Weaning Children

WEANING OF A CHILD The weaning of a child is an important event in the domestic life of the East. In many places it is celebrated by a festive gathering of friends, by feasting, by religious ceremonies, and sometimes the formal presentation of rice to the child. Among the peasant Arabs of Israel, babies are often nursed for two years, and sometimes for four or even five years. When it is being weaned, various dainties are given the child to sweeten the gums and make it to forget the mother's milk4 (cf. Psalm 131:2). The old time Hebrew mothers also weaned their infants late. One such mother said to her son: "My son, have pity upon me that carried thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished and brought thee up unto this age" (II Maccabees 7:27). It was probably at this age of three, or possibly even later, that Hannah weaned Samuel and brought him to GOD's sanctuary, where offerings were made to GOD, and he was presented to the LORD (I Samuel 1:23). The Scriptural example of a weaning feast was the one celebrated for Isaac. Scripture says of it: "And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned" (Genesis 21:8). It must have been a time of great rejoicing and dedication of the child to the LORD. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]

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