(Continued) Finally, the quotation from Isaiah has been mis-represented for centuries, dishonestly by the Church and no doubt innocently by you. The word in the original Hebrew was �almah� which means �young woman� not the word for virgin which is �betulah�. This was translated into the Greek as �parthenos� and the Latin as �virgo�, both of which (like the English word �maiden�) means both a virgin and a woman still to be married. No such confusion exists in Hebrew where the meaning is clear. If you read the Isaiah excerpt in full you will see that he is merely reassuring King Ahaz that he will be rid of his two enemies, the Kings of Syria and Israel within a few years. He uses a rather long-winded way of saying it: �Behold a young woman shall conceive and bear a son�..before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.� It has nothng to do with predicting any Messiah.
The Jewish Messiah was not a supernatural being but an ordinary mortal who, sometime in his life, would be chosen by God (Messiah means Chosen One or Anointed One) to set up God�s kingdom in Israel, which would obviously mean getting rid of the Roman occupiers. Since Jesus did none of this, and was actually killed by the Romans, he was, by definition, not the Messiah. Christians, under Paul�s influence, later redefined the Messiah as the son of God, a miracle worker who rose from the dead - nothing to do with the Judaeism of Jesus� culture.