Tazria “Conceives”
Leviticus 12:1-13:59
We have now gotten to the instructions on daily living for the Israelites. This is a fairly short reading; however, is packed with everything from child birth to skin infections. So, grab a coffee and let’s discover more of God’s plan for the Israelites and even us today.
We begin with God giving specific instructions to Moses for the soon to be mommas. God is specific on when a new mother is deemed clean after giving birth and what is interesting is, it differs between her giving birth to baby boys and baby girls. Probably something that seems so unfamiliar to us mommas in today’s world.
“The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.” (Leviticus 12:1-5).
To sum this up, basically, there is 40 days for purification if she has a boy and 80 days of purification if she has a girl. Well, the first time I read this, I was like, “um, that is weird….what is the difference?” But, knowing how detailed our God is, I have no doubt, He has a perfectly good reason. And honestly, He doesn't specifically spell that out for us. There are some interesting theories and theologies I have come across. So, let’s see what we can uncover. I believe most of us recognize when we are truly trying to wrap our brains around something, we need to take a step back and let our minds shift to focus on back then. We understand that when a woman is on her monthly menstrual cycle, she is considered unclean for 7-days. Now, we know that in a physical sense, it is not the woman herself, it is the discharge of blood coming from her body that makes her unclean. Makes me think about the story of the woman who had the issue of blood for many years, and when Jesus healed her, the relief she had to have felt to be able to live normal and not be shunned outside the camp. So, this is not an impurity that intends or implies sinfulness or inferiority, you could say it emphasizes the importance of holiness within a woman’s body and the power to create a new life through lying with her husband.
Do you suppose, that since a girl will one day have her own menstruation and give birth herself unlike a male child, the extra time of impurity covers that aspect? Baby boys are circumcised on the 8th day. Therefore, the baby boy could not be unclean and be circumcised at the same time. Medically, the best time to be circumcised is on the 8th day after birth, because the vitamin K levels are at their highest. So, blood clotting is best during this time due to the high vitamin K levels.
Although, we don’t truly know the answer, I do believe that supporting all of the purification laws, even though they seem confusing to many of us today, there is something amazing at the same time. God was commanding a routine for cleanliness some 3000+ years before this generation even understood how much disease is spread through micro organisms found in blood and unclean conditions and that my friends, is pretty awesome!
As a momma that has delivered (3) of my own beautiful children, I have (2) boys and a girl, I would have been completely happy taking that extra time that was commanded to bond with my daughter. Also, I have to imagine, that even for the boys, they were healing from their circumcision, which maybe put that time closer to the purification time if a girl was birthed.
As we move into Leviticus 13, “the laws of leprosy”, we discover how some serious skin conditions and others that are not so serious are dealt with. The hebrew word for “leprosy” is tzaraat and “tamei” is unclean. So, back then, the priest was not only their spiritual leader, he was also their physician. God instructed the priests on how to deal with medically diagnosed situations with the people. I discovered that the word “leprosy” which is used in many of our translations today, is used to describe many skin conditions. We also discover that even certain conditions can transfer to our clothing and sometimes that clothing can be cleaned and other times, the clothing must be burned. Outside the camp of course. Remember, anything that was deemed unclean, had to remain outside of the camp. I have to wonder, that this helped tremendously with so much infections, etc, and it kept things separate and completely stopped the spread of unclean things. More than likely, if you have the flu, sore throat or stomach bug, you probably keep yourself contained at your home. You aren’t going to work or school and spreading it to other people and that cuts down on exposure to others drastically. My kiddos came up with “GP” general population, which is anywhere in our home, with the exception of the sick persons bedroom. So, when anyone in our house is sick, they are generally not allowed in “GP” and boy, does my youngest son, like to throw that out, if Tim or I are sick..LOL. But in a biblical way, it totally makes sense. When the priest was to deem someone tamei (unclean), the person would shout, tamei, tamei (unclean! unclean!) this was to not only protect himself, but protect those around him. Since the days of covid, I often find myself wondering when I see people with a mask on, if they have something they don’t want others to get….they are announcing, tamei, tamei and don’t even realize it. One thing to understand, is back then, the people looked at those with tzaraat as God’s anger because they had done something wrong and they were being punished. As we journey further into the next several chapters, we will find that tzaraat does not just affect the skin and people, it can grow in homes (mildew) and on clothes. We understand today what causes those things, too much moisture in the air, etc. The people back then, thought God was punishing them. Today, we have the scientific knowledge that they didn’t have back then, but that should not negate the understanding and learning we can still glean from God’s instructions on how to handle certain aspects of disease and help to make a healthier community to live in today.
May you each have a blessed week this week!
Blessings & Shalom ~ Deena
