{"id":65073,"date":"2019-11-02T19:09:22","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T17:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65073"},"modified":"2023-05-28T12:16:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T09:16:38","slug":"alma-not-mater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/alma-not-mater\/","title":{"rendered":"Alma, Not Mater"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[478,622,506],"acf":{"old_id":"65073","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":60755,"related_cahpter":"341","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Whether Immanuel was Isaiah\u2019s son or Ahaz\u2019s, he certainly wasn\u2019t the messiah\u00a0","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biblical prophets were staunch critics of their societies, and often of their rulers, too. In their eyes, decisions and acts contradicting God\u2019s will would always be avenged. And when they talked about the future, they did so not because they actually could see what would happen but because they were convinced by the power of their message: God <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> punish God&#8217;s people when they continue to act unjustly\u2014even if current events might seem to show the opposite. In fact, the Greek word \u201cprophet\u201d refers to foretelling future events, while the Hebrew <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">navi<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, also usually translated as prophet, means &#8220;to call,&#8221; and refers perhaps to the prophet\u2019s conversations with God or the people, or to ecstatic music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this chapter, a coalition between Kings Rezin of Aram and Pekah of northern Israel threatens King Ahaz. But when God asks Ahaz whether he wanted to see the future, he refuses. Ahaz does not wish to test God! Undeterred, Isaiah announces the imminent birth of a child: \u201cLook, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel,\u201d (14) that is, \u201cGod is with us.\u201d Isaiah notes that this Immanuel will still be a small child\u00a0 when Assyria, an even greater threat will rise at the horizon. We are not sure what the birth of this child signifies. The text does not tell us, but just as Isaiah&#8217;s children have special names that point to future events, so does the arrival of this Immanuel. Some Jewish interpreters suggested that Isaiah meant the birth of Hezekiah, King Ahaz&#8217; son, while others, such as Rashi, thought Immanuel was Isaiah\u2019s son. Beginning with the New Testament, Christian commentators read this verse as foreshadowing the miraculous birth of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This passage is a great example for the influence of Christian thought on Jewish Bible interpretation. Obviously, the rabbis emphatically reject the Christian reading. As the medieval commentator David Kimchi, also known as Radak, angrily notes, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">alma<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Hebrew word used for Immanuel\u2019s mother, means \u201cyoung woman,\u201d not \u201cvirgin,\u201d\u00a0 as Christian translations often implied. The rabbis insist on this interpretation precisely because this verse became so fundamental to the Jewish-Christian encounter. Similarly, some rabbinic commentators note that <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hara<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, (also 7:14) is a verb in the past tense. The young woman <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> already conceived\u2014this verse then cannot then, the rabbis insist, refer to the future birth of the Christian messiah. Immanuel\u2019s birth, instead, indicated the rise of a bigger enemy but was not of eschatological importance.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65074,"id":65074,"title":"is7-King-Messiah","filename":"is7-King-Messiah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/alma-not-mater\/is7-king-messiah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is7-king-messiah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65073,"date":"2019-11-02 17:09:09","modified":"2021-11-12 12:53:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1194,"height":573,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-300x144.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":144,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-768x369.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":369,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-1024x491.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":491,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":1194,"1536x1536-height":573,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":1194,"2048x2048-height":573,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","post_full_size-width":1194,"post_full_size-height":573,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-875x420.jpg","home_baner-width":875,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Alma, Not Mater","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Whether Immanuel was Isaiah\u2019s son or Ahaz\u2019s, he certainly wasn\u2019t the messiah\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":65074,"id":65074,"title":"is7-King-Messiah","filename":"is7-King-Messiah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/alma-not-mater\/is7-king-messiah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is7-king-messiah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65073,"date":"2019-11-02 17:09:09","modified":"2021-11-12 12:53:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1194,"height":573,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-300x144.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":144,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-768x369.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":369,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-1024x491.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":491,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":1194,"1536x1536-height":573,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":1194,"2048x2048-height":573,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah.jpg","post_full_size-width":1194,"post_full_size-height":573,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is7-King-Messiah-875x420.jpg","home_baner-width":875,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65073"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115595,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65073\/revisions\/115595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}