Do you reject the Virgin Birth? That’s a rhetorical question of course because Matthew’s quotation of Isaiah quotes from the Septuagint and not from the Hebrew.
Melkite Catholics such as myself use the Septuagint as the norm for our faith the way the Latin Church follows the Vulgate.
The Septuagint was hallowed by the apostles who used it rather than the Hebrew to prove Christian doctrine.
There is this explanation from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“This period exhibits a curious exchange of opinions between the West and the East, while ecclesiastical usage remained unchanged, at least in the Latin Church. During this intermediate age the use of St. Jerome’s new version of the Old Testament (the Vulgate) became widespread in the Occident. With its text went Jerome’s prefaces disparaging the deuterocanonicals, and under the influence of his authority the West began to distrust these and to show the first symptoms of a current hostile to their canonicity.
On the other hand, the Oriental Church imported a Western authority which had canonized the disputed books, viz., the decree of Carthage, and from this time there is an increasing tendency among the Greeks to place the deuteros on the same level with the others—a tendency, however, due more to forgetfulness of the old distinction than to deference to the Council of Carthage.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03267a.htm
As for the Virgin Birth - the Hebrew allows either translation - young maid, or virgin. Many prophecies involved a double time span, one immediate, and one long term. I think the prophecy MEANT both meanings.
It reads:
“10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11”Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”
In the near term, I think the correct translation is young maid, since the point was the destruction was coming soon. IN the long term, it applied to Jesus.
“The Septuagint was hallowed by the apostles who used it rather than the Hebrew to prove Christian doctrine.”
We are not arguing about a Greek translation, but about the canon status of the additional stuff found in the Septuagint. The Apostles would tend to use a Greek translation when talking to Greeks. It is also likely that they quoted from memory, rather than go to a place with scrolls to cross check the exact working used in a letter. The Jewish Christians would have normally used both Hebrew and Greek.
Wiki actually has a good article on the Septuagint:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint