin. All this may explain why Rebecca, who is called an ‘almah in
Gen. 24:43, and a betulah in 24:16, is (to make matters unequivocally
clear) additionally described as a girl that "no man had known"
(24:16). Neither ‘almah nor betulah nor parthenos means
necessarily what "virgin" means in English. The birth of Jesus is
according to Matt. 1:18-25 supernatural, not because v. 23 identifies Mary with
the ‘almah/parthenos of Is. 7:14, but because v. 20 specifies
that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit and not of Joseph. (Cyrus H. Gordon, “The
Patriarchal Age,” Journal of Bible and Religion 21, no. 4 [October 1953]:
240-41)
