My question is; why is the mother "unclean" and bannished from the sanctuary twice as long if the baby is a girl? Also, do verses 6 and 7 imply that the "blood" issue of birth is actually a sin? (Which in turn requires atonement?) And hence, the natural process of human birth, is sinful? (the first part of the question is more important to me; I.e. Why is the mother unclean for twice as long 14 days, and banned from the sanctuary for 66 days if a girl? Only 33 days if a boy. I have a little daughter who is still a Christian, and I want to be able to comfort her heart, when she reads how much the authors of the Bible didn't like girls.



Here's the scripture:



Leviticus 12

(Leviticus 12:2 & 5 When a woman gives birth to a boy, she is unclean for 7 days. When a woman gives birth to a girl, she is unclean for 14 days. Verses 6 and 7 imply that the “blood” has put her in some kind of “sinful” state, requiring atonement. The natural act of birth considered sin)

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,



2Speak 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.



3And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.



4And 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.



5But 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.



6And 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:



7Who 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.



8And 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.

Haha, this is one of those places where my view parts company with the view of those who take the Bible to be inerrant.



I certainly believe that God interacted with and worked within the nation of Israel, but I tend to agree with historical-critical scholars that the Torah itself is the product of a process of several stages of redaction - Documentary Hypothesis. As such, it does contain divine truths, but it also contains culturally-based assumptions and divine revelation as seen through a culturally-biased interpretive grid.



The example you brought up is what I would consider one such product of cultural influences stemming from the patriarchal society of ancient Israel upon the text.

Shouldn't you be asking the Jewish folks, too?



After all, they're the ones who think the covenant is still in force.

But now, that I've read it, you seem to be freaking out over nothing. "Uncleanness" was really just a way of quarantining someone for potential health risks. I assume that the uncleanness ended for a male child on the seventh day so he could be circumcised on the eighth. There would have been no such necessity for a female child, so they extended the quarantining for a bit longer. Big deal.

You should ask the Jewish believers, the rules of the old testament, don't pertain to Christians

the only reason it was like this is a male child in Jewish faith is seen above a female child. A male child keeps the covenet with G-D going by circumcision, Keeping family name going, and is the only one Bar-mitzva.. This is also why still some countries don't give women the same rights men have.

Carlo,



You're foolish. It has nothing to do with health risks. That is proven by the fact that the quarantine is TWICE AS LONG IF THE BABY IS A GIRL!!!! Are girl babies TWICE as much of a health risk as boys? It is because the writers of the Bible don't like girls!!!!!

Wrong. They do pertain to Christians. Why? Because you believe it is the same God! Your God, (Jesus Christ) told them to burn each other alive, stone children, stone people who worked on the sabbath, slaughter babies with the sword, sent wild animals to rip apart children, and told them that baby girls were TWICE as unclean as baby boys. That God. (Yahweh/The Father/Jesus/ etc)



Same God. Same evil nature.

This law prves 2 things to Christians



1 There is no original sin. There is no sin offering made for the child because the child - wether male or famale has no sin.



2. It convicts Mary of sin, just by having a child she needed to go to make a sin offering because she was unclean.



Every single law in leviticus has something to teach, it is not corrupted - it is the law of sin and death. The law of Moses.



Luke CH 2

21And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22And 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;

23(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

24And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Mike wrote:

Wrong. They do pertain to Christians. Why? Because you believe it is the same God! Your God, (Jesus Christ) told them to burn each other alive, stone children, stone people who worked on the sabbath, slaughter babies with the sword, sent wild animals to rip apart children, and told them that baby girls were TWICE as unclean as baby boys. That God. (Yahweh/The Father/Jesus/ etc)



Same God. Same evil nature.

The true God of Israel is HOLY, and good, wow to you who call evil good and good evil.

The perfect God who is GOOD to all how can you attribute evil to a perfect, good and holy God who does not give us waht we deserve but has mercy on us, all praise the Lord for he is longsuffering. Jesus is so good

Reid wrote:

This law prves 2 things to Christians



1 There is no original sin. There is no sin offering made for the child because the child - wether male or famale has no sin.



2. It convicts Mary of sin, just by having a child she needed to go to make a sin offering because she was unclean.



Every single law in leviticus has something to teach, it is not corrupted - it is the law of sin and death. The law of Moses.



Luke CH 2

21And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22And 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;

23(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

24And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

You are mostly right, except for the original sin. Explain this to me. what is this sacrifice for? ...TO offer sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord.

It is to some degree in regards to Genesis 3:16. This, I think is in acknowledgement of God's punishment of Eve- thus womankind. However, Galatians 3: 22-29 talks about how the law lead us to Christ and we are no longer under the supervision of the law. I hope this is helpful.

Theognostus wrote:

Haha, this is one of those places where my view parts company with the view of those who take the Bible to be inerrant.



I certainly believe that God interacted with and worked within the nation of Israel, but I tend to agree with historical-critical scholars that the Torah itself is the product of a process of several stages of redaction - Documentary Hypothesis. As such, it does contain divine truths, but it also contains culturally-based assumptions and divine revelation as seen through a culturally-biased interpretive grid.



The example you brought up is what I would consider one such product of cultural influences stemming from the patriarchal society of ancient Israel upon the text.

The bible is inerrant, it is the word of God, if you do not believe the word of GOd it is going to be detrimental to you. GOd chose Israel and HE himself spoke all Moses did was write what the Lord told him to write, HE ADDED nothing, The Spirit wrote it and it is settled. that's the reason why scribes would destroy whole parchments if a blemish was found or an ink mark, the parchments were exact replicas of the original, every letter was inspected, every word in the bible is written for a reason, it is unfortunate that the ignorant don't understand the word of God and therefore try to come up with excuses just because they do not understand or because they do not agree with the word, Byt the fact REMAINS NOT one JOT or a title shall be removed from the law and the prophets.

Mike, I am not sure of your motive for the question, but under the laws at that time in history women were considered less than adequate. Israel, however, in those times, elevated women to a higher place than did those nations around her. It wasn't until Jesus came that this concept was completely done away with and women were placed at a form of equity with man.



Ed

Ed wrote:

Mike, I am not sure of your motive for the question, but under the laws at that time in history women were considered less than adequate. Israel, however, in those times, elevated women to a higher place than did those nations around her. It wasn't until Jesus came that this concept was completely done away with and women were placed at a form of equity with man.



Ed

That's irrelevant.



You're saying God elevated women from a nothing status to a low status.

No an acceptable explanation.



If a real God were behind the bible, he would tell them that men and women are equal, period. His laws were VERY hard to keep. So it's pointless to say the israelites couldn't have handled sexual equality - if God's standards are way beyond men anyway, he wouldn't need to hedge on a matter such as this, or slavery, or the slaughter of infants. You may cite what Jesus says concerning divorce too - their hearts were too hard so God allowed for divorce. This is nonsense also. God doesn't exist. The old testament laws were so demanding in someways that it's foolish to say Yahweh accomodated for their primitivity in any way.