Leviticus 12:1-8 MKJV And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a woman has conceived seed and has borne a male, then she shall be unclean seven days; as on the days of her menstrual impurity she shall be unclean. 3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying thirty-three days. She shall touch no holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are fulfilled. 5 But if she bears a female, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying sixty-six days. 6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove, for a sin offering to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to the priest. 7 And he shall offer it before Jehovah, and make an atonement for her. And she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that has borne a male or a female. 8 And if her hand cannot reach to a lamb, then she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons. The one shall be for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed.
Psalms 51:5 MKJV Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Genesis 1:28 MKJV And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.
Psalms 127:3-5 MKJV Lo, children are the inheritance of Jehovah; the fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of the young. 5 Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
“The key to understanding this ceremony is to understand the idea of original sin. As wonderful as a new baby is, God wanted it to be remembered that with every birth another sinner was brought into the world, and the woman was here symbolically responsible for bringing a new sinner into the world…The longer period of ceremonial uncleanness for the birth of a daughter should not be understood as a penalty. Instead, it is linked to the idea stated in the previous verses – that the time of impurity is for the symbolic responsibility of bringing other sinners into the world. When giving birth to a female, a mother brings a sinner into the world who will bring still other sinners into the world.” – David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary
Since God commanded man/woman to multiply, and this is done through conception, conception is not sin. But the sin nature, or evil inclination, is passed to us genetically all the way back to Adam and Eve. The sin offering is thus given for the sin of passing sin on to the child. The sin that remains uncovered, and requires a sacrifice, is this spiritual sin. Both males and females must be born again. It is a sin of the flesh, not of intention. It is a sin covered by the cross. When we are saved, our spirit is born and we have eternal life. Our bodies will eventually be resurrected incorruptible and immortal.
Romans 5:12-21 ESV Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
During this time of seclusion the mother was able to rest, heal and bond with the baby. She was not to be approached by her husband, or anyone other than a caregiver. Even the caregiver was considered unclean until evening. Quarantining the new mother also insured the health of the new mother and baby. Many new parents today will ask visitors to refrain from visiting during the first few weeks of a child’s life while their immune system establishes itself. Quarantining a mother and child for the first few weeks may have had an effect on the staggeringly high infant mortality rate (20% to as high as 50%) for that time period. Resulting in healthier children and population increase for the Israelites. A new mother needs to recover and build her strength and immunity back up and a baby needs time to get their immune system established. After the 7/14 days, she was able to resume most of her functions and receive visitors but still had to wait until the 40th/80th day before she could participate in any religious way. She couldn’t go to the Tabernacle or Temple, touch any hallowed thing, etc.
John 16:21 MKJV The woman has grief when she bears, because her hour has come. But when she brings forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a man is born into the world.
1 Timothy 2:11-15 YLT Let a woman in quietness learn in all subjection, 12 and a woman I do not suffer to teach, nor to rule a husband, but to be in quietness, 13 for Adam was first formed, then Eve, 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, into transgression came, 15 and she shall be saved through the child-bearing, if they remain in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety.
“‘Unclean’ does not mean ‘sinful’ but ‘impure.’ Impurity restricted the Israelite from participating in corporate worship at the tabernacle. The ritual purification of the mother of a newborn son lasted a total of 40 days. For the first seven of these she was contagiously unclean. Even though she had not entered the sanctuary after the birth of her child, her presence in the camp had still contaminated the altar (cf. Leviticus 15:31). That is why she had to offer a sin (purification) offering. Her ritual uncleanness evidently resulted from the woman’s bodily discharge that followed the baby’s delivery (cf. Leviticus 12:4-5; Leviticus 12:7). The lochia is a discharge from the vagina that continues for several weeks after childbirth. For the remaining 33 days she was to remain separate from the sanctuary and anything holy. This period served the double purpose of allowing the new mother to regain her health and strength as well as her ritual purity. The Law did not regard a newborn child as unclean, and circumcision was not a purification rite for the child.” – Constable’s Expository Notes
“A woman traditionally remained impure for seven days following her monthly menstruation cycle. Impurity in this context is not intended to imply sinfulness or inferiority; rather, it emphasizes the tremendous importance of holiness within a woman’s body and the power to create a new life through union with her husband. At childbirth, this same tradition continues to operate. In Leviticus 12, if a woman has a son, she is unclean for 7 days and her son is circumcised on the eighth day, following God’s covenant with Abraham. The woman must then wait 33 days to be purified from her bleeding for a total of 40 days (Leviticus 12:4). When a woman gives birth to a daughter, two differences are noted. First, instead of being unclean for 7 days, she is unclean for 14 days, or twice as long. Second, instead of waiting 33 days until being purified, she must wait 66 days, again twice as long, for a total of 80 days (Leviticus 12:5). According to Jewish tradition, this period is twice as long to account for the purity of both the mother and the daughter. Therefore, the time period is twice as long as when a mother gives birth to a son…The most likely explanation is that the different lengths of time a mother was considered ‘unclean’ involve something spiritual or possibly to remind Israel of Eve’s sin. We know that men and women were both created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), but sin affected the role of each (Genesis 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:11–15). It is the Lord alone who fulfilled the Law and takes away the curse (Matthew 5:17; Galatians 3:13).” – GotQuestions.org
“Throughout the sacrificial regulations it has been seen that mankind, by the very nature of being human, needs expiation from basic sinfulness; even the newly anointed priests had to offer daily sacrifices for expiation while they remained in the area of the sanctuary for a week (8:33–35)… Two very interesting facts are uncovered in this verse. First, a woman as well as a man had the privilege and the obligation to present sacrifices at the sanctuary. While a woman’s role at the sanctuary was less involved than a man’s, she was not excluded from presenting sacrifices there, and on occasion she was required to do so. Second, the offerings were the same whether the mother bore a son or a daughter. This fact undercuts any interpretation that the different lengths of impurity indicated that a baby boy had more intrinsic value than a baby girl.” – Dr. John Hartley, Word Biblical Commentary
“First of all, in the order of the offerings the burnt offering was offered first and then the sin offering followed. The order was reversed when sin was at issue. When an offering was made in response to the commission of sin, the sin offering preceded the burnt offering. The order of the offerings in Leviticus 12 suggests that the personal sin of the mother is not the issue. Moreover, the result of the sacrifice renders the mother ‘clean’; it does not say that she is forgiven (see 4:20, 26, 31, 35). The issue is thus not the sinfulness of the mother or of the process of giving birth; rather the issue seems to be that of the issuance of blood. Because life is in the blood (17:11), the loss of blood required some purification to acknowledge the sanctity of life.” – Dr. Mark Rooker, Leviticus, Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2001, c2000 (The New American Commentary 3A)
“Two things are noticeable here: first, that the burnt offering, symbolizing self-devotion, is far more costly and important than the sin offering, which had not to be offered for any individual personal sin, but only for human sin, ‘which had been indirectly manifested in her bodily condition’ (Keil); and secondly, that in this one case the sin offering appears to succeed the burnt offering instead of preceding it.” – Pulpit Commentary
“The concern with bodily impurities, of both males and females, is signaled by the two chapters that frame this text unit. Chapter 12 deals with the impurities females incur in giving birth. Chapter 15 addresses the impurities that both males and females incur in genital discharges. In between these two chapters, Leviticus 13–14 treats the related issue of skin diseases that may mar any person’s body, whether male or female.. Although some of the concerns are gender-specific—only females discharge menstrual blood, only males discharge semen—these instructions as a whole do not discriminate between the worth of men and women or the susceptibility of their bodies to impurity… Further confirmation that a woman’s impurity is not a moral failure comes from observing that when her purification period is completed, she once again becomes ‘clean’ (vv. 7, 8). Her defilement is a ritual one, not a moral one… Indeed, at no point does chapter 12 say or suggest that the either the priest or God has judged the woman to have ‘sinned’ or ‘brought guilt’ on herself or the community. Rather, once she brings the required offerings, she is ‘cleansed’ from a natural impurity that has only temporarily restricted her normal participation in the life and worship of the community.” – Dr. Samuel Balentine, Leviticus. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002 (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)
Luke 2:21-30 YLT And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, then was his name called Jesus, having been so called by the messenger before his being conceived in the womb. 22 And when the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present to the Lord, 23 as it hath been written in the Law of the Lord, —’Every male opening a womb shall be called holy to the Lord,’ 24 and to give a sacrifice, according to that said in the Law of the Lord, ‘A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.’ 25 And lo, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name is Simeon, and this man is righteous and devout, looking for the comforting of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, 26 and it hath been divinely told him by the Holy Spirit—not to see death before he may see the Christ of the Lord. 27 And he came in the Spirit to the temple, and in the parents bringing in the child Jesus, for their doing according to the custom of the law regarding him, 28 then he took him in his arms, and blessed God, and he said, 29 ‘Now Thou dost send away Thy servant, Lord, according to Thy word, in peace, 30 because mine eyes did see Thy salvation,
In this passage, we see Mary, the Mother of Jesus, following the Jewish law about purification and presenting the baby boy to God. They were doing “according to the custom of the Law”.
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