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Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Tradition from the biblical world records a practice of mothers with their newborn infants. To stimulate the nursing reflex, a mother would rub the juice from a crushed date on the lips and palate of the infant to stimulate the sucking reflex. That idea is consistent with the meaning of the Hebrew word for “train up” (or “start”) in Proverbs 22:6. The word for “train up” is also translated as “dedicate”—as in dedicating a house or a temple (Deuteronomy 20:5; Ezra 6:16; 1 Kings 8:63).
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