Leviticus 12:1-6

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:4

The blood of her purifying - A few words will make this subject sufficiently plain. God designs that the human female should bring forth children. That children should derive, under his providence, their being, all their solids and all their fluids, in a word, the whole mass of their bodies, from the substance of the mother. For this purpose he has given to the body of the female an extra quantity of blood and nutritious juices. Before pregnancy this superabundance is evacuated at... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:6

When the days of her purifying - It is not easy to account for the difference in the times of purification, after the birth of a male and female child. After the birth of a boy the mother was considered unclean for forty days; after the birth of a girl, four-score days. There is probably no physical reason for this difference, and it is difficult to assign a political one. Some of the ancient physicians assert that a woman is in the order of nature much longer in completely recovering after... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:2

Verse 2 2.If a woman have conceived seed. This ceremony had reference to two points; for, first, the Jews were reminded by it of the common corruption of our nature; and secondly, the remedy of the evil was set before them. There is little difficulty in understanding why a woman who has conceived and given birth to a child, should be pronounced unclean; viz., because the whole race of Adam is polluted and defiled, so that the woman already contracts uncleanness from the offspring which she... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 12:4

Verse 4 4.And she shall then continue. The uncleanness of seven days in the case of a male, and fourteen days for a female, has reference to the hemorrhage, as we shall also see elsewhere of the menstrual discharge. For the remainder of the time she is forbidden to take part in religious services, and to approach the sanctuary, (by which word the court is here meant,) and thus is accounted unholy, not only that she should herself lament her condition, but that her husband also, admonished by... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-8

The purification of the Church. At the commencement of his treatise on this Book of Leviticus, Cyril of Alexandria truly says, that as the Word of God came into the world arrayed in flesh, in which bodily appearance he was seen of all, while his divinity was seen only by the elect; so has the written Word a letter, or outward sense, which is obvious to ordinary perception, and an inward meaning which must be spiritually discerned. According to this rule, the purification of the Church is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-8

Born in sin. cf. Genesis 3:16 ; Psalms 51:5 ; Luke 2:21 ; 1 Timothy 2:15 . From the division of the animals into clean and unclean, and the sanctity thereby inculcated, we are invited to proceed to those personal liabilities to uncleanness for which due rites were provided. The first of these takes life at its fountain-head, and refers to the uncleanness connected with birth. Motherhood involved a longer or shorter period of ceremonial separation—forty days in the case of a son,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:1-8

The statutes on maternity. We may seek— I. THE EXPLANATION or THIS STATUTE . And we shall find the explanation 1 . The sorrow of maternity ( John 16:21 ) points clearly to the primeval curse, and therefore to the primeval sin ( Genesis 3:16 ). 2 . The birth of a human child means the entrance into the world of one in whom are the germs of sin ( Psalms 51:5 ; Psalms 58:3 ; Ephesians 2:3 ). 3 . Maternity suggests the sexual relation, and that suggests the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:2-4

She shall be unclean seven days. The mother is to be unclean seven days, and after that to be in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days ( Leviticus 12:4 ). The difference between these two states maybe seen by looking on to Le Leviticus 15:19-28 , and comparing that passage with Leviticus 15:4 of this chapter. In the first stage, during the seven days, she made all that she touched unclean; in the second stage, during the thirty-three days, she was only required to touch... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:2-7

Woman under the Law and under the gospel. Every childbirth re-echoes in the ears of woman the sentence passed upon her ancestress Eve. That such a season of rejoicing should be attended with such throes of agony speaks loudly of the curse entailed by sin. There is no earthly pleasure entirely free from its shadow, pain. Great movements of society, deep thoughts, even inspiring melodies, are not ushered into the world without the pangs of travail. I. THE LAW REMINDS US HERE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 12:5

If she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks;… and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. The reason why the duration of the mother's uncleanness is twice as long at a girl's birth as at a boy's, would appear to be that the uncleanness attached to the child as well as to the mother, but as the boy was placed in a state of ceremonial purity at once by the act of circumcision, which took place on the eighth day, he thereupon ceased to be... read more

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