Rom 4:19 declares his fertility as good as dead, which didn't matter.
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered NOT his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Sorry what I gather from verse 19 is abraham believed, despite his and Sarah's age they were still capable of having children. The usage of the word "not" and "neither yet" is what creates that understanding of the verse. He believed capable because God promised them it would happen.
....... Eve thought she had birthed the God-Man...... A little early but definitely full of anticipation.
Agree with full of anticipation. Though it's also understood she like so many of us, assume God works immediately when he makes a promise. We forget God works according to his schedule and timeline, not ours.
If you compare the Luke account, what proof is there of intercourse even between Zech and Elisabeth?
I'd wager Common sense,with a little bit of rational logic of how babies are produced.
Luke 1:23-24 she conceived when he came home. As well as v 13 says "bare thee a son" indicating it was his, and from him.
They would have had to have a current encounter and none is mentioned, nor in the parents of Judges case, and its a curiosity
We can agree that the bible does not list every time a man "knew" his wife and she became pregnant. This is evident and crystal clear with the major omission of daughter genealogies. However because of the omission of Abraham knowing Sarah we don't need to go astray and attempt to deduce that Isaac was conceived by any other means than natural between a male and female.
With zech and Elisabeth we do see something different, John was conceived with the Holy Ghost already part of him prior his birth. But he like Isaac still came from mans seed.
Also, a little hard to put the younger women stories in the same category. Every younger woman does not conceive every time. With Sarah and Elizabeth we are talking about people declared to be menopausal, and put in the same category as Mary as far as how they conceived.
Not so fast, with Sarai we just have to follow a few stories that point to something strange about her prior to Gods fulfillment of that promise.
First is the length of time from the flood to their existence. While time had passed and man's longevity had succumbed from 400+yrs of life, they were still living fairly long. Isaac 180years, Jacob 147 years, terah 205 years(130 years when abraham was born). Meaning slow declining body functions.
Second was her lack of appearing to age or slow aging- deduced from understanding he and her were old, however he feared he would get killed so they could take Sarah as their wife,why? You wouldn't kill a man to steal his wife if she looked like she was unable to produce offspring (post menopause). Gen 20; 12:11-20.
Which makes it easier to understand that her womb was closed by Gods choice, and when he was ready he opened it, allowing Abraham and Sarah to naturally conceive because she was capable of having children all along, just God wasn't ready for her too.
With Elisabeth, I'd agree with only that God provided an exceptional means for that conception, but again normal as in mans seed and a woman's egg.
Mary is completely different and the only one I'll agree was a divine intervention of conception. She became pregnant through the lack of a physical mans seed. No other woman or person born except Jesus can make that claim.
Yes, Sarah and Elisabeth were allowed to become pregnant when they thought they were to old. However, just because God allowed their body to have an egg ready at his choosing is not the same as him allowing Mary to conceive without seed from a man. Mary required something outside normal means, Sarah and Elisabeth were granted blessings through normal means, albeit old age but still normal processes. Wether or not you can grasp this being different or not I guess is the issue.
Even with some indication of Abraham having later children, if it was later, if I follow the commentary of Paul, that the "seed" that was coming was not going to be produced in the normal way.
Your right, abraham couldn't just go and create a son, he had to wait until God was ready to allow it. So it was not normal in only that regard though.
Gen 25:1-2 he remarries and has 6 others. Making his total sons 8, assuming he had no daughters as well.
And food for thought, while his seed will number the stars can get used as spiritual, just off of the numbers his 8 sons reproducing descendants for 3-4kyears, that literally can fulfill that promise physically as well. Though for more clarification 1 son has 2 sons who then have 2 sons each who then each have 2 sons, so forth and so forth.