What Did Swaddling Clothes Look Like

The word appears in only two verses in the new testament and both times they appear in luke 2.

What did swaddling clothes look like.

The custom of the east was to wrap the new born in these strips of cloth after washing the body and anointing it in powdered salt. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in. After an infant was born the umbilical cord was cut and tied and then the baby was washed rubbed with salt and oil and wrapped with strips of cloth. Other saints saw the swaddling clothes connected to jesus second coming at the end of time.

Thus being wrapped in swaddling clothes even as an eternal heir apparent symbolizes and perhaps does so more than any other accoutrement of life one s entrance into full humanity. The first appearance of sparganoo occurs in verse 7 and the second is in verse 12. In ancient times like today a swaddled infant was safe if wrapped and watched properly. Swaddling clothes described in the bible consisted of a cloth tied together by bandage like strips.

Meaning of the greek word swaddling clothes. Many cultures still practice swaddling today. These strips kept the newborn child warm and also ensured that the child s limbs would grow. Swaddling clothes according to every commentator i have read were bands of cloth probably cotton not really clothes as in a garment.

The biblical passage that refers to swaddling clothes is luke 2.