Lately I’ve been reading about how the Orthodox Church has always read Scripture in a way that simultaneous allows for several different levels of meaning (i.e., literal, typological/allegorical, moral & eschatological) as well as about the Hebrew prophecies of the Messiah that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled. St. Irenaeus’ treatise “On the Apostolic Preaching” is a wonderful example of how the Apostles & 1st few centuries of Christians preached the Gospel from the Old Testament Scriptures in keeping with the way Christ opened the Apostle’s understanding to the veiled reality of how the Hebrew scriptures ALL spoke about Him typologically (Luke 24:44-47).

Sts. Paul & Peter in their Epistles (Romans 5:14, I Corinthians 10:6 & I Peter 3:21) explicitly use the terms “type” & “antitype” in ascribing typological meaning to Old Testament passages that also have literal & historical meanings. Similarly, St. Paul literally uses the term “allegory” in Galatians 4:24 when giving an allegorical interpretation of Old Testament Scriptures applying to Christians. Thankfully, we are not locked into an “either/or” scenario; it’s a “both/and” scenario for us Orthodox.

Last week I happened to watched a YouTube debate between a Jew-for-Jesus Christian (i.e., Protestant) & an Orthodox Jew in which the Jew demonstrated that Isaiah’s prophecy (7:14) in Hebrew reads “almâ” (i.e., a young woman who could be a virgin but is not necessarily a virgin) rather than “betûlâ” (i.e., definitely a virgin) and that this prophecy was literally fulfilled in the birth of Isaiah’s son, as you pointed out. The Christian ceded those points to the Jew as he looked somewhat embarrassed. However, given that we Orthodox are not limited to only the literal/historical interpretation of Scripture but we also see deeper layers of typological meaning there is no need for embarrassment or ceding. I think St. Justin the Philosopher/Martyr showed this to be the case in his debates with both Jews & pagans.

The Scripture as God’s Word is truly a living mystery: Alleluia!