20 December 2019
Friday of the Third Week of Advent
“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (Isaiah 7:14). Here is a debated piece of scripture. Is Isaiah, who was active hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, making a prophecy of a virgin birth? Some people say “no,” because the Hebrew version of this text does not mean “virgin” but rather “young woman.” Some people say “yes,” because the Greek version of this text really does mean “virgin,” and because it was the Greek text that was in widest circulation at the time of Jesus, and because we don’t find any objections to the word “virgin” in the Greek text until 200 years after the death of Jesus. Scripture scholars have been debating this text for 1,700 years.
This is not a blog on scripture scholarship, as important as that is. It is a blog on Ignatian Spirituality. That means doing the best you can with the text you have, asking God to make up for any faults in the text or misunderstandings in your intellect. Therefore, whichever school your personal bible is in, whether it reads the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 in reference to a “young woman” or a “virgin,” it can still be a means for God to give you his grace. Work with what you have been given.