CHILD BIRTH

In oriental countries child birth is not an event of much difficulty; and mothers at such a season were originally the only a istants of their daughters, as any farther aid was deemed unnece ary, Exod. i, 19. In cases of more than ordinary difficulty, those matrons who had acquired some celebrity for skill and expertne on occasions of this kind, were invited in; and in this way there eventually rose into notice that cla of women denominated midwives. The child was no sooner born, than it was washed in a bath, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in swaddling clothes, החתל , Ezek. xvi, 4. It was the custom at a very ancient period, for the father, while music in the mean while was heard to sound, to clasp the new born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony was understood to declare it to be his own, Gen. l, 23; Job iii, 12; Psa. xxii, 11. This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their maids, Gen. xvi, 2; xxx, 3–5. The birth day of a son, especially, was made a festival, and on each succe ive year was celebrated with renewed demonstrations of festivity and joy, Gen. xl, 20; Job i, 4; Matt. xiv, 6. The me enger, who brought the news of the birth of a son, was received with joy, and rewarded with presents, Job iii, 3; Jer. xx, 15. This is the case at the present day in Persia.