contained nothing regarding the Virgin Birth, Matthew having heard
nothing of this pagan legend, and that naturally he gave the genealogy
of Jesus from David and Abraham. If one omits the verses 18-25 from
Matthew's Gospel, he will see the logical relation of the genealogy to
the rest of the account--otherwise it is paradoxical, contradictory
and ridiculous, and shows the joints and seams where it has been
fitted into the older account.

"But," you may ask, "what of the Messianic Prophecy mentioned by
Matthew (1:23)? Surely this is a direct reference to the prophecy of
Isaiah 7:14." Let us examine this so-called "prophecy," of which so
much has been said and see just what reference it has to the birth of
Jesus.

Turning back to Isaiah 7, we find these words, just a little before
the "prophecy":

"Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a
sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in
the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither
will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of
David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye
weary my God also?" (_Isaiah 6:13._)

Then comes the "prophecy": "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Immanuel." This is the "prophecy" quoted by the writer of the
Gospel of Matthew, and which has been quoted for centuries in
Christian churches, as a foretelling of the miraculous birth of Jesus.
As a matter of fact, intelligent theologians know that it has no