CHAPTER 12
. WOMAN'S
UNCLEANNESS BY CHILDBIRTH.
2. If a woman, c.—The mother
of a boy was ceremonially unclean for a week, at the end of which the
child was circumcised (Genesis 17:12
Romans 4:11-13); the mother of
a girl for two weeks (Leviticus 12:5)
—a stigma on the sex (1 Timothy 2:14;
1 Timothy 2:15) for sin, which was
removed by Christ; everyone who came near her during that time
contracted a similar defilement. After these periods, visitors might
approach her though she was still excluded from the public ordinances
of religion [Leviticus 12:4].
6-8. the days of her
purifying—Though the occasion was of a festive character, yet
the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but a burnt
offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the parent
with recollections of the origin of sin, and that the child inherited
a fallen and sinful nature. 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.
8. bring two turtles, &c.—(See
on Leviticus 5:6). This was the offering
made by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it affords an incontestable
proof of the poor and humble condition of the family (Leviticus 5:6).
CHAPTER 12
. WOMAN'S UNCLEANNESS BY CHILDBIRTH.
2. If a woman, c.—The mother of a boy was ceremonially unclean for a week, at the end of which the child was circumcised (Genesis 17:12 Romans 4:11-13); the mother of a girl for two weeks (Leviticus 12:5) —a stigma on the sex (1 Timothy 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:15) for sin, which was removed by Christ; everyone who came near her during that time contracted a similar defilement. After these periods, visitors might approach her though she was still excluded from the public ordinances of religion [Leviticus 12:4].
6-8. the days of her purifying—Though the occasion was of a festive character, yet the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the parent with recollections of the origin of sin, and that the child inherited a fallen and sinful nature. 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.
8. bring two turtles, &c.—(See on Leviticus 5:6). This was the offering made by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it affords an incontestable proof of the poor and humble condition of the family (Leviticus 5:6).