Leviticus 12
Leviticus 12:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Leviticus 12:2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and this is what you should say, if a woman conceives and gives birth to[1] a male child, then she will be contaminated seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she will be contaminated.
Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the foreskin of his penis will be circumcised.
Leviticus 12:4 Then she will stay for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She will not touch anything sacred, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.
Leviticus 12:5 But if she gives birth to a female child, then she will be contaminated two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she will stay in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.
Leviticus 12:6 “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she will bring to the priest at the entrance of the conference tent a lamb a year old for an ascending offering and a pigeon or a turtledove for a failure offering,
Leviticus 12:7 and he will offer it to Yahveh’s face and provide reconciliation for her. Then she will be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the instruction for her who gives birth to a child, either male or female.
Leviticus 12:8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she will take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for an ascending offering and the other for a failure offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation for her, and she will be clean.”
[1] יָלַד = give birth to. Leviticus 12:2, 5, 7; 22:27; 25:45.
Leviticus 12 quotes:
In giving birth to a baby, the mother experienced bleeding (Lev. 12:4—5, 7), as well as the secretion of other bodily fluids (see chap. 15), and this made her ceremonially unclean. The theme of Leviticus 12 is not personal holiness but ritual purification for the mother, without which she could not return to normal life in her home.”
Wiersbe, Warren W. Leviticus : Becoming “Set Apart” for God. First edition, David C Cook, 2015. p. 52.
“Therefore, nothing in Leviticus 12 should be interpreted to teach that human sexuality is “dirty,” that pregnancy is defiling, or that babies are impure. God created humans “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), and when God declared His creation to be “very good” (v. 31), that declaration included sex. He commanded our first parents to “be fruitful, and multiply” (v. 28); in spite of contemporary negative attitudes toward babies, Scripture presents children as blessings from God (Ps. 113:9; 127:3-5; 128:3; Prov. 17:6; Matt. 19:14). If for some reason a pregnancy was unwanted, the Jews would never consider aborting the baby.”
Wiersbe, p. 53.
“God wished to instruct his people that sin is caused not only by one’s environment but is the result of internal pollution as well. Chapter 11 spoke about uncleanness from external contact with certain creatures. But chapters 12-15 speak about man’s uncleanness resulting from internal sources. Chapter 12 deals with defilement following childbirth, chapters 13 and 14 with uncleanness caused by skin diseases, and chapter 15 with pollution associated with reproduction.”
Lenz, Mark J. Leviticus. Northwestern Pub. House, 1988. p. 102.
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