Until does NOT imply a change. Until only describes a certain period of time. Instead of using examples find the dictionary definition. The definition has no implication or statement that there is a change. The reason for the until is to indicate a period of a specific time. It doesn’t intend to say what happened after that period of time. Matthew was indicating a condition before Jesus’ birth not after. To indicate that until means a change is misusing the word.
I love your examples…because they mess up your point. For instance the one about the man never being able to relax UNTIL he took up fishing…obviously that indicated a change; the obvious implication is that taking up fishing allowed him to relax. The other example about the woman who "ran until she was breathless’ connotes the idea that when she became breathless, she stopped running.
The point is, nobody ever writes something like “she weeded the garden until it began to rain” unless that defining event affects the preceding action; if we are meant to understand that she weeded the garden after the rain started, then the word ‘until’ would not have been used.
In fact, can you come up with a single English sentence where ‘until’ is used–that does NOT imply a change to whatever activity is being performed before whatever event happens that causes the ‘until’ to show up?
She remained chaste until…???
He ran laps every morning until…???
The rain lasted until…???
Can you identify, or write, a sentence that uses “until” that does NOT imply a change to either the activity, the person, or the observer?
You can do something until your death—after which of course you can’t do anything.
You can do something until you move away–after which, of course, you might keep on doing whatever it is, but nobody in your own neighborhood will see you do it.
You can do something until something else happens…but it makes no sense to make that statement if that ‘something else’ doesn’t make a difference to whatever you were doing.
If the scriptures stated that Joseph refrained from “knowing” Mary, his wife, for the rest of his life, or until his death or hers, that would be really good evidence that she remained a virgin. However, specifically saying that he refrained from "knowing’ her until the birth of her Son…why bother, unless the birth of her Son signals a change for them in this area?
It’s not simply a measurement of time; it’s a time measurement of action. Boundaries to whatever it is you are doing–or not doing. Outside those boundaries, the connotation is that the action changes–else those boundaries are illogical.
) cents about this. I’ll first make the case that Mary WAS immaculate with some new details: