Is.7:10-16

Few passages divide wings of Christianity more than v.14. Liberals emphasize that virgin is from Greek, and the Hebrew means young woman. Matthew uses the Greek translation of the passage, as does most of the NT, and we have spilled ink on how literally one should take this word in the gospel. Still, words do not exist encased in amber, but they move and grow with time and use.If memory serves, Barth plays games with the passage calling us to take it very seriously but will not go to the level of accuracy. It is similar to his parsing of words to speak of resurrection.(see IV/1 in a section like Lord of Time and a new book by Dawson)). We may be around 742 BCE.

1) A recent Interpretation on the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes not the virgin birth, but the name Emmanuel (God with us). How does Jesus add meaning to that name? Could Emmanuel mean god with us, as in on our side, or as companion? See Douglas John Hall 's professing the faith for a good discussion of Emmanuel. I am not sure the degree to which 1st century messianic thught looked toward this passage. OK, the Septuagint's translation of young woman into virgin (parthenos) may be a move in that direction,k but maybe not, especially if one considers the political expectations of the Messiah of David's line.

2) Ahaz does well with the question of the sign-he will not put God to the test (trial). I sometimes think that this is the meaning in the Lord's Prayer, we are not to test/try/tempt God.

3) In this passage, the sign son will bring a big change and soon. It is a symbolic sign of impending rescue from military threat. See ch. 9 on a child. Sign="ot", as in signs and wonders.

4) Is the king being addressed here? Isn't the symbol enacted in ch 8?  Mt.'s appropriation of this could be as simple as the surprise that the birth of a child presaged a major event. Still, is the child a symbol, or the actual deliverer/redeemer/messiah?
5) in 13, what would now exhaust the patience of humans or God?

6) IB (219) has a nice quote from Blake "for mercy has a human heart/pity, a human face/and love the human form divine/and peace the human dress."