A short chapter with a large punch. Don’t see many sermon or discussions on this chapter. I think many ministers, especially male ministers. Why, because we are dealing with a controversial subject of why there is a difference between the length of time that a woman is unclean for a daughter and the length that she is unclean for a son. The ultimate thing that this stirs up is why is a woman considered unclean in the first place. I in fact was not necessarily looking forward to addressing this chapter. I pray that I have addressed in the best way possible that brings understanding and glorification to God.Let’s deal with the fact of the woman being unclean because of this. What we have here is the spilling of blood. For this reason alone it was considered to be unclean. As I began researching this subject to understand why a woman was considered unclean and bring understanding to this chapter I found an interesting thing, much like some of the other laws there is a medical conditions connected with this. Many years ago, before the standards we have in medical care now, there was a study done concern woman who gave birth in the hospital and woman who gave birth at home. What was discovered is the death rate of mothers were less for those at home who had little contact with others then those that had more contact with others in the hospital. There is a specific disease that a woman can catch if there is not proper sanitary conditions maintained. Since medical science was not as far as advanced this was not understood during that time.
The second issue to address in this passage is the difference concerning the length of being unclean between a male and a female child. As I read this chapter my first thought is that seems unfair and very chauvinistic. As I pondered this chapter more I began to realize that I was simply looking at the difference of the gender not of the whole situation. As I prayed about this what came into focus is that besides the difference in time is that the male child is circumcised on the 8th day after being born. This seems to be the key to the difference. Without the circumcision then all things would be equal.
When it comes to the sacrifices mentioned in this chapter I have struggled with because what is the sin that a woman committed in having a child. I did not find much explanation in the various resources. The best explanation I could find was not what I thought could be the best explanation. One commentary referred to the sacrifices being a fact of the remembrance of the original sin and the woman be saved through child birth. I will have to say I am not sure. I don’t know about this. What I do know is that God required it so through obedience God’s blessings were given.
The Application:
There are some things that are not easy to explain. What we do know is though we don’t understand the reason of some things that we are asked to do by God obedience is better than sacrifice. In our modern minds and finite understanding we may not be able to understand God’s directive in this chapter but what was importance is that in obeying they were identifying themselves as children of God.
