Chapter 12 contains information that's difficult for us to understand in our day. It contains information that some have taken as "proof" that God considers the woman less important than the man or that God considers the birth of a female child inferior to the birth of a male child. Although in our times the purification regulations of Chapter 12 may not fully make sense to us, I believe we can be reassured that it is not the case that the Lord favors male human beings over female human beings.
We're in a section of Leviticus that has to do primarily with health regulations. Our preceding chapter contained a list of foods that were and were not to be eaten, plus there was a spiritual element involved in being obedient to the dietary laws. In our next chapter we'll be studying the health regulations regarding various contagious skin ailments. So we must conclude that the information in our current chapter regards either the spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical health of the persons involved.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.'" (Leviticus 12:1-3) As far as I know, all of us who are studying Leviticus together are adults and we don't need any explanation for what the Lord is talking about in these verses. For seven days after giving birth the woman is ceremonially unclean which is a condition, as we've already learned, that is not a sinful type of ceremonial uncleanness. Ceremonial uncleanness can occur for a variety of reasons but in many cases it is unintentional or unavoidable. It is not the same as a deliberate or accidental sin and we are not to conclude there is anything sinful or wrong about a married woman conceiving or giving birth to a child.
In a time when drugstores didn't exist and when factory-made sanitary products weren't available, people had to be very careful about exposing anyone else to blood since many illnesses can be transmitted by blood. We can only assume that the regulation found in verse 1 is a health regulation to prevent the transmission of bloodborne pathogens should a person be harboring an illness of this type. Regarding circumcision, it is known now that to perform the procedure before the baby boy is eight days old is to take a greater chance of excessive bleeding. It is on the eighth day after birth when the amount of Vitamin K in the child's blood spikes fairly high and this aids in the quick clotting of blood.
The new mom isn't to go up to the sanctuary again for thirty-three more days after giving birth to a male child. The length of time in which she is ceremonially unclean, and the length of time in which she must observe the purification regulations, is double if she has given birth to a female child. "Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding." (Leviticus 12:4-5) These are the verses that have led some to erroneously assume that the Lord cares less about females than males or that the Lord is prejudiced against females. I don't believe that's what is going on here, after studying a number of commentaries and medical articles on the subject of childbirth in ancient times.
The health of the child is being protected by these regulations, for what is a woman doing during the days of her purification? She's staying at home with the newborn baby. While she is ceremonially unclean she can't even visit other people's houses. While she's observing the additional days of purification she can't join the crowds at the tabernacle and mingle with members of the community. This isolation from the public protects the child from communicable illnesses during the time the child's immune system is at its weakest. Even up until the most modern times it was recommended that an infant not be taken in public for anywhere from six weeks to three months except for doctor visits. Nowadays we find them being taken around to all the relatives' houses and taken out into crowds in public almost from birth but it's still not a safe practice. It's especially not a safe practice in 2020 while we have a pandemic going on and yet lately I've seen several people in public with newborns that don't look over a couple of weeks old.
In the Bible days childbirth was a dangerous business. Mortality rates were high for both the mothers and the babies. Births were unmedicated and if complications occurred the options were limited as to what could be done to remedy the situation. We can understand why a new baby would be safest at home for a while and we can understand why the new mother would need time to recover, but why was the isolation period longer after the birth of a female child than after the birth of a male child? Many Bible scholars and people with medical backgrounds think it's because the birth weight of females is typically a bit smaller than the birth weight of males. This led people of ancient times to believe female infants were more likely to perish than males. In ancient times it was believed that females were physically weaker than males in every way. We know now that females are actually more likely to survive illnesses (at any age) than males, but in ancient patriarchal societies where sons were highly prized, it was thought that female babies needed more protection and were more likely to perish if they became ill. This would explain why people thought a female newborn should stay home longer than a male newborn, but why does God think this is beneficial?
I found a couple of commentaries in which it was suggested that it helped families bond strongly with female infants. In a patriarchal society, fathers sometimes showed less interest in the birth of a female baby. Fathers might spend less time with female infants and might not be as encouraging or as understanding about their wives lavishing tons of attention on a female infant, especially if there were already male children in the household. Having the female infant and the wife home 24/7 for so long meant the father himself was around the baby perhaps more than he would have been around a new male baby. It also meant that the other members of the household (extended families tended to live together in those days, so a household could include the parents, the children, the grandparents, and even the great-grandparents) spent an enormous amount of time around the new female infant and fell in love with her and bonded deeply with her. They would bond just as deeply with her as with a male infant and would care just as much about her welfare as the welfare of the male members of the family. If this is the case, then we see that the Lord not only cares as much about females as He cares about males, but that He wants everyone else to have the same attitude.
"When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young dove or a pigeon for a sin offering." (Leviticus 12:6) This is further proof that the Lord considers the birth of a female child as important as the birth of a male child: the offering is the same for either sex.
When the woman brings these offerings to the priest, "He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood." (Leviticus 12:7a) The woman can now go back to a normal daily routine in the community and she can start going back to the tabernacle. She has recovered sufficiently from the birth for her immune system to have regained most or all of its strength and the child's immune system is strong enough for her to take it in public when she goes out into the community.
"These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean." (Leviticus 12:7b-8) Mary the mother of Jesus could not afford a lamb. We learn in Luke 2 that she obeyed the regulations we're reading about in Leviticus 12 and that she had to bring two turtledoves to the temple following the birth of her son. If it were not for Leviticus 12 we wouldn't know that Mary was a devout young woman who loved the Lord and who believed in obeying the regulations He provided. If it were not for Leviticus 12 we wouldn't know that Mary and Joseph were a lower income family who could only bring a smaller offering on the day she fulfilled the regulations we've read about in our study today. Everything in the Bible has a purpose, and if we take nothing else away from today's study, let's take away these two facts:
1. The Lord values women just as much as He values men.
2. The Lord Jesus, who loves us all equally, became poor for our sake so that someday we can share in the inheritance His father gives to Him.
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