John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 16:4-5

"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. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, for that thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou wast born." — Ezekiel 16:4-5 (ASV)

Here the Prophet metaphorically describes that most miserable state in which God found the Jews. For we know that scarcely any nation was ever so cruelly and disgracefully oppressed. For when they were all driven to servile labor without reward, the edict was proclaimed that their males should be cut off (Exodus 1:16, 22).

No kind of disgrace was omitted, and their life was worse than a hundred deaths. This, then, is the reason why God says that the Jews were so cast forth on the face of the earth without any supply of the common necessities of life. He takes these figures from customary practice. It is usual to cut the umbilical cord of infants, for the umbilical cord provides them with nourishment in their mother’s womb. Both mother and child would perish unless a separation took place. If the umbilical cord were not tied, the child would perish, for all the blood flows through that organ, as the child received its sustenance through it. This is the midwife’s chief care as soon as the child is born: to cut away what must afterwards be properly attended to, and to bind up the part. As I have said, this is done with the greatest care, as the infant’s life depends upon it.

But God says, that the navel-string of the Jews is not cut off. Why so? Because they were cast, He says, on the surface of the earth; that is, they were deserted and exposed—using but a single word. He now adds, they were not washed with water: for we know how young infants require washing; and unless it is performed immediately, they will perish.

Hence He says, they were not washed with water. He adds that they were not washed to soften or refresh them, or to “prepare” them, as the common phrase is. For water softens and smooths the skin, though others translate the original word in the sense of causing it to shine; but we understand the Prophet’s meaning sufficiently. He afterwards adds, they were not rubbed with salt; for salt is sprinkled on the body of an infant to harden the flesh, while care must be taken not to make it too hard; and this moderate hardness is achieved by the sprinkling of salt.

The full meaning is that the Jews at their birth were cast out with such contempt that they were destitute of the necessary care which life requires. He adds, No eye pitied thee, so as to discharge any of these duties, and to show thee pity: and this is sufficiently evident. The Israelites would have been destroyed had no one had compassion on them, for they were in some sense buried in the land of Egypt. We know how cruel the conspiracy of the whole land was against them. No wonder, then, that God here relates that they were cast upon the surface of the land, so that no eye looked upon them and showed them pity. He adds, they were cast to the loathing of their life. He simply means that they were so despicable that they had no standing among men, for loathing of life means the same as rejection.