During New Testament times
babies, especially male babies, were considered a great blessing, the very “salt
of the earth.” Therefore when a baby was born into a family it was washed with
water, rubbed with finely pulverized salt, then rubbed with oil, and lastly
swaddled. An illegitimate baby could not be salted or swaddled.
The swaddling was
done by first placing the washed baby diagonally on a swaddle cloth. The infant
was then rubbed with finely powdered salt and oil. The cloth was then brought
up and over the baby’s arms, legs, and torso. Next the end of the swaddle band,
made by tying together strips of linen cloth about four or five inches wide and up to
six yards long, was held under the baby’s chin, then wrapped up over the
forehead and then around and around the infant all the way down to the feet. Swaddling
kept the child warm, restricted movement, and it was also thought that it ensured
the baby would grow strong without deformity.
Because of this a
swaddled baby is a metaphor for a legitimate child that is loved and properly
cared for. Thus Ezekiel says when chastising Israel, “Thy birth and thy
nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an
Hittite. 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 was not salted
at all, nor swaddled at all” (Ezekiel 16:4).
In other words, Israel
is so wicked they have become illegitimate children. They have chosen to be children of the Hittites and the Amorites (children of the world) rather than be legitimate
children of their Heavenly Father who would have swaddled and loved and cared for
them.
I love this small
detail about Mary swaddling her baby because it tells us so much. First of all
it gives us a glimpse into the heart of Mary who cared for her child in the
best possible way. To us Jesus Christ is our Master, our Savior, our
Protector, but for a time to Mary He was a dependent child. That is a
relationship no one else will ever share with Him.
But there is
something else. Of all people, Mary knew the significance of this child and the
circumstances concerning His conception. She knew that despite the rumors and
hatemongers this child was legitimate and so by swaddling Him she proclaims to the
entire world that her baby is God’s legitimate Son.
One can only imagine
what Mary thought as she wrapped Him. From the moment of the miraculous conception,
if not before, Mary must have sought for any information about the fate of this
child. There were many prophecies, and Mary must have hung on every word the
rabbis and others said about the coming Messiah. She must have asked questions
and in the answers would have discovered the terrible fate that awaited her
little boy.
Therefore, did
wrapping Him in swaddling clothes make her think about the fact that one
day He would be wrapped in similar looking grave clothes? Did seeing
him wrapped tightly in the bands of birth make her think of the bands of death
that would surely come to Him?
Whether she thought about
any of these things or not, the bands Mary swaddled her Son in remind us of
the day He was wrapped in burial linens and placed in a tomb. He was born to die for us, and by so
doing He “swaddled” us, proclaiming us His legitimate children and providing a
way to take away our “deformity.” But most important, Jesus Christ has changed our burial linens into the swaddling
bands of new birth.
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