© 17 Colin Melbourne
Biblical Swaddle
Q: What are the swaddling clothes mentioned in the Bible?
A: To swaddle means to bind, to restrict by encompassing, as used in Job 38:9, La. 2:22, Eze. 16:4, Lk. 2:7,12.
Swaddlingband
Job 38:8-11 KJV;
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Swaddled
La. 2:22 KJV;
Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
Unswaddled and Uncared For
Eze. 16:4 KJV;
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
Born of Flesh and Swaddled
Lk. 2:7,12 KJV;
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Parental Commonsense
It was the practice of Jews in Bible days to gently wash, then wipe powdered salt and olive oil over the skin of a neonate as a cleansing antiseptic agent, to soak up the amniotic fluid, blood, and mucus.
Next, the infant was wrapped in swaddling clothes: Strips of new linen cloth bound loosely around the limbs, and body, encasing the baby in a protective cocoon, with only the face exposed.
Sensible precautions for babes delivered in rustic situations, you will agree.
Parents don’t want new born babes rolling on earthen floors, or being bitten by biting insects.
It is still normal practice world-wide amongst tribal and aboriginal cultures, and not a little fashionable in western society.
Neonates are wrapped in cloth binding, like an Egyptian mummy, but not as tightly as that.
Swaddling is resuming popularity today, despite alarmist medics needlessly frightening new parents away from swaddling clothes.
The binding cloth is clean linen, cotton, or soft blanket material, and the idea is to protect the new born babe from dirt, cold, biting creatures, and simply rolling around in the grime, whilst mum is busy with her chores.
Perfect Pragmatism
Picture a tribal woman delivering her child at home in the mountains, then arising to fetch water and firewood to cook the family rice and cabbage before they return from the fields.
If there’s a stream nearby she may perhaps be able to wash herself, and the neonate, otherwise she simply wipes it dry.
What does she do with the baby in her arms?
Granny squats half-blind, chewing Betel nut in the corner of the bamboo hut, so the new mother swaddles the babe in clean cloths, places it on Granny’s lap, and gets on with her ablutions and duties.
In typical medical mythology, it is claimed swaddling was “to prevent distortion of spine and limbs”, but the primary thought in swaddling is simply keeping the baby in one place, safe, dry, warm, and clean.
Jewish Mary, being a meek and sensible new mother, washed and swaddled Baby Jesus, and placed Him safely in the feeding manger in her enclosure.
A manger could either be a stone trough on the ground for holding corn and sloppy gruel, or a slatted wooden rack, about waist height, containing hay, both are used to feed ruminants and equidae. Lk. 2:7 KJV
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Joseph and his young wife arrived in Bethlehem at census time, the usual lodgings were packed, so they encamped in the livestock enclosure reserved for donkeys, camels, goats, and sheep, the type of beasts which often accompanied travellers.
I don’t think they were exasperated by this, being used to walking to Jerusalem at busy times, but of course Mary’s journey would have been fraught and uncomfortable in her heavily pregnant state, riding a haltered ass made it bearable.
The animal yard was a fenced area to stop valuable animals wandering around Bethlehem and getting lost.
Carpenter Joseph doubtless erected blanket awnings for privacy and protection during Mary’s labour. Their flooring would have been reed-mats they’d brought to sleep on.
No bed for Christ to be born in: He came from Heaven to Earth… literally. Halleluia to Wonderful Jesus!
You may enjoy this first-rate docu-drama DVD of Charles Spurgeon’s life and ministry. Show it to your youth group, and let God inspire your youngsters.
© 17 Colin Melbourne
Tract image © Chick Publns. Used by permission.
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