Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Swaddle; Swaddling-Band
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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swod ´' 50 , swod´ling - band (verb חתל , ḥāthal , "enwrap," "swaddle" ( Ezekiel 16:4 ), noun חתלּה , ḥăthullāh , "swaddling-band" (Job 38:9 ); verb σπαργανόω , sparganóō , "to wrap in swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7 , Luke 2:12 ), noun σπάργανα , spárgana (pl.), "swaddling clothes" (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:4). the King James Version also has "swaddle" (Lamentations 2:22 ) for טפח , ṭāphaḥ , literally, "to extend." But the word means "to carry on the outstretched palms of the hands" (compare טפּחים , ṭippuḥı̄m , "dandled in the hands," Lamentations 2:20 ), whence RV's "to dandle"): "To swaddle" and "to swathe" are really the same word, both forms going back to an AS form swethel , "a bandage," but "swaddle" has become the technical term for the wrapping of an infant in the Orient or elsewhere. The oriental swaddling-clothes consist of a square of cloth and two or more bandages. The child is laid on the cloth diagonally and the corners are folded over the feet and body and under the head, the bandages then being tied so as to hold the cloth in position. This device forms the clothing of the child until it is about a year old, and its omission (Ezekiel 16:4 ) would be a token that the child had been abandoned. The mention of darkness as a "swaddling-band" at the birth of the sea (Job 38:9 ) is only a poetic way of saying that the sea, at its creation, was covered with clouds and darkness, and to find any idea of restraint involved is fanciful.
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Swaddle; Swaddling-Band'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/s/swaddle-swaddling-band.html. 1915.
