UBF Daily Bread

PURIFICATION AFTER CHILDBIRTH

Passage: Leviticus 12:1~8

Key verse: 6

Purification After Childbirth

12 The Lord said to Moses, ²“Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period.^(A) ³On the eighth day^(B) the boy is to be circumcised.^(C) ⁴Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. ⁵If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.

⁶“‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over,^(D) she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb^(E) for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.^[a]^(F) ⁷He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.

“‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. ⁸But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons,^(G) one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.^(H) In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.^(I)’”

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Footnotes

Leviticus 12:6 Or purification offering; also in verse 8

The laws about clean and unclean food relate to man’s curse in the Garden to toil by the sweat of his brow for food. Next, the Lord gave regulations concerning purification after childbirth. This delicate topic addresses God’s curse on the woman in the Garden regarding pains in child-bearing.

Firstly, a woman should set herself apart for a certain amount of time to be purified of her bleeding after childbirth. She was to remain apart from her husband and away from the sanctuary. This could become a time to meditate on God’s grace to bear children and to place her hope in God for the child.

Secondly, out of thankfulness for God’s mercy to bear children and to pass through the curse of all its pains and life-threatening risks, a mother should bring a lamb for a burnt offering. She should also bring a dove or pigeon for a sin offering for her atonement. In a cursed world, original sin was passed through her to the next generation, and there must be atonement. If she could not afford a lamb, she could bring a pair of doves. The offering was not as important as the woman’s heart of thanksgiving, joy and hope in God, who blessed her to bear children and entrusted her with their lives.

Prayer: Father, thank you for your blessing of childbearing. Help mothers to realize your mercy, joy, and hope through childbearing.

One Word: God’s mercy through childbearing