The accounts of the birth of Jesus appear in only two of the four Canonical Gospels, the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. Lukes story centers on Mary, while Matthews story centers on Joseph, and in both gospel accounts (Luke 2:1-7 and Matthew 2:1) Jesus is conceived without a human father.[36][37][38] While Lukes introduction does assert that its author has carefully investigated everything,[Lk. 1:3] neither Luke nor Matthew attribute their birth narratives to the direct testimonies of either Mary or Joseph.[39] James Hastings and separately Thomas Neufeld have expressed the view that the circumstances of the birth of Jesus were deliberately kept restricted to a small group of early Christians, and were kept as a secret for many years after his death.[40][41] Ronald Brownrigg suggests that the narrative in Luke was obtained via a path from Mary, while the narrative in Matthew was obtained from a path on Josephs side.[42] Matthew Main article: Matthew 1 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins. 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. —Matthew 1:18-25 (All that was in fulfillment of the isaiah prophecy:)Therefore, the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel. Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows to reject bad and choose good. For, when the lad does not yet know to reject bad and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread, shall be abandoned. —Isaiah 7:14-16 My commentary here:In this passage from the Book of Isaiah the prophet predicts to King Ahaz that a young woman will give birth to a son who will be called Immanuel, meaning God with us, and that Ahazs enemies,two kings whos land would become abandoned !and it was destined to happen in a time period,in years long before Jesus as a human would grow up during his boyhood years learning good and naturally rejecting bad, and would be long before He would reach even birth here on earth. Following commentary by wikipedia: The Gospel of Matthew (c 80-85) begins with a genealogy leading from Abraham to Joseph, but then calls Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom (Mary) was born Jesus, who is called Christ.[1:16] The Greek text, which has ἐξ ἧς (feminine singular), shows that the phrase of whom refers to Mary, not to Joseph or to Mary and Joseph together.[1:16] It then states that, when Mary was found to be pregnant, she had not lived with Joseph, to whom she was engaged,[1:18] and that he did not have marital relations with her before the child was born.[1:25] Matthew then states: That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit,[1:20] in fulfillment of the prophecy of the prophet: A virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.[Mt. 1:22-23] Scholars interpret prophet as a reference to Isaiah 7:14.[43] Some 5th- and 6th-century manuscripts read Isaiah the prophet.[44] The text of Isaiah in Hebrew, as given in both the Masoretic text and the Great Isaiah Scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, uses the word עַלְמָה (almah), meaning an unmarried young woman of the age of puberty. Matthew 1:22 (Behold the virgin shall be with child) uses the Greek term παρθένος (parthenos), meaning a virgin, as in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah,[45] which alters or refines the meaning of the Hebrew word,[46] perhaps understanding, as Raymond Brown suggests, the Hebrew word עַלְמָה to mean virgin in this context. Now i make my commentary,wherein it appears the original hebrew was prophecy word written by isaiah was almah(unmarried woman). Although it was a hebrew moral requirement that all unmarried women be virgins,ancient hebrew people would find this prophecy perhaps bewildering to imagine a unmarried woman giving birth to their messiah,and so its certain they interpreted the baby as being someone less special as some orthodox jews do to this day. Matthew, however, used the Greek translation of Isaiah, in which the word is given as παρθένος, parthenos, meaning a virgin. he had a good reason to do the rewording because of realizing the prophecys depth after the fact of its supernatural miraculousness. Matthew changed it to the greek word parthenos(virgin) because matthew and joseph learned after the prophecy was fulfilled that mary was not just a almah(unmarried woman)because the mystery had unfolded to reveal she was a virgin giving birth,a miracle realized by Luke as he wrote this,and was able to find deeper meaning into the prophecy.She was not just an unmarried woman,so luke retranslated it into it with the greek word parthenosfor she was truly unmarried and a literal virgin. It was a miraculous birth.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 09:17:38 +0000