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Leviticus 12

W
The Whosoever Study Bible
Whosoever will, may come.
the third book of moses, called leviticus
Moses · c. 1445 BC
Chapter the Twelfth
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.
But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:
Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.
And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.
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Chuck Smith on Leviticus 12

Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-6 Chapter 12 In chapter twelve, the Lord now deals with a woman who has born a child. And if it's a male child: she shall be unclean for seven days; after the birth of the child the separation from her infirmity. And in the eighth day they shall circumcise the child. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying for 33 days; and [during that time] is not to touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are fulfilled. But if she bears a girl child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, and be separated: then, in the days of her purifying for 66 days. And then when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, [which is the offering of consecration], and a young pigeon, or turtle dove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest ( Leviticus 12:2-6 ): The priest shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement for her; she shall be cleansed from the issue of blood. This is the law for her that has born a male child or a female. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then shall she bring two turtles [that would be turtle doves], or two young pigeons; and the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean ( Leviticus 12:7-8 ). Verses 7-8 Now, it is interesting when Mary and Joseph, after the birth of Jesus, came for this purifying right kind of a thing that Mary brought two turtle doves which would indicate that they were of poor circumstances. They weren't wealthy at all. They were poor people. They could not afford to bring a sheep. And the poor people could bring the two turtle doves; and thus, Mary indicating the poverty of Mary and Joseph brought two turtle doves for the sacrifice for her right of purification and all. "

Commentary on Leviticus 12

Whosoever Will · the Seven Threads Commentary

Leviticus 12:1

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:2

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:3

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:4

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:5

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:6

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:7

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16

Leviticus 12:8

Leviticus 11-15 covers the purity code: clean and unclean animals, regulations around childbirth, skin diseases, mold in buildings and garments, bodily discharges. The modern reader reaches these chapters and wonders what they are for. The answer is in the repeated refrain: for I am the LORD your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy. The purity code is not primarily a health code, though some regulations have hygienic effects. It is a holiness code, a system of visible, daily, embodied distinctions that mark Israel as a people whose life is oriented around the holy God who lives in their midst. Every meal that observes the clean-unclean distinction is a reminder that the community's life is structured around divine character, not human preference. Thread 2 is the corporate dimension: the purity code applies to the whole community, not just to individuals. When one person is unclean, the community is affected. When the community maintains its ritual purity, it embodies the holiness of the God who dwells at its center. Thread 4 is in the qedoshim tihyu: the command assumes genuine capacity. You can be holy because the holy God commands it and enables it through the system he has established. Thread 5 is the administration: the entire purity code is Mosaic-period specific, Peter's vision of Acts 10 and the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 establish that these food and purity laws do not bind the Gentile church.
Ye shall be holy for I am holy, qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani, the theological ground of the entire purity code; the standards are not arbitrary but character-derived; Israel is called to embody in its corporate life the character of the God who dwells at its center.
קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (qedoshim tihyu ki qadosh ani YHWH Eloheikhem): ye shall be holy for I am holy the LORD your God: qedoshim (holy ones, plural adjective; the whole community is addressed); tihyu (you shall be, future of hayah; a command-as-expectation; the holiness is both imperative and promised); ki qadosh ani (for I am holy, the ground is divine character; the command flows from the nature of the one giving it; God cannot command anything inconsistent with what he is)
threads t2 · t4 · t5 · see Acts 10:9-16 · Acts 15:28-29 · 1 Peter 1:15-16
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