My apologies for not blogging last week. Sometimes these types of blogs can be really difficult to maintain when you're as busy as I am. But I digress...
This week we'll be talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the events surrounding the virgin birth.
Canonically, Mary is the daughter of Heli ben-Mattat, though apparently in early extra-biblical texts her parents are named as Joachim and Anne [1]. Mary's name in Hebrew (canonically) would therefore be Miriam bat-Heli.
The etymology of Miriam is rather uncertain, and subject to much debate. Variants of the name are found throughout many languages and cultures, therefore making it's origin rather cloudy. Miriam is a Levite name, and as it seems, many Levite names are Egyptian in origin. It is speculated that the name Miriam is related to the Egyptian name Merari, which means "Beloved". Others who lean towards a Hebrew origin claim it's etymology with the word mara, meaning "to be rebellious". It is also associated with marar, "to be bitter (see Ruth 1:20); strengthen; strong". The word yam means "sea", so combining the two ("maryam"), Miriam may mean something like "Waters of Strength" or "Strong Waters" [2].
Because of the high death rates in ancient society, people often married very young. About 60% of all humans died before the age of 18, and so it was imperative to marry young and carry on the family name. With this in mind, it is estimated that Mary was probably about 13 or 14 years old when she became engaged to Joseph. We sure do live in different times, don't we?
Closely after their engagement is when Gabriel comes into the picture and informs Mary that, though she was still a virgin, she would soon conceive a child by the Holy Spirit, who was to be Jesus the Savior. Let's take a trip back to the Old Testament now, to Isaiah 7:14.
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Most Christians consider this to be a direct prophecy concerning the virgin birth, though I mentioned in my previous blog that there are some who view Isaiah 7:14 as a typology of the virgin birth. To reiterate, a typology is "... a verse [or story in the Old Testament] with independent historical context that also pertains to the life of Jesus... e.g. Abraham and Isaac, Jonah's 3 days in the fish, etc". In other words, some suggest that Isaiah 7:14 has an independent context pertaining to Isaiah's address to King Ahaz, of which Christ "brings to life" in the New Testament. I tend to lean towards the typology view myself, though I am not 100% certain, as most if not all the Christian apologists I look up to (Dr. Michael Brown, J.P. Holding, to name some) tend to lean towards the prophecy view.
One thing we know for certain though: whether by prophecy or typology, God has glorified His Son before His earthly birth centuries beforehand in the Old Testament, and we rejoice in God's great plan of salvation for all mankind. That's why Jesus came into the world after all!
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