14 S puts the two words
Υμίν σημεΐον in their own paragraph. They could serve as a title for what
follows, but that would leave the preceding sentence without an object. Because
εξει a durative verb, it
appears to refer to pregnancy, whereas λήμψεται refer to conception. Matt 1:23 has ίδού ή παρθένος έν γαστρί έξει καί τέξεται υίόν,
καί καλέσουσιν τό όνομα αύτοϋ Έμμανουήλ, ό έστιν μεθερμηνευόμε- νον μεθ' ήμων ό
θεός. The only difference is the plural καλέσουσιν for the singular
καλέσει. Α, Β (Swete, Rahlfs, Ziegler) have καλέσεις, and so do D, Origen, and
Eusebius. In S the maiden will name the child; in A and B, Achaz will do so.
When quoted by Luke, the form of the verb is second person, as in A and B, but
the subject is the maiden, as in S. Luke 1:31 has καί ίδού συλλήμψη έν γαστρί
καί τέξη υίόν, καί καλέσεις τό όνομα αυτού Ίησοϋν. Dozens of articles have
addressed Greek Isaiah 7:14 specifically (C.H. Gordon 1953; das Neves 1972;
Dubarle 1978; Cazelles 1986; Kamesar 1990; Rosel 1991; Heath 1994; Troxel 2003;
J. Lust 2004; de Sousa 2008), and Lincoln provides the most recent review of
the issues (Lincoln 2012). Much of the discussion over Isa 7:14 has to do with
whether certain translations are justifiable. Is παρθένος a reasonable
translation of העלמה? Yes, Gen 24:43 provides a precedent. Is
"virgin" a reasonable translation of παρθενος? Yes, Rev 14:4 associates παρθένος with sexual
inexperience. But although these translations are reasonable, there is reason
to think that sexual inexperience is not the prototypical characteristic of a
παρθένος, even in G's mind. Lincoln adduced many examples of παρθένος with the
more general meaning of a woman who has not yet borne a child: Pausanias
8.20.4; Diodorus Siculus 20.84-3; Lycophron, Alexandra 1141,1175; Sophocles,
Oedipus Rex 1462, and most clearly Sophocles, Women of Trachis 1216-1229,
"where the dying Heracles implores his son to marry a παρθενος who has already been his own
lover" (Liνcoln 2012,
215). Similarly the LXX has non-virginal uses of the word in Gen. 34:3 and Joel
1:8, and even in Isa 62:5 we encounter the phrase συνοικών νεανίσκος Tapeev,
where the cohabitation (notably in the present tense) implies that not sexual
inexperience but age appears to be what G had in mind, since παρθένος is the
female counterpart of ωεανισκος.
Michael N. van der Meer noted Rosel's argument that העלמהrendered as παρθένος
echoes the birth of Aion as reported by Hippolytus. Pursuing this possibility
that the Greek translator was influenced by Hellenistic mystery cults, van der
Meer detected parallels between Greek Isaiah 7:14–17 and Greek Egyptian
prophecies close in time and space to where and when Isaiah was translated into
Greek. Specifically, certain phrases and images are shared between Greek Isaiah
and The Dream of Nectanebo, The Oracle of the Lamb of Bokchoris and the Oracle
of the Potter, and The Oracles of Ḥor. In common with the Dream of Nectanebo,
Isa 6 stresses verticality (high; lintels raised). According to one possible
reading, the Lamb oracle mentions a city called “a bundle of cucumbers and
gourds,” reminiscent of the city razed like a cucumber field in Isa 1:8. The
Potter oracle shares a topic and the word ἀνεμόφθορον with Isa 19:17, a general
theme of self-destruction with Isa 19:2, the word ἀγάλματα with Isa 19:3, and
most importantly, a common enemy: the Syrian king. Assuming Isa 14:4–21 and Isa
22:1–14 allude to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, van der Meer saw another parallel
between the Egyptian oracle and Greek Isaiah: they both contemporize oracles of
doom originally about Assyria to this Seleucid king. The Ḥor oracle contains a
line, “The confirmation of this: the Queen bears a male child.” The queen must
have been Cleopatra II, who would have given birth to this male child Ptolemy
Eupator while she was a teenager. As in Isa 7:14, the birth of a male heir by a
young mother while threatened by Syria served as a confirmation of the prophecy
(van der Meer 2010). Van der Meer was right to admit these parallels do not
indicate literary dependence. In most of the cases raised, the parallels (such
as between Ḥor and Isa 7) are already present in the Hebrew. The few lexical
parallels that are specifically Greek are not at all strong. The allegedly
significant historicalcultural parallel exalting Memphis over the other cities
is due (as van der Meer noted) to the translator’s misunderstanding of נשאו in
Isa 19:13. Even the claim that the reception history of both the Egyptian
oracles and Isaiah (evidenced by its Greek translation) both exemplify
fulfilment interpretation regarding the Seleucid period (specifically
Leontopolis around 140BCE) assumes such an interpretive method is
characteristic of the translator of Greek Isaiah. Christian interpreters since
the Gospels have seen here a reference to Jesus’ birth. Even if sexual
inexperience were the only meaning of παρθένος, G indicates that the mother was
a virgin only at the time of the prophecy, not at the time of the birth.
Lincoln demonstrated that Matthew’s account does not imply the conception took
place without a male human, but only that the father was not Joseph. Usually
the fathers quoted 7:14 to show that the scriptures prophesied the miraculous
birth of Christ, but also to show that the Son had a physical body (Ignatius,
Philippians 3). Justin Martyr bore witness to the Jewish interpretation that
the prophecy referred to Hezekiah (Dial. 43 and 67). In response, Justin (Dial.
43, 48, 66, 67–71, 77f., 84) insisted that without a miraculous birth there
would be no “sign,” and therefore the mother must have been a virgin after a
miraculous conception. Since Ἐμμανουήλ is given as a name, it is transliterated
rather than translated. (Ken Penner, Isaiah [Septuagint Commentary Series;
Leiden: Brill, 2021], 398-400)
