After Birth - Leviticus 12

Chapter 12 is very short, only 8 verses, and deals with the “law of purification of women after childbirth.” After a woman gives birth she’s considered “unclean” because she’s bleeding. There’s several aspects of this that are interesting. First is the fact of why she’s considered unclean while bleeding. I always assumed that this was just like all the other misogynistic rules surrounding the hatred of women by all societies throughout human history, and there still might be some part of that but there’s more. When I was in my Hawaiian studies class in college in Hawaii, we talked about ancient Hawaiian culture which had a similar rule about women being sent away to isolated “menstrual” shacks for them to stay at during their periods. My professor was not a wilting flower by any means, but she changed my view on the subject. She said, “I know that this rule seems like a punishment for women, but think about it, when aa woman is on her period, she doesn’t want to stay in the house and cook and clean for her family, she want to go rest and be with her friends. I imagine my female ancestors resting in those shacks and having their food brought to them by their children and telling them ‘tell your father I need one more day.’ They needed rest and that’s what they got in these shacks.” And there would be no more effective way to force men to let their wives rest than to say that they are unclean and creating a societally enforced religious ruling created by God.

Another interesting concept in chapter 12 is the length of time for which a woman is considered unclean. If the baby is a boy, then then 8 days post partum the baby is to be circumcised, then she’s to go back to her “unclean” routine for another 33 days, making her total time “unclean” 40 days total. If the baby is a girl, then she’s “unclean” for 80 days total. This begs the question “why” is the mother considered “unclean” twice as long for a baby girl than a baby boy. Both TB and the IM state that there is not reason given, but I’m going to speculate on my thoughts. First is that the birth rate is relatively evenly split between boys and girls, meaning that most families have a mix of both girl and boy babies so if a woman has 6 children then she’s most likely going to have a mix of the 40 and 80 rest days so they’d be pretty even when all is said and done.

The second speculation that I had came to me when considering the 8 day circumcision and I wondered if it had something to do with the fathers interacting with their male children as early as possible to promote bonding between father and son. Like the earlier the mother came back into the normal household activities, the sooner that the father might bond with his son and become invested in that son’s proper growth and progression as a male in that society. But these are just the thoughts that I had based on my own experiences so who knows how correct they are.

When the “purifying” time is over, the woman is to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering to the “door of the tabernacle” to be sacrificed so that she could become clean again. If she couldn’t afford the lamb, “two turtles, or two young pigeons” could be used instead. I like how God always gives a “poor” option, always allowing people to meet Him where they are.