To fulfil what was spoken – the virgin is with child

“Hear now, O house of David? Is it too little for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; Behold, the maiden conceives and bears a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel. Curds and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. But before the lad shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land shall be laid waste – the land you are dreading on account of her two kings.” (Isaiah 7:13 -16)

The claim that the virgin birth of Jesus fulfils the sign promised by Isaiah is one of the most fiercely disputed of all New Testament claims.

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Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38)

The story of Joseph (Genesis chapters 37 to 50) is interrupted in Genesis chapter 38 by a record of the origins of the tribe of Judah.

Joseph prefigured Messiah in many details of his life, i.e. as the chosen son, whom his brothers despised and rejected, but later bowed down to,[1] but Joseph was not the One to whom this peculiar honour was ultimately due.

It was over Judah that Jacob prophesied:

“Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you …

the scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is his.”
(Genesis 49: 8, 10)