1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, and bear a male, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the separation of her infirmity shall she be unclean.
3 And on the eighth day shall the flesh of his foreskin be circumcised.
4 And she shall continue thirty-three days in the blood of her cleansing; no holy thing shall she touch, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her cleansing are fulfilled.
5 And if she bear a female, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation; and she shall continue sixty-six days in the blood of her cleansing.
6 And when the days of her cleansing are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.
7 And he shall present it before Jehovah, and make atonement for her; and she shall be clean from the flux of her blood. This is the law for her that hath borne a male or a female.
8 And if her hand cannot find what is sufficient for a sheep, she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons; one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her; and she shall be clean.
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Commentary on Leviticus 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
Le 12:1-8. Woman's Uncleanness by Childbirth.
2. If a woman, &c.—The mother of a boy was ceremonially unclean for a week, at the end of which the child was circumcised (Ge 17:12; Ro 4:11-13); the mother of a girl for two weeks (Le 12:5)—a stigma on the sex (1Ti 2:14, 15) for sin, which was removed by Christ; everyone who came near her during that time contracted a similar defilement. After these periods, visitors might approach her though she was still excluded from the public ordinances of religion [Le 12:4].
6-8. the days of her purifying—Though the occasion was of a festive character, yet the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the parent with recollections of the origin of sin, and that the child inherited a fallen and sinful nature. The offerings were to be presented the day after the period of her separation had ended—that is, forty-first for a boy, eighty-first for a girl.
8. bring two turtles, &c.—(See on Le 5:6). This was the offering made by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it affords an incontestable proof of the poor and humble condition of the family (Lu 2:22-24).