Leviticus 12:1-8 - Ritual Cleansing of Blood

Leviticus 12:1-8

The Ritual After Childbirth (Luke 2:22–24)

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled.

5 ‘But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her customary impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purification sixty-six days.

6 When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Then he shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female.

8 And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

One week or two after childbirth?  It seems it would be better to have 14 days to recover for both male and female babies in view of the mother’s health, but it seems to have been shortened to 7 days for the male child so that he could be circumcised on the next (8th) day.  Otherwise what would the reason be?  Some think that mothers were unclean twice as long (total of 80 days) after the birth of a daughter as a son (total of 40 days), because of the stigma on women for Eve’s part in the Fall, which stigma is removed in Christ, but that seems less likely.  The circumcision of the male appears most likely to be the reason for the number of days.  He would still need up to a week to recover, making the total equivalent to the two weeks required for a female child.  How that affected the cleanliness of the mother is not accounted for, however.  Either way, in that day this was the ritual for customary impurity just as after menstruation for the mother.  Both situations required the burnt offering afterwards for her atonement and cleansing.  Is this because of the Fall into sin and the need for the blood of Christ to cleanse us completely as no other sacrifice can do?  We do not know this and other things related to these rituals, but we can wonder if it could be so as a ritual cleansing of blood pointing to a fuller meaning of spiritual cleansing from our blood guilt by the lifeblood (John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:18-19) of our perfect offering and true cleansing (Romans 2:29, Colossians 2:11) of our hearts by the lifeblood of Jesus Christ to atone once and for all for our sin.