What are Swaddling Clothes?

"And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:7 ESV

I've read this verse hundreds of times probably and since I have "swaddled" my own babies night after night, I've never really thought about what swaddling clothes were. Recently, however, as I was reading this, I couldn't help but wonder..."Where did those clothes come from? What were those clothes? Did Mary bring them because she new she was about to have the baby?" I'm glad I started reading more into this subject because its actually another amazing detail that the Bible reveals about the Messiah!

Swaddling clothes during that time period were not made for babies or children. Swaddling clothes were not brought along on a journey in case someone gave birth. They were actually brought along in case someone died while traveling. Swaddling clothes were gauze like strips that the men wore around their waist to use in the event someone died. They would wrap the corpse in the clothes and bury them. 

So, when Mary gave birth in the old dirty barn, she didn't just happen to find a warm blanket or swaddling sack for her baby laying near by. She didn't bring along a special cloth for him either. No, this cloth would have been the only thing available most likely. It would have been Joseph that took this this item from his waist so that Mary could wrap our Savior in it. I wonder what thoughts crossed their minds as they wrapped the newborn in rags that should have been around someone who had just died, not someone who was just born. Seriously, imagine wrapping your newborn baby in clothes that were meant for a corpse. I can't even conceive it. This is such a huge detail that is almost always overlooked.

I wonder if they knew then that this tiny babe would one day die for all mankind? I wonder if they could understand the foreshadowing of that moment? I wonder if that was part of what Mary was "pondering in her heart?" (Luke 2:19)

Today I am grateful that our Savior, who was royalty, was wrapped in burial clothes. He was born to die and the Bible even points out this seemingly insignificant detail, to help us see that this was always the plan! Each time I read the Bible there seems to be new details that I've never noticed before. This detail made The Christmas story exciting for me in a new way, all over again! I am thankful for God's Word and all the ways He speaks to me through it. Wow, what a story!