2 Speak H1696 unto the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 saying, H559 If a woman H802 have conceived seed, H2232 and born H3205 a man child: H2145 then she shall be unclean H2930 seven H7651 days; H3117 according to the days H3117 of the separation H5079 for her infirmity H1738 shall she be unclean. H2930
3 And in the eighth H8066 day H3117 the flesh H1320 of his foreskin H6190 shall be circumcised. H4135
4 And she shall then continue H3427 in the blood H1818 of her purifying H2893 three H7969 and thirty H7970 days; H3117 she shall touch H5060 no hallowed H6944 thing, nor come H935 into the sanctuary, H4720 until the days H3117 H3117 of her purifying H2892 be fulfilled. H4390
5 But if she bear H3205 a maid child, H5347 then she shall be unclean H2930 two weeks, H7620 as in her separation: H5079 and she shall continue H3427 in the blood H1818 of her purifying H2893 threescore H8346 and six H8337 days. H3117
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 12
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).