SUMMARY
The laws about childbirth specify the number of days that a mother is “uncleanIn Hebrew law many regulations warned against impurity. Unclean things were numerous and included leprosy, menstruating women, dead bodies, shell fish, and pigs. More” after giving birth; they also provide the means for her purification.
ANALYSIS
The laws in Leviticus 12 about childbirth provide an instructive example of what is meant by “clean” and “unclean” in the book. Though sin makes a person unclean, not all uncleanness is the result of sin. In fact, much of what makes a person unclean is a part of ordinary life: childbirth, sex, menstruation, etc. Leviticus does not condemn such things. Having a child is a cause for celebration in all times and places, but especially in the ancient world. Moreover, it is a fulfillment of God’s first command to human beings, to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).
What lies behind this distinction between “clean” and “unclean” is not completely clear in the Book of Leviticus, but many scholars think it has to do with the proximity of life and death. That is, activities that bring a person (literally or figuratively) into the liminal space between life and death make that person unclean. So, any emission of blood (as in childbirth or menstruation) makes a person unclean. Bodily emissions in general make a person unclean (chapter 15). Touching a corpse makes a person unclean (Leviticus 22:4), though preparing a loved one for burial is of course an honorable thing to do. Having “leprosy” (a general term for many skin diseases) makes a person unclean, as their bodily integrity is compromised (Leviticus 13-14).
Again, this kind of uncleanness is not the result of sin. (The NRSV translation of a “sin offering” for the new mother is a literal translation of the Hebrew, but it might better be understood as a purification offering – 12:6, 8). The new mother does not sin by giving birth, but during childbirth she is most certainly in a liminal space between life and death, especially in the ancient world with its high infant and maternal mortality rate.
If a woman bears a son, she is ritually unclean for 40 days. If the baby is a girl, the mother is ritually unclean for 80 days. Again, no reason is given for the distinction. Perhaps the fact that a daughter will also likely experience the vulnerability of childbirth means that she and her mother need more time to recover. Whatever the reason for the distinction, when the time of the new mother’s ritual impurity is over and when she is fully recovered, she brings an offering to the tabernacleThe tabernacle, a word meaning "tent," was a portable worship place for the Hebrew people after they left Egypt. It was said to contain the ark of the covenant. The plans for the tabernacle are dictated by God in Exodus 26. More in order to become ritually “clean” again. She is fully back in the land of the living and may take up the tasks of communal life again, including worship at the tabernacle.
