Almah

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Laban and Rebecca at the well, by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Rebecca is described as an almah (Genesis 24:43) RebeccaAtTheWell Giovanni.jpg
Laban and Rebecca at the well, by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Rebecca is described as an almah (Genesis 24:43)

Almah (עַלְמָה‘almā, plural: עֲלָמוֹת‘ălāmōṯ), from a root implying the vigour of puberty, is a Hebrew word meaning a young woman sexually ripe for marriage. [1] Despite its importance to the account of the virgin birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, scholars agree that it refers to a woman of childbearing age but that it has nothing to do with whether she is a virgin or not. [2] [3] [1] It occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible. [4]

Contents

Etymology and social context

Almah derives from a root meaning "to be full of vigour, to have reached puberty". [1] In the ancient Near East girls received value as potential wives and bearers of children: "A wife, who came into her husband's household as an outsider, contributed her labor and her fertility ... [h]er task was to build up the bet 'ab bearing children, particularly sons" (Leeb, 2002). [5] Scholars thus agree that almah refers to a woman of childbearing age without implying virginity, [6] while an unrelated word, betulah (בְּתוּלָה), best refers to a virgin, [7] as well as the idea of virginity, betulim (בְּתוּלִים). [8]

From the same root the corresponding masculine word elem עֶלֶם 'young man' also appears in the Bible, [9] as does alum (used in plural עֲלוּמִים) used in the sense '(vigor of) adolescence', [10] in addition to the post-Biblical words almut (עַלְמוּת) and alimut (עֲלִימוּת) [11] both used for youthfulness and its strength (distinct from post-Biblical Alimut אַלִּימוּת 'violence' with initial Aleph, although Klein's Dictionary states this latter root is likely a semantic derivation of the former, from 'strength of youth' to 'violence' [12] ).

Biblical usage

The word ‘almah occurs nine times in its various forms in the Hebrew Bible, [4] while the masculine form ‘elem only twice. It is therefore quite rare, if compared to na‘ar (youth), which occurs over 225 times, or betulah (virgin), which occurs 51 times. [13]

There are three occurrences of the form ha‘almah. It is used twice for young women who are known to be virgin, while the third occurrence is in Isaiah 7:14. [14]

There are four occurrences of the form ‘alamoth, some of which are rather obscure in their meaning. [16]

There is one occurrence of the form wa‘alamoth.

There is one occurrence of the form ba‘alamoth. This is also the only case where the referred woman in the Hebrew Bible is also possibly not a virgin. Other versions of the Bible read ba‘alummah (in youth).

Greek translation

The Septuagint translates four [19] occurrences of almah into a generic word neanis (νεᾶνις) meaning 'young woman' while, two occurrences, one in Genesis 24:43 and one in Isaiah 7:14, are translated as parthenos (παρθένος), the basic word associated with virginity in Greek (it is a title of Athena 'The Virgin Goddess') but still occasionally used by the Greeks for an unmarried woman who is not a virgin. [20] Most scholars agree that Isaiah's phrase (a young woman shall conceive and bear a son) did not intend to convey any miraculous conception, although virgin can be an appropriate translation depending on context. [21] In this verse, as in the Genesis occurrence concerning Rebecca, the Septuagint translators used the Greek word parthenos generically to indicate an unmarried young woman, whose probable virginity (as unmarried young women were ideally seen at the time) was incidental. [4] [22] [23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Childs 2001, p. 66.
  2. Sweeney 1996, pp. 161–162.
  3. Williamson 2018, p. 152.
  4. 1 2 3 Byrne 2009, p. 155.
  5. Leeb 2002, p. unspecified.
  6. Sweeney 1996, p. 161.
  7. "Strong's Hebrew: 1330. בְּתוּלָה (bethulah) -- a virgin". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  8. "Strong's Hebrew: 1331. בְּתוּלִים (bethulim) -- virginity". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  9. "Strong's Hebrew: 5958. עָ֫לֶם (elem) -- a young man". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  10. "Strong's Hebrew: 5934. עֲלוּם (alumim) -- youth, youthful vigor". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  11. Even-Shoshan Dictionary, entries עַלְמוּת and עֲלִימוּת
  12. III.1 "Klein Dictionary, אלם III 1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  13. Steinmueller 1940, p. 32.
  14. Steinmueller 1940, p. 34.
  15. Preuss 1974, p. 461.
  16. 1 2 Steinmueller 1940, p. 36.
  17. Clarke, Adam. "Clarke's Commentary". studylight.org/. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  18. Steinmueller 1940, p. 38.
  19. Steinmueller 1940, p. 34-37.
  20. MacLachlan 2007, p. 7.
  21. Moyise 2013, p. 95,96.
  22. Gravett et al. 2008, p. 72.
  23. Fletcher Steele 1892, p. 24.

Bibliography