Leviticus Chapter 12

In this chapter Moses was given instruction by God for laws pertaining to women.  These laws pertained to when a woman gave birth and when she had her menstrual cycle.  Again, we are not given specific reasons why God instituted these laws, but we can certainly form educated guesses as to why these laws were good for everyone. 

One of the most common agreed upon reasoning's of Bible scholars is that these laws provided protection of hygiene health.  Babies were not born in sterile hospitals as they are today.  It certainly would be best for a mother and her newborn to remain at home for a bit before exposing themselves to the germs of the outside world.  However, the subject that we need to address is why the woman is declared unclean and not able to go to the tabernacle for a designated time.

I think the answer has to do with the loss of blood.  The word blood is used several times, so we need to see that it is important to God.  Blood is known in scripture as the life of a person.  A person cannot be alive unless there is blood flowing through their veins.  We also know that the sin nature is passed from one generation to the next.  Could it be that God sees that our life-giving force, which is our blood, is marred by sin?  It is not the woman’s fault that she is declared unclean when she loses blood, but rather it is just a fact of life.  God views the birth of a new baby, one of the most beautiful gifts He gives us.  The woman is never to be looked down on for giving birth, in fact she should be exalted.  Giving birth to a child is one of life’s most beautiful moments.