The meaning of the word Almah

What is the source for the virgin birth in christianity?

In Matthew 1:

[22] All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
[23] "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and his name shall be called Emmanuel"

So who was the prophet who said that?

It's Isaiah!

lets see what is written in his prophetcy:

[14] Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el


What is the reason for that diffrance?

It's all about translation!

The Hebrew word for virgin is betulah.

An example for that:

If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and lay wanton charges against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say: 'I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity[1]'; then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity[2] unto the elders of the city in the gate. And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders: 'I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath laid wanton charges, saying: I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity[3]; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.[4]' And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city.And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him. And they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin[5] of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

(Deuteronomy 22:13-19)

Those verse descibe a procedere that muslim are familiar with - Virginity Test.

So those verse talk very clear about the physical status of a woman = Virgin or Not.
What is the Hebrew word which describe the physical status of a woman?
All words in this section are from the Root word Bethulah.
In 4 first times when it relate to the hymen - the word is "Bethulim".
In the 5th time when it reltaed to the woman Status,virgin - the word is "Bethulah".

In Aramaic also (which is also a sematic languagh) the word for virgin is Betulata.
see here: http://www.peshitta.org/lexicon/

So it's very clear what is the word in Hebrew for a virgin.

What is the Hebrew word Isaiah use?

Isaiah use the word almah which mean in Hebrew - a young girl.
An example for this:

And the king said: 'Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.'

(Samuel1 17:56)

The meaning of the word stripling is a youth( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stripling )

The Hebrew word for stripling is "alem" which is the masculine form of the word almah.

So the source for this concept of Virgin birth is a mistake in translation!!!


for more reading see this:

http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishviewofjesus/a/jesus_virgin.htm