Leviticus 12--Purification After Childbirth

Leviticus 12
English Standard Version

Purification After Childbirth
12 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. 5 But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.

​6 “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, 7 and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. 8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

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This passage definitely raises a lot of questions for us in modern times because we can't go back and ask Moses what God's original intent was in making these laws, but we again don't need to understand the rules in order to obey them.  There are two different sets of rules here, one for the birth of a male child and one for the birth of a female child.  There are some decent commentaries that try to explain why there would be different rules for the different sexes, but the honest answer I have is "I don't know"--I can only tell you other people's educated guesses.  I do know though that the law of the Lord is perfect (Psalm 19:7), so there's no mistake here in what God commanded.

The mother of a male child would be ceremonially unclean for 7 days, would circumcise the male child on the eighth day, and then would continue her time of purification for another 33 days (40 days total).  Since 40 is a number of judgment in the Bible it is possible that this could have something to do with that, but the commentaries I studied for writing this blog indicate that they think this time is like a sort of "maternity leave" for the mother whereby she would not be able to interact with others socially during the time she was unclean and would be forced to spend the first month or so doing nothing else other than caring for the baby.  There is some thought that the 40 days may have something to do with bringing another sinner into the world and some sort of recognition of "original sin" in the newborn baby, however this is not to say that God thinks that childbirth is sinful or that there's something wrong with it.  In fact He both commands it ("Be fruitful and multiply" was one of the commandments that we see several times in the book of Genesis) and He says more than once that children are a treasure and a blessing and a gift from Him.

The instructions are basically the same with the exception of circumcision for the birth of a female child, only the times are doubled--2 weeks after birth the woman is unclean and then another 66 days of purification afterwards for a total of 80 days.  There is speculation that this might have something to do with the female child being able to bring additional children (additional sinners) into the world, or possibly that there's some reason that the mother needed more time to care for and nurture a baby girl since they are usually born with less body mass than boys are.  Like I said before, I don't understand all the intricacies of the "why" of the laws, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating that God had His reasons and His decrees are both just and righteous.

In either case, at the end of her days of purification, there was a sacrifice to be made for purification--a lamb as a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering.  If the mother is poor and cannot afford the lamb for the burnt offering, then a sacrifice of two turtledoves or two pigeons would be acceptable.  This is the sacrifice that was made by Mary in Luke 2:22-24, indicating to us that Mary and Joseph were poor and unable to afford the regular sacrifice of a lamb as a burnt offering.

After this sacrifice was made, the woman would be pronounced "clean" but the priests from her blood flow (remember a bit part of the job of the priests is what we might call "health code" and to pronounce things "clean" and "unclean").

Times have changed now, but most women would probably agree that they are forced to leave the hospital far earlier than they would like.  It probably would be nice to be able to stay in the hospital for a week or two to deal with all of the issues that arise after the birth of a child, but that's not how we do things anymore.  We want to get mothers out of the hospital and back home as quickly as possible.  We also no longer wait to circumcise a male child and it's no longer thought of as a sign of the covenant--it's just done as good medical practice now.  There are going to be a few other things that we read like this in Leviticus that make us wonder if these laws would still apply in our day and time and are needed now.  Again, I don't know, but how could we go wrong with following God's Law even if we don't understand it or think it "outdated"?  Shouldn't we trust Him to know what He's doing and trust Him to bless our obedience, even when we don't understand?  Especially when we don't understand?!?