According to Heiser, Michael S. and many Christians, outside of Isaiah 7:14, the word almah occurs only six times in the Old Testament. In all but one of those occurrences, the context provides no clue as to the sexual status of the young woman or women. Virginity is suggested, however, in Song of Solomon 6:8, where almah occurs in the plural (rnthp, alcunot): "There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins (-nthy, alamot) without number."
He wrote in "I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible":
The distinction between queens, concubines, and alamot is important. A queen was a royal wife, which obviously entails a sexual relationship with the king. A concubine was a sexual partner who held certain privileges, but not to the level of a wife. This would suggest that the third group, the alamot, had no sexual relationship with the king. An almah in this text is a candidate to become a concubine or a wife. This is precisely what we see in the book of Esther. In Esther 2:3 and 2:8 we read that Esther was held in waiting for 12 months with "young virgins"(na'arah betulah) under the supervision of Hegai while the king sought a new queen. The use of na'ar and betulah indicates that a "young woman" (na'ar) could certainly be a "virgin" (betulah). Esther was eventually taken from the "young virgins" under Hegai to the king for an evening liaison. Afterward, she was Afterward, she was assigned to a "second harem" supervised by Shaashgaz, who "was in charge of the concubines" (Esth 2:14)—indicating that Esther was no longer a virgin, but now a concubine. That Esther and the king had a sexual relationship during the night is clear from Esther 2:14: "She Esther would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name." To "go in" to a man or woman is a common Old Testament euphemism for sexual intercourse (e.g., Gen 16:2; 29:21; 38:8; Dent 21:13; 25:5; Judg 15:1). The Esther story describes the king's harem as divided into three groups: queen, concubines and young virgins. The last of those groups is described as naarah betulah, "young virgins." In parallel, Song of Songs 6:8 has the same threefold division, but uses almah (plural: alamot) to describe the third group. This indicates that (naarah betulah) and (alamot) are likely both descriptions of "virgins." Nonetheless, since Esther is never called an almah, could almah still be excluded from the Old Testament vocabulary for "virgin"? For the assertion that "almah cannot mean virgin" to be correct, naarah and betulah must never overlap with almah. But they do. In Genesis 24, Rebekah is referred to with all three terms (naarah in 24:14, betulah in 24:16, and almah in 24:43), indicating that the terms could certainly be construed as synonymous.
The question is: Is it true what he argued, that alamot in Song of Solomon 6:8 were necessarily virgins, and if not why not?
If his argument is true and bethula means alone virgin, then why is בְּתוּל֖וֹת not used instead of וַעֲלָמ֖וֹת?
