There's not a lot of description in antiquity of the details of something as mundane as
birth. And so when it gets mentioned, it's usually done in some kind of symbolic context
or in telling a story. And probably the powerful place where a story of birth is told is in
Ezekiel 16, which describes the birth of the nation of Israel. It has been born out of
the waters of the Red Sea as a young girl. This girl will grow up to be the bride of
God, that He will marry at Sinai. And at this point, the description is given of that birth
of that little girl. "As for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born thy navel was
not cut, neither wast that washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have
compassion upon thee." So by saying those things didn't happen, the text is saying that's
the norm. This is what normally happens. You normally would have a midwife there who is
going to show compassion on this child and help the mother.
Each of those steps is important. First, the umbilical cord would be cut, probably tied
off. Then the child would be washed in order to get the blood off, and the next step is
the salting of the child. Now there are a lot of symbols of what salt means in scripture.
In terms of hygiene the reason for the salting is that the salt is an antibiotic, and it's
going to kill germs that might be present on the skin of the child. Perhaps a disease
it might have contacted from its mother at birth, or to kill anything that has gotten
on its skin. So it has a very real healthy meaning, that's why it would be salted. Some
of the symbols, some will say that because salt is given with the sacrifices at the temple,
that this might be preparing a child as an offering. Salt is also a preservative, so
it may be done to preserve the life of the child. Of course, that's also the hygienic
purpose, is preserving the life of the child.
Then it mentions, you are "not swaddled at all." Now there's only two mentions of swaddling
in the Old Testament and this is one of them. And a child being swaddled means wrapped in
rags or clothes prepared for the purpose of providing a diaper and a covering for the
child. Every child normally would be swaddled. The fact that she isn't swaddled is really
unusual. Now because that's such a normal thing to do, it made me wonder, why would
swaddling bands be a sign in the book of Luke? Because that's what it says, as the shepherds
are being told to go and see the child, they are told: "You will find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Every child is wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger is unusual. I really love the fact that the King James translators kept
that french word, because 'mange' means to eat. And this is the bread of life who has
been born. Christ is the 'bread of life,' and we will ceremonially eat his body, and
so that's suggested by that use of 'manger.'
So I decided I would look back into the Old Testament and see how swaddling bands could
be a sign of anything? So the only other place that you find it, other than in this description
in Ezekiel of swaddling every newborn child, is when you're in the book of Job. And God
is responding to Job's questions about why do bad things happen to good people. And he
essentially says, "What do you know Job? Where you there when I created the world? Where
you there at the foundation of the world when I built the world?" And then he uses this
beautiful metaphor for the creation of the world. He describes it as "who do you think
shut up the sea with doors, when it then broke forth, as if it [the earth, newborn earth]
had issued out of the womb? When I made the clouds the garments thereof, and thick dark
clouds a swaddling band for [the earth]."
So here you have a newborn planet that has just been created. And it is wrapped in these
clouds that are the swaddling bands. I love that, because the cloud is a symbol of someone
in the Old Testament. That does relate to one person, and the cloud is the symbol of
the presence of Jehovah. There is a pillar of cloud by day over His tabernacle. His chariot
is a cloud. And so when he is born into mortality, He is wrapped in His symbol. In clouds, "trailing
clouds of glory" does He come, from His Father who is His home, from the Wordsworth poem.