SOURCE: Potemra, Michael. “Voices of the One God.” National Review 54, no. 23 (9 December 2002): 46-8.

In the following review, Potemra lauds Podhoretz's study of biblical realms in The Prophets: Who They Were, What They Are, asserting that the author intelligently and delicately explains the history of religious prophets, their lives, and their messages.

Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el.” The time is the late 8th century B.C., and the speaker is Isaiah the prophet; he is telling Ahaz, the king of Judah, about a sign of hope that will soon be manifested in his war-threatened kingdom. This, at least, was how the verse was understood for the centuries before the birth of Jesus; but since the advent of Christianity, exegetes eager to find confirmation of the story of Jesus' virgin birth have read “virgin” for “young woman.” Surely, they...