What Women Must Do After Child Birth
March 24, 2020
Commentary
This chapter deals with matters of physical cleanliness and health and also reminds us how these affected a person’s relationship with God and the community. Some of the rules given through Moses anticipated practices that helped protect the Israelites from illness and infection. God cared about His people’s daily lives, including their health, cleanliness, worship, and relationships with one another.
The Lord told Moses to speak to Israel: “If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days” (v. 2). The baby boy was to be circumcised on the 8th day. After that, the mother was to remain apart for another 33 days while completing her time of cleansing. During this period, she was not to touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary. If she gave birth to a daughter, she was to remain unclean for two weeks and complete another 66 days of cleansing (vv. 3-5).
When her time of cleansing was completed, the mother was to bring a year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering to the entrance of the tabernacle (v. 6). The priest would offer these sacrifices before the Lord, and she would be considered clean again (v. 7). If she could not afford a lamb, she could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons instead—one for the burnt offering and the other for the sin offering (v. 8).
These instructions remind us that God cared about mothers, families, health, worship, and their place within the community. The provision for those who could not afford a lamb shows that worship was not only for the wealthy. Although these specific ceremonial laws do not apply to Christians today, they remind us that God cares about every part of life and provides a way for His people to approach Him.
Application
Do I bring my physical, emotional, and spiritual needs to the Lord? Am I patient when I need time to recover or wait? Do I make room for others who need care and support? Am I thankful that God provides a way for everyone to come to Him? Am I willing to trust His timing when I do not understand the waiting?
Leviticus 12:1–8 (NET)
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring and bears a male child, she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. 3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised. 4 Then she will remain thirty-three days in blood purity. She must not touch anything holy and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. 5 If she bears a female child, she will be impure fourteen days as during her menstrual flow, and she will remain sixty-six days in blood purity.
6 “‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest. 7 The priest is to present it before the Lord and make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child. 8 If she cannot afford a sheep, then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest is to make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.’”
Tony Campolo – Jesus Took Our Sins on Himself
While spending a few days as the religious-emphasis-week speaker on the campus of a Christian college, I talked with a senior who seemed quite casual about the sins in his life. He told me about having an affair with a married woman. Then he said, … Continue