Introduction
Leviticus 11 is about defilement by something that man takes from the outside. In Leviticus 12 it is about the problem that man is unclean in himself. Here we have the uncleanness of human nature or the uncleanness of the indwelling sin. Man is unclean by birth and unclean because he can only bring unclean children into the world. In Leviticus 13 we also see this uncleanness break out in the different forms of leprosy.
1 - 5 Unclean By Giving Birth
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: ‘When a woman gives birth and bears a male [child], then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. 3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 Then she shall remain in the blood of [her] purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. 5 But if she bears a female [child], then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of [her] purification for sixty-six days.
In Leviticus 11 one who touches something unclean is unclean until the evening. Here, in Leviticus 12, when a child is given birth, the period of uncleanness and purification is the longest we find in Scripture. For the mother, this period covers for the birth of a boy forty days and for the birth of a girl eighty days. This indicates the seriousness of the problem.
This is not about the uncleanness and purification of the child, but of the mother. This is also expressed by David in Psalm 51 (Psa 51:7; cf. Job 14:4; 25:4). The children are unclean because they are born from sinful parents. The source is not good. Everything that comes forth from man is unclean (Mt 15:18). The only exception is the Lord Jesus. He is the clean One Who is born out of an unclean one.
The time that the woman is unclean is seven days for a boy and fourteen days for a girl. After those days follows a time of purification: in the case of a boy thirty-three days and in the case of a girl sixty-six days. After the days of her purification, she has to bring an offering.
In the circumcision of the boy, it is acknowledged – spiritually seen – that the child is unclean. Circumcision speaks of the death of Christ (Col 2:11). The child is brought on the basis of the death of Christ.
As long as the days of the mother’s purification last, she should not go to the holy place. When those days are over, she must bring the offerings at the doorway of the tent of meeting. This we can apply to receiving at the Lord’s Table. A person can only be received when the days of his purification are over, in which he has learned to know himself and has also accepted for himself the value of the work of the Lord Jesus.
The fact that the period of uncleanness and purification in the case of a girl lasts twice as long can perhaps be explained as follows. It is a reminder of the fact that sin came into the world through the woman (Gen 3:6; 1Tim 2:14).
A spiritual application is this one. The female speaks of the emotions, the feelings, the subjective. Here there is no talk of being circumcised. With those who rely on their feelings it often takes longer to accept what Christ has done. This can be seen in many Christians who feel too bad or not bad enough to be accepted by God. Sometimes such Christians find peace with God only on their deathbed and then they see something of the meaning of the burnt offering and sin offering.
6 - 8 Cleansed After Giving Birth
6 ‘When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. 7 Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears [a child, whether] a male or a female. 8 But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”
After the forty or eighty days, the mother must also place herself on the basis of the offering, in the picture the offering of Christ. She must bring a burnt offering and a sin offering. When Mary has given birth to the Lord Jesus, she also offers this offering, because she too is unclean of herself (Lk 2:21-24). That she does not bring the ordinary offering, a lamb and a dove (verse 6), but two pigeons, thus the offering of the poor (verse 8), indicates the poverty of the parents of the Lord Jesus. Mary is the only exception as regards the Child she gave birth to. The Child Jesus was the perfectly clean One. He indeed is not conceived by a sinful man – and therefore has not original sin – but by God the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35).
In the woman we also can see a picture of Israel, a people who are unclean, and out of whom the Messiah was born, the clean One. In Revelation 12 we see that picture too (Rev 12:1-6). The woman there represents Israel; the male Son is the Lord Jesus.
The days of the cleansing of the people begin after ‘circumcision’, that is, after what happened to the Lord Jesus on the cross. Only now, in the period after the cross, can those who come to repentance see what they have all done and been and are still naturally. It often takes quite a while to see that. This applies both to Israel and to the individual believer of the church. The more I get to know myself, the more I abhor myself.
The result of this purifying period is that we really place ourselves on the basis of the burnt offering and the sin offering. Only then are we also able to understand something of the value of the Lord Jesus’ work for God and that God looks at us in Him (burnt offering). The burnt offering comes first and therefore has the emphasis. It is only then that we are able to understand something of the meaning of the sin offering, that we are a little more aware of it.