Leviticus 12:1-13:59 NIV

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 12:1-8

2. Uncleanness due to childbirth ch. 12The laws of purification begun in this chapter connect in principle with the preceding ones that deal with unclean food and animals. The defilement dealt with in this group of laws (chs. 12-15) proceeded from the human body. Pollution could come from within the Israelite as well as from his or her environment. Contamination resulted in separation from the fellowship of the sanctuary and or fellow Israelites.". . . at first sight no reason or rationale is... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:1-8

Uncleanness connected with ChildbirthThe functions of reproduction are in early stages of religion regarded with superstitious dread. The enactments in this chapter and the related regulations in Leviticus 15 had an important place in teaching the lesson of purity in sexual relationships.3. Cp. Genesis 17:10-14. The purifications prescribed in this chapter are for the mother alone and not for the child, who does not seem to have been regarded as unclean, unless the rite of circumcision involved... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Leviticus 12:1

XII.(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses.—As the reason why God graciously addressed the regulation about the clean and unclean animals to Moses and Aaron conjointly (see Leviticus 11:1), no longer operates here, the Lord now addresses the laws of purification to the Lawgiver alone. The laws of defilement contracted from without by eating or coming in contact with unclean objects are naturally followed by precepts about defilement arising from within the human body itself. The spiritual guides in... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-8

THE UNCLEANNESS OF CHILD BEARINGLeviticus 12:1-8THE reference in Leviticus 12:2 to the regulations given in Leviticus 15:19, as remarked in the preceding chapter, shows us that the author of these laws regarded the circumstances attending child birth as falling under the same general category, in a ceremonial and symbolic aspect, as the law of issues. As a special case, however, the law concerning child birth presents some very distinctive and instructive features.The period during which the... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Leviticus 12:1-8

2. Childbirth Laws and Inherited Sin CHAPTER 12 1. The man-child (Leviticus 12:1-4 ) 2. The maid-child (Leviticus 12:5 ) 3. The offerings (Leviticus 12:6-8 ) The childbirth laws as contained in this chapter are full of meaning. The woman is constituted unclean by the birth of a child. When a man-child was born, she was to be unclean for seven days, and her purification was to end thirty-three days after that; forty days after childbirth. (A. Bonar, in his work on Leviticus, makes the... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:1-8

LAWS CONNECTED WITH CHILDBIRTH Every child born into the world adds to the sin that was first introduced by the woman. Yet God had told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), and this instruction was not changed when they sinned, though God told the woman, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16). But each child born is a reminder that sin requires a sacrifice. So in Israel when a woman had borne a... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-8

SIN AT THE FOUNTAINHEAD What period of uncleanness followed the birth of a male (Leviticus 12:2 )? What transaction in his life took place on the 8th day (Leviticus 12:3 )? How long was the period of the mother’s purification (Leviticus 12:4 )? What difference was there as to these two periods in the case of a female child (Leviticus 12:5 )? What was required of the mother at the close of this period (Leviticus 12:6 )? The reason for it (Leviticus 12:7 )? How does Leviticus 12:8 compare... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Leviticus 12:1

CONTENTS The foregoing Chapter having stated what the divine law concerning clean and unclean food is, in this proceeds to lay down the law concerning the uncleanness of a woman in child-bearing. The time prescribed for her continuing in the uncleanness of child-bearing, and her burnt offering, and sin offering are pointed out. read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-2

The period of separation both from civil and religious communion, in time of child-bearing was very strict: and is observed by the Jews with equal strictness in the present hour. And the law of separation extended even to those that attended the woman. read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Leviticus 12:1-8

The Purification after Childbirth. v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, if a woman have conceived seed, brought forth bodily issue, and born a man child, a boy, then she shall be unclean seven days, this being the time of her personal uncleanness, during which every person and thing touched by her itself became defiled; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean, that is, during the average time... read more