C
c659smith
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The modern Catholic perspective, from an entry in Catholic Encyclopedia, endorses a viewpoint that Luke, the writer of the gospel used a previous document that was written in, or inspired by a Hebrew text:
In point of fact the history of the infancy as found in the third Gospel [Luke] (1:5 to 2:52) betrays in its contents, its language, and style a Jewish-Christian source. The whole passage reads like a chapter from the First Book of Machabees; Jewish customs, and laws, and peculiarities are introduced without any further explanation; the “Magnificat”, the “Benedictus”, and the “Nunc dimittis” are filled with national Jewish ideas. As to the style and language of the history of the infancy, both are so thoroughly Semitic that the passage must be retranslated into Hebrew or Aramaic in order to be properly appreciated. We must conclude, then, that St. Luke’s immediate source for the history of the infancy was not an oral, but a written one.[2]
On translating the Greek Textus Receptus of Matthew 1:23, there is little problem in translating the Greek word “parthenos” as “virgin” which is the usual Greek word for virgin:
(Matthew 1:23 Greek Textus Receptus) …] ιδού η παρθένος εν γαστρί έξει και τέξεται υιόν και καλέσουσιν το όνομα αυτού Εμμανουήλ ο έστιν μεθερμηνευόμενος μεθ’ ημών ο Θεός.
It is from the transliteration of the Greek text that the spelling Emmanuel was introduced for the Hebrew name Immanuel.
Upon examination of the Greek Septuagint text at Isaiah 7:14 one can also find the word 'parthenos"(“virgin”) rather than the usual Greek word “neanis” for “young woman”.
However, the use of the Hebrew word “almah” in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible has stirred controversy among a number of scholars and in fact has produced what is known as The Almah Controversy. This has resulted in variations between Bible translations,with some translations using “young woman” as does the New English Translation or NET Bible:
An almah is an unmarried, virginal, sexually ripening young woman (all these notions in the definition are crucial); a betulah is a virginal married or unmarried woman, and she may be old, she does not have to be young; a na’arah is a girl or young woman; a zonah is a non-virginal harlot or prostitute; a noefet is an adulteress; an agunah is a woman whose husband’s whereabouts are unknown [see Ro 7:2 OJBC]; a pilegesh is a concubine; an isha is a woman/wife; a gerushah is a divorcee; a gevirah is a noble woman or queen mother; a malkah is a queen, etc.
I am aware of the translation issues and the involvement of one noun, two nouns, adjectives,verbs, etc…
But you must also realize that this was a prophetic vision and that the young woman was pregnant already with Jesus so the word virgin at that point would have been a challenge to state as she was pregnant and in trying to use the proper grammar at the time.
In trying to describe young, married, virgin, and pregnant well you can see the diffulcult as seen by Isaiah
Never the less the Jewish authorities accepted the Greek translation several hundred years prior to the birth of Christ. Then went and re-looked at it.
Oh, well!!