Leviticus 12

Leviticus 12:1

B. Purification after Childbirth (Chap. 12)12:1-4 Chapter 12 deals with uncleanness connected with childbirth. A woman giving birth to a boy was unclean for seven days, just as the days of the impurity of her menstruation. On the eighth day, the boy was circumcised (v. 3). The eighth day was the safest as far as blood clotting was concerned. Today the blood clotting problem is solved by injections of vitamin K. She then remained at home for an additional thirty-three days so as not to touch any hallowed thing or enter the sanctuaryi.e., the court surrounding the tabernacle. 12:5 In the case of a baby girl, the mother was unclean for two weeks, and then remained home for an additional sixty-six days. 12:6-8 At the end of the time of purification, the mother was commanded to bring a yearling lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. If she was too poor to afford the lamb, she could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeonsone for the burnt offering and the other for the sin offering. The mother of our Lord brought two birds (Luk_2:22-24), an indication of the poverty into which Jesus was born. It may seem strange that uncleanness is connected with the birth of a baby, since marriage was instituted before sin entered the world, since the Scriptures teach that marriage is holy, and since God commanded men to reproduce. The uncleanness is probably a reminder that, with the exception of our Lord, we are all brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin (Psa_51:5). The extended time of uncleanness in the case of a baby girl was perhaps an intended reminder that man was created before woman, that the woman was created for the man, that the woman is given a place of positional submission (not intrinsic inferiority) to the man, and that the woman was the first to sin. Williams sees in this legislation the tender care of God in protecting the mother from visitors during a time when her weakness and the danger of infection were greatest.