case, un
violated chastity is a matter of course in this context; for if the
mother of the Saviour was to be an _unmarried_ person, she could be a
virgin only; and, in general, it is inconceivable that the Prophet
should have brought forward a relation of impure love. In favour of "an
unmarried person" is, in the first instance, the derivation. Being
derived from [Hebrew: elM], "to grow up," "to become marriageable,"
[Hebrew: elmh] can denote nothing else than _puella nubilis_. But still
more decisive is the _usus loquendi_. In Arabic and Syriac the
corresponding words are never used of married women, and _Jerome_
remarks, that in the Punic dialect also a virgin proper is called
[Hebrew: elmh]. Besides in the passage before us, the word occurs in
Hebrew six times (Gen. xxiv. 43; Exod. ii. 8; Ps. lxviii. 26; Song of
Sol. i. 3, vi. 8; Prov. xxx. 19); but in all these passages the word
is undeniably used of unmarried persons. In the two passages of the
Song of Solomon, the [Hebrew: elmvt] designate the nations which have
not yet attained to an union with the heavenly Solomon, but are
destined for this union. In chap. vi. 8, they are, as _brides_,
expressly contrasted with the _wives_ of the first and second class.
Marriage forms the boundary; the _Almah_ appears here distinctly as the
anti-thesis to a married woman. It is the passage in Proverbs only
which requires a more minute examination, as the opponents have given
up all the other passages, and seek in it alone a support for their
assertion that [Hebrew: elmh] may be used of a married woman also. The
passage in its connection runs as follows: Ver. 18. "There be three
things which are too wonderful for me, and four which I know not. Ver.
19. The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon the rock,
the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a
maid. Ver. 20. This is the way of an adulterous woman; she [Pg 46]
eateth, and wipeth her mouth and saith: I have done no wickedness."
According to _De Wette_, _Bertheau_, and others, the _tertium
comparationis_ for every thing is to lie in this only, that the ways do
not leave any trace that could be recognized. But the traceless
disappearing is altogether without foundation; there is not one word to
indicate it; and it is quite impossible that that on which every thing
depends should have been left to conjecture. Farther,--instead of the
eagle, every other bird might have been mentioned, and t