Leviticus 12:2

2 "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male, then she shall be unclean seven days--as [in] the time of her menstrual bleeding, she shall become unclean.

Leviticus 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 12:2

Speak unto the children of Israel
For this law only concerned them, and not other nations of the world:

if a woman have conceived seed;
by lying with a man, and so becomes pregnant, and goes on with her pregnancy until she brings forth a child. The Jews from hence gather, that this law respects abortions; that if a woman has conceived and miscarries, eighty one days after the birth of a female, and forty one after a male, she must bring her offering F13; but the law seems only to regard such as are with child, and proceed to the due time of childbirth, whether then the child is born alive or dead:

and born a man child;
which is, generally speaking, not only matter of joy to the mother, but to the whole family, see ( John 16:21 ) : then she shall be unclean seven days; be separate from all company, except those whose presence is necessary to take care of her in her circumstances, and do what is proper for her, and even these became ceremonially unclean thereby; yea, her husband was not permitted to sit near her, nor to eat and drink with her:

according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she
be unclean;
the same number of days, even seven, she was unclean on account of childbirth, as she was for her monthly courses, called here an infirmity or sickness, incident to all females when grown up, at which time they were separate from all persons; and the case was the same with a new mother; see ( Leviticus 15:14-29 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Misn. Ceritot, c. 1. sect. 6. Maimon. & Bartenora, in ib.

Leviticus 12:2 In-Context

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male, then she shall be unclean seven days--as [in] the time of her menstrual bleeding, she shall become unclean.
3 And on the eighth day his foreskin's flesh shall be circumcised.
4 And [for] thirty-three days she shall stay in the blood of [her] cleansing; she must not touch any holy [object], and she may not come to the sanctuary until the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing.
5 But if she gives birth to a female, then she shall be unclean [for] two weeks as [in] her menstruation, and [for] sixty-six days she shall stay {through} the blood of [her] cleansing.

Footnotes 3

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.