Bearing Children ll

   699. Another ancient custom that continues in the East is the care of an infant child. Instead of allowing the baby the free use of it's arms and legs, it is bound hand and foot by swaddling bands, quite like a mummy. At birth the child is washed and rubbed with salt, and with it's legs together and it's arms at it's side, it is wound around tightly with linen or cotton strips, four to five inches wide and five or six yards long. The band is also placed under the chin and over the forehead. Not only does the Bible describe the baby Jesus as swaddled, but Ezekiel also mentions the custom of swaddling (Ezek. 16:4).

   700. It was considered a privilege and a duty for the Jewish mother to breastfeed her infant. But sometimes a mother was not physically able to do so. For these women, a wet nurse was secured. This wet nurse (usually unrelated to the baby) fed the baby her own breast milk. When pharaoh's daughter found Moses floating among the reeds of the Nile, one of her first orders was to get a Hebrew woman who could nurse him.

   701. The weaning of a child is an important event in the domestic life of the East. In many places it is celebrated by a festive gathering of friends, by feasting, religious ceremonies, and sometimes the formal presentation of rice to a child. Hebrew babies are often nursed for two years and sometimes for four or five. It was probably after age three that Hannah weaned Samuel and brought him to be presented to the Lord, A scriptural example of the weaning feast is found in Gen. 21:8, when Isaac was weaned and dedicated to the Lord.

   702. Names were very important in the world of the Old Testament. Hebrew names usually carried meaning about the person's character, praise to God, or the location or circumstances surrounding the child's birth. Jewish people believed that they must first know a person's name before they could know the person. The name Jesus is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means "salvation of Yahweh." The name was given by one or both parents. Scripture indicates that the mother usually named the infant.