Leviticus 12 Study Notes

12:1-8 The newborn child of a mother was not impure, since the male child was circumcised on the eighth day while the mother was in isolation. That circumcision was a part of her duty showed the mother’s valued contribution to the community. She was the vehicle of God’s blessing of children within Israel’s covenant with God (Gn 17). Children were considered a gift from God; the woman was not ritually defiled when she was pregnant. The impurity resulted from blood and fluids that are a part of the birth process (Lv 12:4-5,7). Men also underwent separation and ritual reintegration due to bodily discharges (15:2-18).

The message of these restrictions is that a person’s spiritual relationship is more important than physical attributes (Allen Ross). Jesus healed a woman who endured constant hemorrhaging, showing his power to cleanse physically and spiritually (Mk 5:25-34). Although the physical body was created good, Christians must subject their physical life to the greater good of the kingdom of God (Rm 12:1; 1Co 6:13; Php 3:19-21). Jesus Christ is the perfect high priest and pure sacrifice (Heb 7:26). By his blood Christians receive his purity and holiness (Heb 13:12; 1Jn 3:3). This was true also of Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose flow of blood and physical impurities after childbirth symbolized her more serious spiritual defilement that was finally and fully cleansed through the blood of her son, Jesus.

12:2 Although the text does not say that anyone who came into contact with a woman after childbirth became unclean, the parallel instructions about menstruation and any other discharge of blood made this explicit (15:25-30). Her domestic duties would defile the home and members of her family through touch.

12:3 On circumcision, compare Gn 17:10-11; on the eighth day, compare Lk 1:59; 2:21; Php 3:5.

12:5 The rationale for doubling the period of isolation for the birth of a female child was not a matter of gender bias since the purification rite was the same for the male child. Possibly the circumstance of bearing a future mother doubled the period of time.

12:6-7 The sin offering is better understood as a “purification offering,” since no sin was committed by the mother or child. The mother was in a state of ritual uncleanness because of the discharge of blood.

12:8 The grace of the Lord provided a concession for the poor (5:7,11; cp. Lk 2:22-24); it was the willing spirit of the worshiper that was foremost, not the value of the gift.