Achaz & the Virgin

[Geremia]

King Achaz, one of the worst kings of the Old Testament, sacrificed his own son to Moloch (4 Kings 16:3) and was conquered by the surrounding nations.
Super Isaiam c. 7 l. 1 [234]:

Achaz fuit impius et idolatra, sicut legitur IV Reg. XVI 2-4 et II Paral. XXVII; et ideo Dominus tradidit eum in manu regis Syriae et Samariae, qui primo venerunt contra eum, et obsidentes Jerusalem tandem devincentes ipsum, magnam partem exercitus sui ceperunt et principem exercitus ejus. Iterum ex illa victoria confisi, venerunt ut omnino privarent eum regno et substituerent alium loco ejus. Et in hoc secundo adventu consolatur eum Isaias.

Achaz was impious and an idolater, as we read in 2 Kings 16:2–4 and 2 Chronicles 27; and therefore, the Lord gave him into the hand of the kings of Syria and Samaria, who first came against him and, besieging Jerusalem and finally conquering it, captured the greater part of his army and the chief of his army. Confident from that victory, they came again to deprive him of the kingdom entirely, and substitute another in his place. And in this second coming, Isaiah consoled him.

In Is. 7:11 the Lord commands Achaz to ask for a "liberationis signum" ("sign of liberation"), as St. Thomas calls it (ibid. l. 2 [244]).
He gave "the house of David" (7:13) a truly great sign, which (ibid. [250.2])

nullum signum esset si juvencula conciperet et etiam virgo corrupta; Dominus autem aliquod magnum voluit significare cum dixit In profundum inferni sive in excelsum supra. Ideo autem apud nos ponitur magis alma quam juvencula, quia alma significat virginem secundum nominis originem, et adhuc plus: custoditam, de qua non possit esse mali suspicio; sed bethula significat secundum usum loquendi posteriorem.

would be no sign at all if a young woman should conceive, and even a corrupted virgin. The Lord, however, wished to signify something great, when he said: unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above (7:11). Therefore, according to us, alma is used rather than young girl, because alma signifies a virgin, according to the origin of the word, and still more, it means one who is protected, about whom there can be no suspicion of evil. But bethula signifies virgin according to a later manner of speaking.

felix festum Incarnationis D.N.I.C.!