12:1–2a The Lord gives instructions to Moses, who in turn addresses the people regarding a woman who has given birth. One can imagine in the generations to come that these instructions would be repeated and faithfully passed down from mother to daughter. The legislation that follows may span just a few verses, but it touches on a very significant aspect of a woman’s life experience. The Bible paints the picture that childbirth is a regular occasion for women to draw near to the Lord in faith.

Women seek the Lord, believing that conception is his work (Ruth 4:13; Ps. 139:13) and that it is ultimately in his hand to either open or close the womb (Gen. 29:31; 30:22; Ruth 4:13). They not only pray to conceive (1 Sam. 1:10–11) but continue to trust the Lord throughout their pregnancy as the one who knows the children in the womb (Gen. 25:22–23; Jer. 1:5). Childbirth, then as now, could be life threatening, and women often came to the threshold of death when bringing forth life (Gen. 35:17–19). The experience of pregnancy and childbirth could shape a mother’s vision of her child’s future, which is reflected in its naming (Gen. 4:1; 21:6–7; 25:24–26; 29:32–35; etc.) and nurtured in its upbringing (Gen. 16:11–12; Judg. 13:3–5). Childbirth in Scripture is oftentimes a struggle of faith (Gen. 18:11–15), sometimes even a struggle between life and death (cf. Matt. 2:16), but always the work of the Lord (Gen. 4:1).

12:2b Discussion of purification begins with the case of a woman who bears a male child. In giving birth a woman becomes unclean. Why should childbirth cause a woman to become unclean if God’s mandate to humanity is to bring forth life—“be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28)—and if a woman’s role as a mother is highly valued (Gen. 3:20)? Impurity after childbirth has to do with the bodily discharge of blood and is strictly the designation of a ritual state, not a moral state (cf. Lev. 15:19–26). There is nothing sinful, shameful, or undignified about a mother’s postpartum condition.

A woman’s postpartum blood flow is likened to her menstruation, meaning that for the first week after giving birth her impurity can be communicated to those who come in contact with her directly or with anything on which she has sat or lain (Lev. 15:19–20; cf. Gen. 31:34–35). It also means that her husband may have no sexual relations with her (Lev. 18:19). There is nothing particularly unusual about these restrictions, which the woman would have kept every month prior to her pregnancy. Their practical effect is to place the mother in the welcome position to receive care from her immediate household while her body heals from the trauma of childbirth.144 She would be allowed to rest, begin lactation, and bond with her newborn in a pro-natal culture that values the lives of both mother and child. While the benefits to the mother are many, it is important to keep in mind that the primary reason for these laws is to remove the mother’s impurity so that she may have access to the sanctuary and to the Lord, who is the source of all holiness for his people (Lev. 20:8). As a creature of the sixth day, her primary calling in life is to worship him and reflect his own holiness in the world.

12:3 The focus of attention momentarily shifts from the mother to the male child and the command that he be circumcised on the eighth day. The phrase “flesh of his foreskin” is identical to that of the Bible’s first circumcision, recalling the sign of the covenant given to Abraham: “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (Gen. 17:11).145

Circumcision is a family matter, performed in the home usually by the father (Gen. 17:12, 23; 21:4) and at a most urgent moment by the mother, though it is hard to know whether this was ever common practice (Ex. 4:25). Circumcision is a mark of Israel’s identity and a physical sign of the covenant worn on the body.146 A male child is ceremoniously welcomed into the worshiping community on the eighth day with the privilege and obligation to live according to the treaty of the great King (cf. Leviticus 26).

12:4 The mother’s purification continues another thirty-three days for a total of forty days, a familiar number from Scripture marking transitionary periods.147 In this secondary period of separation the mother is to “not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary,” clarifying that her impurity is defined with respect to the sanctuary and its holy things, such as the food of peace offerings (7:20–21). She is now in the “blood of her purifying,” which is different from the initial blood “as at the time of her menstruation” (12:2), as she no longer communicates uncleanness to others and can therefore reenter normal societal relations without fear of passing on ritual impurity. This is also different from a woman with an abnormal issue of blood “beyond the time of her impurity” (15:25), which also continues to cause uncleanness.

The two-stage process marks a passage from one ritual state to another through separation, transition, and a return to society, classically known as a rite of passage.148 The mother who has been separated from the community due to the impurity of childbirth begins a gradual reassimilation first into society at large (after seven days) and then into the household of God (after forty days). The passage of time allows for a transition between ritual states while she is moving closer to the sanctuary and the center of holiness, which is the Lord.

12:5 If the woman bears a female child, she is unclean twice as long: two weeks, as in her menstruation, and an additional sixty-six days in secondary purification, for a total of eighty days. In the absence of an explicit explanation in the text it is difficult to pinpoint the reason for this doubling. There are numerous suggestions as to why this might be.149 Some interpreters take the view that this is because Israel’s worship is greatly opposed to Canaanite fertility religions that viewed the childbearing woman as ritually potent. Biblical law, therefore, removes the new mother from the realm of the holy and her presence from the sanctuary. Others posit that a female child may have needed extra social and ritual protection than a male.

Another suggestion comes from closer attention to the chapter’s arrangement, which noticeably interrupts the ritual legislation in the case of a male child to address circumcision (cf. comment on 12:3). This may be important. It is possible that allowance is made for a shorter purification period in the case of a male child so that the mother can participate in another important rite of passage, that of her son’s circumcision.150 Otherwise she would be unclean and unable to celebrate the rite that brings her son into the covenant community. Thus, rather than understanding the birth of the female child as prolonging ritual impurity, it could be that the birth of a male child curtails it.

In the absence of a clearly stated rationale it is possible that ancient Israelites themselves did not know the reason either but followed established cultural practices. It is the nature of ritual to focus on practice, not interpretation. Second, and most importantly, the very first chapter of the Bible makes clear that men and women equally bear God’s image and thus have equal value before him (Gen. 1:27), meaning Israelites were not to view the differing lengths of time for impurity as a commentary on the value of male or female children.151

12:6–7 If there was any question whether a female child defiles more than a male, these verses quickly dispel it. The sacrifice required is the same for both male and female (stated twice in these verses for emphasis). The mother is to bring a burnt offering (a yearling lamb) and a sin offering (pigeon or turtledove) to complete her purification, and she will be clean from the blood loss of childbirth.152 The need for a sin offering does not imply that she has sinned; rather, a sin offering is given for purification so that she may once again have access to worship at the sanctuary (cf. comment on 4:3–4). The call to all God’s people is to be holy as he is holy (Lev. 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7, 26) and to bring his holy standards into every aspect of their lives (Lev. 10:10). The burnt offering is given as the “first act of worship after being restored to purity.”153 Ritual transition requires the passage of time and the shed blood of sacrifice.

The requirements after the new mother’s period of purification are very clearly stated using the feminine form of the verb (“She shall bring”). This is what the woman herself must do, not what others will do on her behalf. She counts off the days of her purification, she is familiar with the requirements of the law, and she brings the offering to the tent of meeting. The mother is responsible and accountable for her relationship with the Lord. In all this, however, she does not act alone but would undoubtedly travel with her husband to the sanctuary and bring her nursing baby with her. This would make a child’s first encounter with the Lord the result of a mother’s obedience to come before the Lord in worship.

12:8 Concluding the legislation on impurity at childbirth is the provision for a woman of lower economic status to bring a turtledove instead of a lamb. As with all sacrifices, access to God is not limited to those of means; all Israel is enabled to obedience.