Leviticus 12
In chapter 11 contamination came from without by contact with unclean animals but in chapter 12, Jehovah would have His people understand that they are contaminated from within by their sin nature.
The world looks upon a mother and new born baby as a wonderful picture of innocence and goodness but God paints a different picture. The mother brought into the world a sinner.
"Behold," says the psalmist," I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. 51: 5) "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25: 4)
None was slower to learn this lesson than Israel even though this continual reminder was given to them.
The doctrine of the total depravity of man is vehemently denied but practiced so obviously by this wicked world as the daily newspapers bear witness.
1. The Period of Post Natal Uncleanness vv. 1-5
1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
The mother is unclean because she has brought a sinner into the world. Eve thought she had brought the Saviour into the world when Cain was born, but she had brought into the world only a sinner—the first murderer. Now this Levitical ritual is to remind women that they were bringing into the world the same kind of a baby that Eve had brought into the world. They cannot do good. They can only sin. (J Vernon McGee)
3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
The shadow of this cross passes before us in a double way in our chapter; first, in the circumcision of the "man child," whereby he became enrolled as a member of the Israel of God; and, secondly, in the burnt offering and sin offering, whereby the mother was restored from every defiling influence, rendered fit, once more, to approach the sanctuary, and to come in contact with holy things. CHM
The number eight signifies a new beginning, which takes place when the flesh is cut off, for "the flesh profits nothing" (John 6: 63). L Grant
Circumcision was a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham.
Cf. Genesis 17:9-14, "And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."
Circumcision had a moral meaning.
Moses spoke of his lips as uncircumcised lips (Exodus 6:12, 30)
Israel is spoken of as having uncircumcised ears (Jer. 6:10)
God commands that the foreskin of the heart is circumcised (Deut. 30:6; Jer. 4:4. Cf. Jer. 9:25-26.)
Circumcision is symbolic of the crucifixion of the sinful nature by the work of Christ on the cross. It is the putting aside of the corrupt sinful nature of man.
Cf. Col. 2:11-13, "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses."
Samuel Ridout writes: "Our Lord’s death has not only put away the fruit, but condemned and set aside the very root which bore it."
When Christ died, we are having viewed as having died with Him. Christ not only died as our substitute but also as our representative, as us as if God saw us walking up to Calvary and being crucified and judged for our sins.
We now walk in a new life that has come from the risen Christ.
Unfortunately the Jewish people ignored the spiritual meaning of circumcision and considered the physical rite good enough for them to merit a place in heaven regardless of their behaviour.
Cf. Rom. 2:25 "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision."
Some people erroneously equate infant baptism with circumcision. However, the Scriptures clearly teach that every true believer is circumcision and baptized. The latter has not replaced the former. We have both.
We also note that our Lord was circumcised on the eighth day, according to the law, though there was no sinful flesh in Him to be "put off." This is in keeping with the fact of His baptism at the hands of John, thus fulfilling all righteousness, though He had no sins to confess, as had the people: in keeping also with the fact that He was carried down into Egypt, so that, retracing Israel's history, it might be said of Him, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." F B Hole
4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.
Some see in this law, the care of God for the recuperating mother and child so visitors who came would not come and spread their germs to the mother and child before they had strength to resist infection.
The hallowed things would be things such as tithes, peace offering that could be eaten at home or meal offerings that was prepared at home and offered on the altar.
5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
Various suggestions have been made as to why for a girl the mother was unclean twice as long. Some think it was to allow for the great amount of blood discharged as a result of the birth of a baby girl, others think it allowed the woman to recuperate in case her husband wanting a son came in to her.
However, the Scriptures give a reason as to why this should be so.
It is as a reminder of what took place in Genesis 3. It was a reminder to the woman of the fall, and how it came about. It was a reminder of the judgment upon the woman for listening to the Devil. It was a reminder that she was to be subject to the man and not to usurp authority.
Cf. 1 Timothy 2:12-15, "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."
In this passage, Paul links childbirth and the woman's subsequent subjection to the man with what happened in Eden.
Eve acted independently of Adam instead of first going to him when the devil tempted her. The devil still acts in this way and many a Christian wife has led her husband into error by listening to false teachers.
Cf. 2 Timothy 3:6 "For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts."
A sad fact of life is that Satan consistently attacks the women in the area of discernment. Christian women must be especially dependent upon God to give them doctrinal direction and understanding.
2. Purification Offerings after Childbirth vv.6-8
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.
6 ¶ And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:
In the burnt offering, God was completely glorified and in the sin offering man's sin nature was dealt with.
It is to be noticed that no trespass offering was offered, only a sin offering for that offering dealt with the sin nature of man. It was not a matter of the mother having done anything wrong but the sin nature she had within herself.
7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.
All that comes out of man defiles him. He is polluted at his very fountainhead and this is the teaching of these chapters in Leviticus. The woman's blood defiled her and she needed cleansing. The very children she gave birth to were born in sin like herself with only one blest exception, our Lord Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin
8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.
God in grace took into account the poverty of the offerer and a smaller sacrifice of birds could be offered. "To the poor the Gospel is preached."
We see in the offering of Mary, how poor and humble the home was into which our Lord Jesus was born.
Cf. Luke 2:22-24, "And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
Mary was not sinless as the papist's claim but had to offer a sin offering for herself.
There was no offering for the Lord Jesus contrary to the rendering of Luke 2:22 by modern Bible perversions
What a rebuke to every form of respecting persons! What grace that the Lord of glory was born of a virgin mother, whose poverty was shown in the offering proper to it! What a chasm separates the "Daily Prayers" of the Jew from the scriptures! "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast not made me a heathen." "Blessed etc. who hast not made me a slave." "Blessed etc. who hast not made me a woman." The inspired wisest of men says, "A foolish man despiseth his mother" (Prov. 15: 20); indeed the Ten words commanded from the first, "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Ex. 20: 12). William Kelly