733 BC. The Israeli king Pekah and the Syrian ruler Rezin, with whom Judea refused to enter into an alliance against Assyria, go to Jerusalem to destroy it (Jerusalem at that time was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. The kingdom of Israel was a neighboring state to the north of Judea. - Ed..) These are powerful enemies, and the king of Judah Ahaz is preparing to repulse them. But at this crucial moment, one of the royal nobles, Isaiah, says to him something, apparently completely inappropriate: do nothing and do not worry, the danger will pass by itself: “Watch and be calm. Do not be afraid, and let your heart not lose heart from the two ends of these smoking smut, from the kindled anger of Retsin and the Syrians and the son of Remaliah. Syria, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah are plotting evil against you … But the Lord God says this: it will not take place and will not come true (Isa 7:4-7).
Ahaz is not convinced. Then Isaiah says: "If you do not believe, it is because you are not certified … ask for a sign from the Lord your God: ask either in the depths or on high" (Isa 7: 9,11). But Ahaz does not want any signs. Of the two options - trust the word of God or follow his fears - he chooses the second. And then Isaiah exclaims:
Despite its wide popularity, the prophecy is very mysterious, and there are at least three “mysteries” in it.
The first "riddle"
- these are the goals that are driven by the prophet Isaiah. After all, he does not address the Jewish king Ahaz with a prediction of the future. He offers him a sign designed to confirm the authenticity of previously spoken words. But what is this sign, if it happens only in the distant future? It seems that it was designed to convince King Ahaz of the failure of the military initiatives of Pekah and Retsin - but could it really convince anyone of anything? Let us recall that the events of which Isaiah was a contemporary took place in the second half of the 8th century BC. That is, more than 700 years remained before Christmas, and at the time of Isaiah it could not be a “sign” of anything!
How to explain this: St. Basil the Great pays attention to the words Hear, house of David! Ahaz refused to ask Isaiah for a sign, he explains, so the Lord Himself gives the sign, and not to Ahaz, but to the whole house of David. By proclaiming the immaculate Nativity of the Savior of the world, the Lord shows the Jews, according to the word of St. Basil, "that for the human race it is impossible otherwise correction, except through the coming to people of God the Word."
The future event - the birth of the Messiah in the lineage of Tsar David - was supposed to "serve as proof, proof that this time the House of David will not perish," explained Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin, a professor at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. But it demanded from Ahaz "all the power of faith in the promises given to their forefather, David," which the king obviously did not have, so this prophecy became a sign not for him, but for the entire Old Testament Church.
Promotional video:
The second "riddle"
- associated with the word "Virgo". In the Hebrew original, the word hā'almā is used here, which does not necessarily translate as "virgin", it can also mean a young woman, which was repeatedly stressed by Jewish critics of Christians.
How to explain it: Firstly, despite the ambiguity of this word, in the Bible it still almost always denotes an unmarried girl. In this sense, Isaac's bride Rebekah is called virgin (Gen. 24:43); this word appears in those passages of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon (Proverbs 30:19), Deuteronomy (Deut 22: 25-27) and the third book of Kings (1 Kings 1: 3-4), which emphasize the theme of innocence.
Secondly, seventy-two interpreters who made the famous Greek translation of the Bible at the request of the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus at the end of the 3rd - the beginning of the 2nd century BC, translated the Hebrew hā'almā into the Greek word Παρθένος, which is already unambiguously translated as Virgo. For the Church accepting this translation (dubbed the Septuagint) as inspired by God, this is an important argument.
Well, and most importantly - and this was pointed out by many holy fathers - the very meaning of a sign (that is, a significant event) is lost if hā'almā is understood in the meaning of “young woman”. "Is it surprising that one of the many women living with her husband becomes the mother of a boy?" - exclaims Basil the Great. John Chrysostom echoes him: “If it had not been a virgin, there would have been no sign. The sign should … surpass the usual order of nature, be wondrous and extraordinary … If we were talking about a woman giving birth according to the law of nature, why would the prophet call a sign that happens every day?"
The third "riddle"
is the name of the Baby. The Prophet calls Him Immanuel - but then what does Jesus of Nazareth have to do with it?
How to explain it: "Immanuel" in Hebrew means "God with us", and this very accurately describes what happened at the moment of the birth of the Lord Jesus: the Word became flesh and dwelt with us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). God came to earth and lived with us. Thus, says Archimandrite Job (Gumerov), Isaiah's prophecy predicted not the Savior's own name, but something much more significant - that God Himself will become the Savior, Who will incarnate and be present in the world among people.
He will be both God and man - but a deified man, who from his birth chose the good and rejected the evil. This is how all the holy fathers explain the words of prophecy, which are not quite clear in Russian translation, He will eat milk and honey, until he understands to reject the bad and choose the good (Isa. 7:15).
Why this prophecy matters: This passage from the book of Isaiah is one of the most famous and important in the Bible. After all, it is not only about the Nativity of Jesus Christ from the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also about the fact that Christ will be both man and God at the same time.
Where else can you hear the words of prophecy?
The prophecy of the birth of Immanuel from the Virgin is quoted in the Gospel of Matthew: these words are heard in a dream by the angel by righteous Joseph, betrothed to the Most Holy Theotokos, and is convinced of the immaculate conception of the Child (Matt 1:22, 23). In addition, it is part of the readings from the Old Testament (paremias), which are sung in the church on the day before Christmas (at the service of the sixth hour) and on the holiday of Christmas itself (at Vespers). Also, this fragment of the book of the prophet Isaiah is read on Friday of the second week of Great Lent at the service of the sixth hour.
The editors would like to thank the Associate Professor of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities, Candidate of Theology Mikhail Anatolyevich Skobelev for help in preparing the material