In ancient times virginity was prized because virgins were sure to be free of sexually transmitted diseases. In Jesus’s time, girls were married at around age 13. Girls received what little education they got from their mothers. They were expected to bear children, care for children, do household chores and little else. They were never taught to read and write; nor were most men. This was a job for scribes. In the time of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Israel was under Roman control with a Jewish king that would be subservient to the Roman Governor. Society was patriarchal in the extreme, with men having the right to take multiple wives and a right to divorce them. Women had no rights. Indeed, they were the property of their father until married, where upon they became the property of their husband. Such was the world when a young maiden named Mary was betrothed to a man called Joseph.
The custom at the time was that a woman would live with the man and have sexual intercourse with him starting the day she was betrothed to him. Their marriage was a celebration held later. Knowing this helps you to understand the birth story in Matthew’s Gospel.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the HolySpirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” (Matthew 1:18-24, New American Bible).
The first thing to note is how the writer, known as Matthew, translates this passage from Isiah 7:14. He is obviously an educated Jew who knows both Hebrew and Greek. Originally, this passage was written in Hebrew. The New American Bible translates it. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” However, the Hebrew word for sign (ot) does not necessarily mean the sign is miraculous. Furthermore, the Hebrew text reads “young woman” (Ha’alma) and does not use the Hebrew word for virgin (betula.) This is best understood as a wife of Ahaz; the child promised will guarantee the dynasty’s future (note again “the house of David” in verse 13) and for this reason can be called Immanuel (“with us is God”) [Jerome Biblical Commentary].
Why did the writer Matthew chose virgin instead of young woman and make the sign a miracle?
The purpose of the gospel (the Good News) is to tell who Jesus is. Matthew surely knows about the other religious belief in the area, especially the Roman religious beliefs that were taken over from the Greeks. Possibly he was familiar with Egyptian beliefs. The Egyptian god Horus was born of a virgin, Isis, and he was visited by three kings. The writer we call Matthew mentions magi from the east seeking the baby Jesus (chapter 2), but there is no mention of this in Luke’s Gospel. Furthermore, there is no birth narrative in the gospels of Mark and John.
So, perhaps Matthew was drawing on the Isis story. If not, there were other gods born of a virgin–such as Dionysus, known as Bacchus to the Romans. The myths state the god Zeus impregnated the virgin Semele, the daughter of a king. Or perhaps the gospel writer was familiar with the Akkadian creation epic, which describes the virgin birth of their god, Marduk. The point Matthew is making–by Jesus having a human mother and the Holy Spirit father–is that Jesus is truly human and truly God. It is not about Mary’s sex life.
John P. Meir, in his book A Marginal Jew, writes, “…somewhere around 7 or 6 B.C., a fews years before the death of Herod the Great (4 B.C.) a Jew named Yeshua (Jesus) was born, most likely in Nazareth of Galilee, though possibly in Bethlehem of Judea. At any rate, Jesus certainly grew up in “Nazorean,” “Nazarene,” or “Nazareth,” [which] became almost his second name. His mother was named Mirian (Mary) and his putative [reputed] father Yosef (Joseph). The Synoptic Gospels named four brothers of Jesus: Jacob (= James), Joseph, Judah (= Jude), and Simon; sisters are mentioned but go unnamed (p. 1039.) Remember, this is a patriarchal society, so why list the sisters’ names? So Mary had five sons and an undisclosed number of daughters. It seems highly unlikely that Mary was a virgin in the sense that we think of a virgin. However, she is a virgin in the sense that she gave birth to God’s humanity, Jesus. She is a model for all of us: “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word, (Luke 1:38).”