Tuesday – Pentateuch

Reading – Leviticus 11-12

Highlight Verse:

“If a woman gives birth to a daughter, she will be ceremonially unclean for two weeks, just as she is unclean during her menstrual period. After waiting sixty-six days, she will be purified from the bleeding of childbirth.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭12‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Here’s another reading where I think we should get right to the proverbial elephant in the room (or passage).

Why were there different purification periods for giving birth to girls than boys?

I cannot claim to have a definitive answer, but I have a couple of ideas.

One was that moms would want more time to bond with their infant girls than boys.

That time of cleansing was time that she could dedicate to her infant full time while the rest of the extended family helped out more around the home.

That may not make a lot of sense in today’s culture, but God worked within the culture of the day to make appropriate rules for that day.

In that culture and time, the rules would have seemed appropriate.

Regardless, the rules were not to belittle daughters or to penalize a mom for bearing a daughter.

The way I see it, the rules gave extra deference to girls. Of course, that’s a dad of three daughters speaking.

It can also be noted that these laws were eliminated after Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

At this point, it is tempting to get into the whole argument between cultural relativism and morality but let’s save that for another day.

Instead, the takeaway I see from today is that God is not anti-woman but rather gives deference to them.

Do you agree with that?
If not, how would you interpret this passage?