Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 16:4

"And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." — Ezekiel 16:4 (ASV)

Washed in water to supple thee.—The various details of this and the following verse describe a child cast out into the field immediately upon its birth, unpitied by anyone, and in a condition in which it would soon have perished.

Neither the text nor the margin seems to have grasped the meaning of the word translated “to supple,” its probable meaning is “to cleanse.”

The rubbing of the body of the newborn infant with salt, a custom still practiced in some parts of the East, probably had a symbolic, as well as a supposed physical effect, and is recommended for the latter reason by Galen (De Sanit. i. 7).

Wrapping the body tightly in swaddling-bands is still common, even in Italy. The time referred to here in the life of Israel is when it passed from its embryonic state in the family of the patriarchs to a nation in bondage in Egypt. Despised, oppressed, and enslaved, no other people ever became a nation under such circumstances. Humanly speaking, national life was an impossibility for them.