Swaddling Clothes
Quick, answer this question: What are swaddling clothes? Besides what Jesus was wrapped in according to the King James translation of the Bible. It’s birth cloths, right? What all babies of the time were wrapped in at birth, right? Well, it turns out, not so much. Just when you think you know the Nativity story, there’s a twist.
UPDATE: Well, as interesting a twist as it might have sounded, my preacher did a little research. Whaddya know, he knows a little Greek. Turns out that the burial cloth/swaddling cloth idea isn’t as sound as some of Gary’s sources imply. He left this comment both here and there:
This made me do some research! I looked at the link you provided, which sent me to several other links that were offered as documentation. Most of them were just other statements of the same idea. But one of them, http://www.angelfire.com/mt/tabor/Christmas.html, says that the Greek word for swaddling clothes is the same one used for burial cloths.
However, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the word sindon for the linen strips used to wrap Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. John uses keiria to describe the burial clothes of Lazarus and othonion for the linen strips left behind in the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. Conversely, Luke’s account of the birth uses the verb sparganoo, to swaddle. The word also occurs in the LXX (Greek translation of the OT) in Ezekiel 16:4 in a context that can only refer to the typical wrapping of a newborn. Sparganon, the noun form of Luke’s verb, is cited by Thayer’s Greek Lexicon as occurring in Euripides, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Plutarch, and others, all in the sense of “infant’s swaddling clothes.” Liddle and Scott (a classical Greek lexicon) also cites the same sense in Homer.
There was no mention in any Greek language source I consulted of the sparganon word group in reference to burial cloths. Even if such a reference could be found, there’s still a problem: if the gospel writers wanted us to make a connection between Jesus’ birth clothes and his burial clothes, wouldn’t they have used the same word for both?
I’m open to further evidence, but for now, I have to say it’s an intriguing idea, but I wouldn’t state it as fact. I have to admit that I’m rather disappointed, because our Christmas Eve service centers on Luke’s account, with prominent mention of the swaddling clothes. This would have been a wonderful angle for me to inject into my remarks, but my conscience just won’t let me do it.
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December 21st, 2006 at 8:27 am
wow, don’t the details just give you the chills???
December 21st, 2006 at 12:53 pm
This made me do some research! I looked at the link you provided, which sent me to several other links that were offered as documentation. Most of them were just other statements of the same idea. But one of them, http://www.angelfire.com/mt/tabor/Christmas.html, says that the Greek word for swaddling clothes is the same one used for burial cloths.
However, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the word sindon for the linen strips used to wrap Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. John uses keiria to describe the burial clothes of Lazarus and othonion for the linen strips left behind in the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. Conversely, Luke’s account of the birth uses the verb sparganoo, to swaddle. The word also occurs in the LXX (Greek translation of the OT) in Ezekiel 16:4 in a context that can only refer to the typical wrapping of a newborn. Sparganon, the noun form of Luke’s verb, is cited by Thayer’s Greek Lexicon as occurring in Euripides, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Plutarch, and others, all in the sense of “infant’s swaddling clothes.” Liddle and Scott (a classical Greek lexicon) also cites the same sense in Homer.
There was no mention in any Greek language source I consulted of the sparganon word group in reference to burial cloths. Even if such a reference could be found, there’s still a problem: if the gospel writers wanted us to make a connection between Jesus’ birth clothes and his burial clothes, wouldn’t they have used the same word for both?
I’m open to further evidence, but for now, I have to say it’s an intriguing idea, but I wouldn’t state it as fact. I have to admit that I’m rather disappointed, because our Christmas Eve service centers on Luke’s account, with prominent mention of the swaddling clothes. This would have been a wonderful angle for me to inject into my remarks, but my conscience just won’t let me do it.
December 21st, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Awwww, it was such an interesting correlation! And you had to go and ruin it with research? Just kidding of course. I really try not to be one of those gullible Christians who go around quoting the latest thing they’ve heard. Thanks for the correction!
December 21st, 2006 at 10:11 pm
I always took it to mean similar to what we do with baby/receiving blankets.