Verse 4
4. Israel's helplessness in her first struggling into national existence, under the image of an infant (Hosea 2:3) cast forth without receiving the commonest acts of parental regard. Its very life was a miracle (Hosea 2:3- :).
navel . . . not cut—Without proper attention to the navel cord, the infant just born is liable to die.
neither . . . washed in water to supple thee—that is, to make the skin soft. Rather, "for purification"; from an Arabic root [MAURER]. GESENIUS translates as the Margin, "that thou mightest (be presented to thy parents to) be looked upon," as is customary on the birth of a child.
salted—Anciently they rubbed infants with salt to make the skin firm.
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