NRSVCE Text Block:
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13 Then Isaiahd said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young womane is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.f 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good1
Matthew misunderstands the Greek version of Isaiah 7 and states:
“All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 ‘Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’ ” Isaiah 7 is about the Syro‑Ephraim war against Judah and the sign was for King Ahaz, which was fulfilled in the Assyrian army destroying the two nations attacking Judah. The child is a timeline, not a savior. 10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you are in dread of will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”
(Isaiah 7:10–17)
Then in chapter 8, when it’s actually coming true as predicted, the prophet cries out Immanuel twice! Because the child had a symbolic name, not because a messiah was coming. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher‑shalal‑hash‑baz, 4 for before the child knows how to call ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
(Isaiah 8:7–10)
7 therefore the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River—the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; 8 it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, pouring over; it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. 9 Take notice, you peoples, and be dismayed; listen, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be brought to naught; 10 Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Further the prophet demonstrates that the child born in chapter 8 was a timeline for the prophecy, as predicted. See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
(Isaiah 8:18)
Furthermore, parthenos in Greek does not necessitate an absolute virgin. Case in point, Genesis 34 from the LXX uses it for Dinah after she was raped. So does Homer and other Greek authors. Homer in the Iliad: Astyoche § 2.510 went young men of the Boeotians an hundred and twenty. And they that dwelt in Aspledon and Orchomenus of the Minyae were led by Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Ares, whom, in the palace of Actor, son of Azeus, Astyoche, the honoured virgin, conceived with mighty Ares, as she had entered into her upper chamber;