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Continued from the virgin birth.

1) Not virgin: In the original language, Isaiah 7 never mentions the word virgin. "Almah" doesn't mean virgin in Hebrew, but it was translated into Greek using the noun 'parthenos' which does mean virgin. Since Isaiah uses virgin in another passage, 62:5, its non-use in the 7:14 is a hint that Isaiah spoke only of a young woman, not specifically of a virgin. In the verse 62:5, Isaiah does use the noun bethulah. Therefore if he wanted to use the noun virgin, he would have written bethulah as he did in 62:5, not almah. See table below for occurances of the words almah and bethulah.

2) This passage from Isaiah is about a specific time period; it is a prophecy for the one who is hearing it, king Ahaz.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: a young maiden will be with child and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good. For before the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, the land of those two kings, whom you dread shall be deserted."
This was the Lord's response to the wicked Ahaz who refused to ask for a sign... the time period is the time it takes for a young woman to bear a child, who will be named Immanuel (god is with us) and the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, in this specific time period... to be seen as a specific sign to Ahaz, that Judah will be saved from the threat of Rezin and Pekah. It is not a messianic prophecy

Almah is used 7 times in the Hebrew Bible and is never translated as virgin.
Ge 24:43 young woman
Ex 2:8 girl
Ps 68:25 maidens
Pr 30:19 young woman
So 1:3
So 6:8
Isa 7:14 young woman

Bethulah is used 50 times and is always translated as a virgin.
Ge 24:16
Ex 22:16
Ex 22:17
Le 21:3
Le 21:14
De 22:19
De 22:23
De 22:28
De 32:25
Jud 19:24
Jud 21:12
2Sa 13:2
2Sa 13:18
1Ki 1:2
2Ki 19:21
2Ch 36:17
Es 2:2
Es 2:3
Es 2:17
Es 2:19
Job 31:1
Ps 45:14
Ps 78:63
Ps 148:12
Isa 23:4
Isa 23:12
Isa 37:22
Isa 47:1
Isa 62:5
Jer 2:32
Jer 14:17
Jer 18:13
Jer 31:4
Jer 31:13
Jer 31:21
Jer 46:11
Jer 51:22
La 1:4
La 1:15
La 1:18
La 2:10
La 2:13
La 2:21
La 5:11
Eze 9:6
Eze 44:22
Joe 1:8
Am 5:2
Am 8:13
Zec 9:17

A reference for lineage.

Lineage is established only through the biological father (for line/tribe):
Tribal lineage: Numbers 36
Kingship lineage: Genesis 49:10, I Kings 11:4, I Chronicles 17:11-19
Priesthood lineage (the messiah comes from the line of David, so he can not be a High Priest): Exodus 28:4, 29:9-30, 30:30, 40:15

Continued from the prophecy about bethlehem .


A typical example of what one could find, i.e. the knowledge of the messiah's birthplace was taken from Micah open in front of the writers of the new testament. (This could also apply to any of these other "fulfilled" prophecies.) In the NT, Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth was almost as specific as a surname is today. Wherever you went, wherever you lived, wherever you died, you were know as [your name] from [the place of your birth]. Jewish sacred history said the Messiah would be from Bethlehem, from the House of David. Thus, Matthew and Luke have him born in Bethlehem with two different stories and back to David with two different genealogies. (Some say one genealogy was Mary's, which didn't count for legal purposes, and the other was Joseph's, who Christians say wasn't his biologic father anyway. Joseph may have been his adopted father, but bloodlines are bloodlines.)

Continued from the part about the donkey prophecy.

Although all four gospels record Jesus coming in on the donkey, it is only Matthew, however, that has him riding in on the back of two donkeys. Matthew elaborates the mistake in Greek, and actually has Jesus send the disciples out to look for a donkey and a foal tied next to it. The story and its mistaken translation is lifted out of Zechariah 9:9. This is a good example of the evangelists tailoring the events of Jesus' life to what they were reading in front of them. The most probable reason Matthew had Jesus riding in on 2 donkeys is because he took it from the mistaken Greek translation of Zechariah. Mark, Luke, and John caught the mistake.

Continued from Heralded by messenger.

Don't be so sure about John the baptist being the precursor to Jesus. Critical research sees his movement as one that perhaps competed with the Jesus movement. Some think that the gospels go on about John's subservience to Jesus, including their contrasting birth stories, as if they're trying to establish their guy as better than that other.

Continued from healing the sick prophecy.

Healing a few people here and there falls a little short of Isaiah's required statistics of "the world". As anyone can see (well, except for blind people) the world is still filled with the blind, deaf, dumb, and lame, as well as dry, parched deserts. As for miracles, Theudas the Egyptian, Honi the circle maker, and several others that we know about from extra-biblical sources were able to perform miracles similar to those fo Jesus.

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