Leviticus 12

This short chapter gives the law for a woman after childbirth. She is ceremonially unclean for a time, then goes through a period of purification, and finally brings an offering to the priest. The chapter is about worship and the meaning of life and blood. It is not about shame over bearing children, and it makes a gracious provision for the poor.

Leviticus 12:1-2

God speaks to Moses about childbirth. After bearing a son, the mother is ceremonially unclean for seven days, like the days of her monthly period. This uncleanness is not sin. Birth is blessed by God. It simply involves the flow of blood, which in Israel’s law marked a break from approaching holy things.

BSA: unclean (“ceremonially impure, defiled”): The word describes a ritual condition that kept a person from the sanctuary, not a moral failure.

See also: Leviticus 15:19.

Leviticus 12:3

On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. This was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, given to every son of his household. The child enters the people of God in the first week of life, before he can do anything himself.

BSA: circumcised (“cut off, removed, to cut off the foreskin as a sign of covenant”): The act was a physical sign that the child belonged to God’s covenant people.

See also: Genesis 17:10-12.

Leviticus 12:4

After the first seven days, the mother waits thirty-three more days. During this time she must not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary. She is not shut away from her family. She is only kept from the holy place until the days are fulfilled.

BSA: purification (“ceremonial cleansing”): The waiting period is a path toward being made clean again, not a punishment.

Leviticus 12:5

For a daughter the periods are doubled: two weeks, then sixty-six days. The text gives no reason. Some think it relates to the longer time of separation or to the woman’s own future childbearing. We should say plainly that the passage does not explain it, and it does not call a daughter less valuable.

BSA: daughter (“female child, girl”): The law covers daughters with the same offering and the same cleansing as sons.

Leviticus 12:6

When the time is over, she comes to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting with two offerings. The lamb is a burnt offering, given wholly to God in thanks and devotion. The pigeon or dove is a sin offering. Both are needed to restore her full place in worship.

BSA: burnt offering (“atoning sacrifice, consecration”): The whole animal went up in smoke, picturing complete dedication to God.

Hebrew: עֹלָה (ʿōlāh, H5930) — “that which goes up.” The Hebrew name for the burnt offering means “going up.” The whole sacrifice rose to God in smoke.

See also: Leviticus 1:3-4.

Leviticus 12:7

The priest brings the offerings before the LORD and makes atonement for her. Then she is cleansed from her flow of blood. This one law covers every mother, whether her child is a boy or a girl. Atonement here means the way is open again to draw near to God.

BSA: atonement (“cover, reconcile”): Atonement covers what stands between a person and God and restores fellowship.

Hebrew: כִּפֶּר (kipper, H3722) — “to cover, to make atonement.” This Hebrew verb is the main word for atonement in Leviticus. It carries the idea of a cover or ransom that deals with what separates us from God.

See also: Leviticus 17:11.

Leviticus 12:8

God makes room for the poor. If she cannot afford a lamb, two doves or pigeons will do, one for the burnt offering and one for the sin offering. The result is the same: the priest makes atonement and she is clean. Luke records Mary offering this poorer sacrifice after the birth of Jesus.

BSA: afford (“is not able to bring, does not have the means for”): God asks only what a person can bring, so no one is shut out by poverty.

See also: Luke 2:22-24.