Birth
VIEW:47 DATA:01-04-2020
BIRTH.See Child, Clean and Unclean, § 1.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Childbirth. Emblem of acute and sudden suffering, such as shall overtake those unprepared for the Lord's second coming (1Th_5:3). The special suffering laid on woman as part of the curse from the fall is overruled to a blessing, if she shall faithfully do and suffer the part assigned by God to her, namely, childbearing and home duties, her sphere as distinguished from public teaching, which is man's (1Ti_2:11-15), "she shall be saved (though) with childbearing"; i.e., though suffering her part of the primeval curse, in childbearing, just as man shall be saved, though having to bear his part, the sweat of the brow. The passage may further imply: her childbearing, though in sorrow, being the function of her sex whereby the Savior was born, shall be the mean of her salvation. Ellicott translates, "through THE childbearing," namely, that of Jesus (Gen_3:15-16).
A special interposition mitigated the penalty to the Hebrew women, under the cruel edict of Pharaoh for the destruction of all Hebrew males born (Exo_1:15-19). A woman was unclean under the Mosaic law for 40 days after giving birth to a male, and 80 days in the ease of a female. Then she offered a burnt offering and a sin offering for her cleansing; less costly victims were required for the poor, as the Virgin Mary (See BIRD.) A child when born was washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in swaddling bands, as appears in the Lord's touching picture of His adopting and ultimately marrying Israel (Eze_16:4), where for "to supple thee" (i.e. to make the skin soft), translate, "to the (or my) sight," i.e. in order to be sightly for me to look upon (See margin. The salting was to make the skin dense and firm.
Natural birth unto life is the constant image in Scripture for spiritual quickening, the new birth of the soul by the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin and also points the eye of faith to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world (Joh_3:3-8; Joh_1:13; Gal_6:15; Tit_3:5; Jas_1:18; 1Pe_1:23; 1Jn_3:9; 2Co_5:17; compare Job_33:24-26). Birthdays were generally observed with rejoicing. So Pharaoh's (Gen_40:20); Job's (Job_1:4, etc.); Herod's (Mat_14:6), though his day was perhaps rather that of his accession to the throne, compare Hos_7:5, "the day of our king."
The Jews latterly viewed birthday celebrations unfavorably, on account of the idolatrous rites and revelry associated with them. Josephus (Ant. 19:7, section 1) mentions that Herod, the brother of Herodias, who succeeded the Herod of Mat_14:6, "made a feast on his birthday, when all under his command partook of his mirth." This is in coincidence with Matthew and Mark (Mar_6:21), for it proves that birthday feasts were observed in Herod's family, and that officers of the government customarily shared in them.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
bûrth (γένεσις, génesis):
(1) It was said by the angel beforehand of John the Baptist, ?Many shall rejoice at his birth?; and when he was born Elisabeth said, ?Thus hath the Lord done unto me ... to take away my reproach among men? (Luk_1:14, Luk_1:25). Among the ancient Hebrews barrenness was a ?reproach? and the birth of a child, of a son especially, an occasion for rejoicing.
(2) This, no doubt, was due in part to the Messianic hope inspired and sustained by prophecy (see Gen_3:15, where it was foretold that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; and subsequent prophecies too numerous to mention). Cases in point worth studying are found in Gen_4:1, where Eve rejoices over the birth of her firstborn and cries, ?I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh?; and 1Sa_1:20, where Hannah exults over her firstborn, calling his name ?Samuel,? ?because,? she says, ?I have asked him of Yahweh.?
(3) The marvelous passage in Isa_7:14, ?Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,? must have intensified the longing and hope of every devout Jewish maiden to be a mother, if mayhap, under God, she might be the mother of Messiah - Immanuel! (Compare Mat_1:22, Mat_1:23; Luk_1:13 f.) See JESUS CHRIST; VIRGIN BIRTH.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
In Eastern countries child-birth is usually attended with much less pain and difficulty than in our northern regions; although Oriental females are not to be regarded as exempt from the common doom of woman, 'in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children' (Gen_3:16). It is however uncertain whether the difference arise from the effect of climate or from the circumstances attending advanced civilization; perhaps both causes operate, to a certain degree, in producing the effect. Climate must have some effect; but it is observed that the difficulty of childbirth, under any climate, increases with the advance of civilization, and that in any climate the class on which the advanced condition of society most operates finds the pangs of childbirth the most severe. Such consideration may probably account for the fact that the Hebrew women, after they had long been under the influence of the Egyptian climate, passed through the childbirth pangs with much more facility than the women of Egypt, whose habits of life were more refined and self-indulgent (Exo_1:19). The child was no sooner born than it was washed in a bath and rubbed with salt (Eze_16:4); it was then tightly swathed or bandaged to prevent those distortions to which the tender frame of an infant is so much exposed during the first days of life (Job_38:9; Eze_16:4; Luk_2:7; Luk_2:12).
It was the custom at a very ancient period for the father, while music celebrated the event, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony he was understood to declare it to be his own (Gen_50:23; Job_3:3; Psa_22:10). This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their handmaids (Gen_16:2; Gen_30:3-5). The messenger who brought to the father the first news that a son was born unto him was received with pleasure and rewarded with presents (Job_3:3; Jer_20:15), as is still the custom in Persia and other Eastern countries. The birth of a daughter was less noticed, the disappointment at its not being a son subduing for the time the satisfaction which the birth of any child naturally occasions. Among the Israelites, the mother, after the birth of a son, continued unclean seven days; and she remained at home during the thirty-three days succeeding the seven of uncleanness, forming altogether forty days of seclusion. After the birth of a daughter the number of the days of uncleanness and seclusion at home was doubled. At the expiration of this period she went into the tabernacle or temple, and presented a yearling lamb, or, if she was poor, two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, as a sacrifice of purification (Lev_12:1-8; Luk_2:22) [CHILDREN].
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
2Ki_19:3 (b) The figure is used to describe the great distress of Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem when they were surrounded by their enemies. They should have deliverance, as the mother has deliverance when her baby is born; however, they were still harassed and persecuted by their enemies. They were praying to GOD to deliver them out of their present difficulties, and this is compared to the birth of a child. (See also Psa_37:3).
Psa_58:8 (b) In this place is a plea that the plans of the wicked not be allowed to prosper, but rather to be defeated before they were put into practice.
Ecc_6:3 (b) The frustration of a life of disappointment is compared to a baby that is born dead. That little one has less trouble than the one who lives a life full of trouble.
Isa_66:9 (b) GOD in this place is promising a full deliverance eventually for Israel so that she will emerge from her captivity as a full-grown nation.
Joh_3:3 (a) This figure is used to describe the miraculous change which takes place when a person is saved by the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The Christian is brought out of bondage into liberty, out of darkness into light, out of helplessness into usefulness, out of death into life.
Gal_4:19 (a) The soul exercise of Paul over the needs of the Galatians for full consecration to the person of JESUS CHRIST is compared to a birth. Works, deeds and philosophies were occupying the minds and hearts of those in the church at Galatia while CHRIST was being ignored and displaced from His lordship. Paul wanted CHRIST to be reinstated in their thinking so that He would be paramount in their love and devotion.
Rev_12:2 (b) This difficult passage may refer to the sorrows of Israel in their slavery under the Romans at the time that JESUS was born.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Birth
(The act of parturition is properly expressed in the original languages of Scripture by some form of the verbs יָלִד, yalad', τίκτω, rendered " bear, "travail," "bring forth, "etc.). In the East (q.v.) childbirth is usually attended with much less pain and difficulty than in more northern regions, although Oriental females are not to be regarded as exempt from the common doom of woman, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children" (Gen_3:16). It is, however, uncertain whether the difference arises from the effect of climate or from the circumstances attending advanced civilization; perhaps both causes operate, to a certain degree, in producing the effect. Climate must have some effect; but it is observed that the difficulty of childbirth, under any climate, increases with the advance of civilization, and that in any climate the class on which the' advanced condition of society most operates finds the pangs of childbirth the most severe. Such consideration may probably account for the fact that the Hebrew women, after they had long been under the influence of the Egyptian climate, passed through the childbirth pangs with much more facility than the women of Egypt, whose habits of life were more refined and self-indulgent (Exo_1:19). There were, however, already recognised Hebrew midwives while the Israelites were in Egypt; and their office appears to have originated in the habit of calling in some matron of experience in such matters to assist in cases of difficulty. A remarkable circumstance in the transaction which has afforded these illustrations (Exo_1:16) will be explained under SEE STOOL.
The child was no sooner born than it was washed in a bath and rubbed with salt (Eze_16:4); it was then tightly swathed or bandaged to prevent those distortions to which the tender frame of an infant is so much exposed during the first days of life (Job_38:9; Eze_16:4; Luk_2:7; Luk_2:11). This custom of bandaging or swathing the new-born infant is general in Eastern countries. It was also a matter of much attention with the Greeks and Romans (see the citations in Wetstein at Luk_2:7), and even in our own country was not abandoned till the last century, when the repeated remonstrances of the physicians seem to have led to its discontinuance.
It was the custom at a very ancient period for the father, while music celebrated the event, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony he was understood to declare it to be his own (Gen_50:23; Job_3:3; Psa_22:11). This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their handmaids (Gen_16:2; Gen_30:3-5). The messenger who brought to the father the first news that a son was born to him was received with pleasure and rewarded with presents (Job_3:3; Jer_20:15), as is still the custom in Persia and other Eastern countries. The birth of a daughter was less noticed, the disappointment at its not being a son subduing for the time the satisfaction which the birth of any child naturally occasions.
Among the Israelites, the mother, after the birth of a son, continued unclean seven days; and she remained at home during the thirty-three days succeeding the seven of uncleanness, forming altogether forty days of seclusion. After the birth of a daughter the number of the days of uncleanness and seclusion at home was doubled. At the expiration of this period she went into the tabernacle or temple, and presented a yearling lamb, or, if she was poor, two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, as a sacrifice of purification (Lev_12:1-8; Luk_2:22). On the eighth day after the birth of a son the child was circumcised, by which rite it was consecrated to God (Gen_17:10; comp. with Rom_4:11). SEE CHILD.
Roberts says, "When a person has succeeded in gaining a blessing which he has long desired, he says, 'Good! good! the child is born at last.' Has a person lost his lawsuit in a provincial court, he will go to the capital to make an appeal to a superior court; and should he there succeed, he will say, in writing to a friend, 'Good news! good news! the child is born.'
When a man has been trying to gain an office, his friend, meeting him on his return, does not always ask, 'Is the child born ?' or 'Did it come to the birth ?' but, 'Is it a male or a female ?' If he say the former, he has gained his object; if the latter, he has failed. The birth of a son is always a time of great festivity in the East; hence the relations come together to congratulate the parents, and to present their gifts to the little stranger. Some bring the silver anklets; others the bracelets or ear-rings, or silver cord for the loins; others, however, take gold, and a variety of needful articles. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people make their obeisance to him" (Orient. Illus.). This illustrates the offerings of the Magi, who came to Bethlehem to worship the infant Messiah, as recorded in Mat_2:11. "When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
The disease called empneumatosis, or false conception, does not appear to have been so unfrequent among the Hebrew women as among those of Europe. If it had been so, it probably would not have made its appearance on the pages of Hebrew writers in the shape of a figure of speech. The Hebrews were accustomed to expect, after severe calamities, a season of prosperity and joy. They accordingly compared a season of misfortune and calamity to the pains of a woman in travail; but the better destiny which followed they compared to the joy which commonly succeeds childbirth (Isa_13:8; Isa_26:17; 2Ki_19:3; Jer_4:31; Jer_13:21; Jer_22:23; Jer_30:6 : Mic_4:9-10; Joh_16:21-22). But they carry the comparison still farther. Those days of adversity, which were succeeded by adversity still more severe; those scenes of sorrow, which were followed by sorrow yet more acute, were likened to women who labored under that disease of the system which caused them to exhibit the appearance and endure the pains of pregnancy, the result of which was either the production of nothing-to use the words of the prophet Isaiah, when it " brought forth wind," or when it terminated in the production of a monster (Isa_26:18; Psa_7:14). On this disorder, which is well known to medical men, see Michaelis's Syntagma Comment. ii, 165. SEE DISEASE.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Childbirth. Emblem of acute and sudden suffering, such as shall overtake those unprepared for the Lord's second coming (1Th_5:3). The special suffering laid on woman as part of the curse from the fall is overruled to a blessing, if she shall faithfully do and suffer the part assigned by God to her, namely, childbearing and home duties, her sphere as distinguished from public teaching, which is man's (1Ti_2:11-15), "she shall be saved (though) with childbearing"; i.e., though suffering her part of the primeval curse, in childbearing, just as man shall be saved, though having to bear his part, the sweat of the brow. The passage may further imply: her childbearing, though in sorrow, being the function of her sex whereby the Savior was born, shall be the mean of her salvation. Ellicott translates, "through THE childbearing," namely, that of Jesus (Gen_3:15-16).
A special interposition mitigated the penalty to the Hebrew women, under the cruel edict of Pharaoh for the destruction of all Hebrew males born (Exo_1:15-19). A woman was unclean under the Mosaic law for 40 days after giving birth to a male, and 80 days in the ease of a female. Then she offered a burnt offering and a sin offering for her cleansing; less costly victims were required for the poor, as the Virgin Mary (See BIRD.) A child when born was washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in swaddling bands, as appears in the Lord's touching picture of His adopting and ultimately marrying Israel (Eze_16:4), where for "to supple thee" (i.e. to make the skin soft), translate, "to the (or my) sight," i.e. in order to be sightly for me to look upon (See margin. The salting was to make the skin dense and firm.
Natural birth unto life is the constant image in Scripture for spiritual quickening, the new birth of the soul by the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin and also points the eye of faith to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world (Joh_3:3-8; Joh_1:13; Gal_6:15; Tit_3:5; Jas_1:18; 1Pe_1:23; 1Jn_3:9; 2Co_5:17; compare Job_33:24-26). Birthdays were generally observed with rejoicing. So Pharaoh's (Gen_40:20); Job's (Job_1:4, etc.); Herod's (Mat_14:6), though his day was perhaps rather that of his accession to the throne, compare Hos_7:5, "the day of our king."
The Jews latterly viewed birthday celebrations unfavorably, on account of the idolatrous rites and revelry associated with them. Josephus (Ant. 19:7, section 1) mentions that Herod, the brother of Herodias, who succeeded the Herod of Mat_14:6, "made a feast on his birthday, when all under his command partook of his mirth." This is in coincidence with Matthew and Mark (Mar_6:21), for it proves that birthday feasts were observed in Herod's family, and that officers of the government customarily shared in them.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
bûrth (γένεσις, génesis):
(1) It was said by the angel beforehand of John the Baptist, ?Many shall rejoice at his birth?; and when he was born Elisabeth said, ?Thus hath the Lord done unto me ... to take away my reproach among men? (Luk_1:14, Luk_1:25). Among the ancient Hebrews barrenness was a ?reproach? and the birth of a child, of a son especially, an occasion for rejoicing.
(2) This, no doubt, was due in part to the Messianic hope inspired and sustained by prophecy (see Gen_3:15, where it was foretold that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; and subsequent prophecies too numerous to mention). Cases in point worth studying are found in Gen_4:1, where Eve rejoices over the birth of her firstborn and cries, ?I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh?; and 1Sa_1:20, where Hannah exults over her firstborn, calling his name ?Samuel,? ?because,? she says, ?I have asked him of Yahweh.?
(3) The marvelous passage in Isa_7:14, ?Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,? must have intensified the longing and hope of every devout Jewish maiden to be a mother, if mayhap, under God, she might be the mother of Messiah - Immanuel! (Compare Mat_1:22, Mat_1:23; Luk_1:13 f.) See JESUS CHRIST; VIRGIN BIRTH.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
In Eastern countries child-birth is usually attended with much less pain and difficulty than in our northern regions; although Oriental females are not to be regarded as exempt from the common doom of woman, 'in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children' (Gen_3:16). It is however uncertain whether the difference arise from the effect of climate or from the circumstances attending advanced civilization; perhaps both causes operate, to a certain degree, in producing the effect. Climate must have some effect; but it is observed that the difficulty of childbirth, under any climate, increases with the advance of civilization, and that in any climate the class on which the advanced condition of society most operates finds the pangs of childbirth the most severe. Such consideration may probably account for the fact that the Hebrew women, after they had long been under the influence of the Egyptian climate, passed through the childbirth pangs with much more facility than the women of Egypt, whose habits of life were more refined and self-indulgent (Exo_1:19). The child was no sooner born than it was washed in a bath and rubbed with salt (Eze_16:4); it was then tightly swathed or bandaged to prevent those distortions to which the tender frame of an infant is so much exposed during the first days of life (Job_38:9; Eze_16:4; Luk_2:7; Luk_2:12).
It was the custom at a very ancient period for the father, while music celebrated the event, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony he was understood to declare it to be his own (Gen_50:23; Job_3:3; Psa_22:10). This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their handmaids (Gen_16:2; Gen_30:3-5). The messenger who brought to the father the first news that a son was born unto him was received with pleasure and rewarded with presents (Job_3:3; Jer_20:15), as is still the custom in Persia and other Eastern countries. The birth of a daughter was less noticed, the disappointment at its not being a son subduing for the time the satisfaction which the birth of any child naturally occasions. Among the Israelites, the mother, after the birth of a son, continued unclean seven days; and she remained at home during the thirty-three days succeeding the seven of uncleanness, forming altogether forty days of seclusion. After the birth of a daughter the number of the days of uncleanness and seclusion at home was doubled. At the expiration of this period she went into the tabernacle or temple, and presented a yearling lamb, or, if she was poor, two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, as a sacrifice of purification (Lev_12:1-8; Luk_2:22) [CHILDREN].
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
2Ki_19:3 (b) The figure is used to describe the great distress of Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem when they were surrounded by their enemies. They should have deliverance, as the mother has deliverance when her baby is born; however, they were still harassed and persecuted by their enemies. They were praying to GOD to deliver them out of their present difficulties, and this is compared to the birth of a child. (See also Psa_37:3).
Psa_58:8 (b) In this place is a plea that the plans of the wicked not be allowed to prosper, but rather to be defeated before they were put into practice.
Ecc_6:3 (b) The frustration of a life of disappointment is compared to a baby that is born dead. That little one has less trouble than the one who lives a life full of trouble.
Isa_66:9 (b) GOD in this place is promising a full deliverance eventually for Israel so that she will emerge from her captivity as a full-grown nation.
Joh_3:3 (a) This figure is used to describe the miraculous change which takes place when a person is saved by the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The Christian is brought out of bondage into liberty, out of darkness into light, out of helplessness into usefulness, out of death into life.
Gal_4:19 (a) The soul exercise of Paul over the needs of the Galatians for full consecration to the person of JESUS CHRIST is compared to a birth. Works, deeds and philosophies were occupying the minds and hearts of those in the church at Galatia while CHRIST was being ignored and displaced from His lordship. Paul wanted CHRIST to be reinstated in their thinking so that He would be paramount in their love and devotion.
Rev_12:2 (b) This difficult passage may refer to the sorrows of Israel in their slavery under the Romans at the time that JESUS was born.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Birth
(The act of parturition is properly expressed in the original languages of Scripture by some form of the verbs יָלִד, yalad', τίκτω, rendered " bear, "travail," "bring forth, "etc.). In the East (q.v.) childbirth is usually attended with much less pain and difficulty than in more northern regions, although Oriental females are not to be regarded as exempt from the common doom of woman, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children" (Gen_3:16). It is, however, uncertain whether the difference arises from the effect of climate or from the circumstances attending advanced civilization; perhaps both causes operate, to a certain degree, in producing the effect. Climate must have some effect; but it is observed that the difficulty of childbirth, under any climate, increases with the advance of civilization, and that in any climate the class on which the' advanced condition of society most operates finds the pangs of childbirth the most severe. Such consideration may probably account for the fact that the Hebrew women, after they had long been under the influence of the Egyptian climate, passed through the childbirth pangs with much more facility than the women of Egypt, whose habits of life were more refined and self-indulgent (Exo_1:19). There were, however, already recognised Hebrew midwives while the Israelites were in Egypt; and their office appears to have originated in the habit of calling in some matron of experience in such matters to assist in cases of difficulty. A remarkable circumstance in the transaction which has afforded these illustrations (Exo_1:16) will be explained under SEE STOOL.
The child was no sooner born than it was washed in a bath and rubbed with salt (Eze_16:4); it was then tightly swathed or bandaged to prevent those distortions to which the tender frame of an infant is so much exposed during the first days of life (Job_38:9; Eze_16:4; Luk_2:7; Luk_2:11). This custom of bandaging or swathing the new-born infant is general in Eastern countries. It was also a matter of much attention with the Greeks and Romans (see the citations in Wetstein at Luk_2:7), and even in our own country was not abandoned till the last century, when the repeated remonstrances of the physicians seem to have led to its discontinuance.
It was the custom at a very ancient period for the father, while music celebrated the event, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony he was understood to declare it to be his own (Gen_50:23; Job_3:3; Psa_22:11). This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their handmaids (Gen_16:2; Gen_30:3-5). The messenger who brought to the father the first news that a son was born to him was received with pleasure and rewarded with presents (Job_3:3; Jer_20:15), as is still the custom in Persia and other Eastern countries. The birth of a daughter was less noticed, the disappointment at its not being a son subduing for the time the satisfaction which the birth of any child naturally occasions.
Among the Israelites, the mother, after the birth of a son, continued unclean seven days; and she remained at home during the thirty-three days succeeding the seven of uncleanness, forming altogether forty days of seclusion. After the birth of a daughter the number of the days of uncleanness and seclusion at home was doubled. At the expiration of this period she went into the tabernacle or temple, and presented a yearling lamb, or, if she was poor, two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, as a sacrifice of purification (Lev_12:1-8; Luk_2:22). On the eighth day after the birth of a son the child was circumcised, by which rite it was consecrated to God (Gen_17:10; comp. with Rom_4:11). SEE CHILD.
Roberts says, "When a person has succeeded in gaining a blessing which he has long desired, he says, 'Good! good! the child is born at last.' Has a person lost his lawsuit in a provincial court, he will go to the capital to make an appeal to a superior court; and should he there succeed, he will say, in writing to a friend, 'Good news! good news! the child is born.'
When a man has been trying to gain an office, his friend, meeting him on his return, does not always ask, 'Is the child born ?' or 'Did it come to the birth ?' but, 'Is it a male or a female ?' If he say the former, he has gained his object; if the latter, he has failed. The birth of a son is always a time of great festivity in the East; hence the relations come together to congratulate the parents, and to present their gifts to the little stranger. Some bring the silver anklets; others the bracelets or ear-rings, or silver cord for the loins; others, however, take gold, and a variety of needful articles. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people make their obeisance to him" (Orient. Illus.). This illustrates the offerings of the Magi, who came to Bethlehem to worship the infant Messiah, as recorded in Mat_2:11. "When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
The disease called empneumatosis, or false conception, does not appear to have been so unfrequent among the Hebrew women as among those of Europe. If it had been so, it probably would not have made its appearance on the pages of Hebrew writers in the shape of a figure of speech. The Hebrews were accustomed to expect, after severe calamities, a season of prosperity and joy. They accordingly compared a season of misfortune and calamity to the pains of a woman in travail; but the better destiny which followed they compared to the joy which commonly succeeds childbirth (Isa_13:8; Isa_26:17; 2Ki_19:3; Jer_4:31; Jer_13:21; Jer_22:23; Jer_30:6 : Mic_4:9-10; Joh_16:21-22). But they carry the comparison still farther. Those days of adversity, which were succeeded by adversity still more severe; those scenes of sorrow, which were followed by sorrow yet more acute, were likened to women who labored under that disease of the system which caused them to exhibit the appearance and endure the pains of pregnancy, the result of which was either the production of nothing-to use the words of the prophet Isaiah, when it " brought forth wind," or when it terminated in the production of a monster (Isa_26:18; Psa_7:14). On this disorder, which is well known to medical men, see Michaelis's Syntagma Comment. ii, 165. SEE DISEASE.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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