Year 7, Day 101: Leviticus 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This is a great chapter to step back and reflect the value of women.  I’ll come at this comment from several different angles.

First of all, understand that this chapter is spoken solely to women.  Only women give birth, so these laws would apply just to the women.  Fundamentally speaking, this chapter goes to show us the value of women with respect to the continuation of humanity.  Women give nearly a year of their life to carrying the young while they develop and grow.  There is a certain fundamental sacrifice to being a woman; a sacrifice that most women give in a welcoming fashion.  This is certainly a sacrifice that this chapter of the Bible lifts up and acknowledges.

Second, there is the argument for genetics gained through extending this first thought.  The reality is that a population will have a much greater change at survival if it has 1,000 women and 10 men than if it has 10 women and 1,000 men.  The first population may well continue to exist into the thousands for generations to come.  The second population will be down to a few dozen people when the current generation grows old and dies.

Third, I think there is more to this chapter lifting up the significance of women than just in the birth process and the numerical analysis of population survival.  I think this argument is the far superior argument to the earlier ones.  Do you notice that a woman who gives birth to a girl is unclean for twice the amount of time than when a man is born?  So often we read these words and assume that the Bible is punishing a woman for giving birth to a girl.  However, I believe that the opposite approach is actually true. 

In the Bible – and even in our culture – what gets the larger punishment: something that affects us casually or something that affects us deeply and personally?  What carries the greater punishment, a lie or stealing?  We care about personal property more than we care about words that cannot be proven!  What carries the greater punishment, stealing or murder?  Certainly we care more about the sanctity of life than our material possessions!

The reality is that greater punishments usually come as the crime grows more personal.  Greater punishments come as the value of the crime increases.  The fact that the woman is unclean for longer when the baby is a girl than when it is a boy shows us that God understands the deep value of women to society.  We should not understand this chapter as a chapter of punishment and male chauvinism.  Instead, this is a chapter that lifts up the sacrificial nature of women in the child-rearing process as well as celebrates the value of a young girl to a community.

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