https://esv.literalword.com/?q=leviticus+12
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 26 February 2025:
Leviticus 12 — … Then she shall be clean….
The purification instructions in Leviticus 12 have symbolic purposes as well as practical medical benefits which modern medicine continues to discover thousands of years later (many yet to be realized). For example, concerning circumcision on the eighth day, “a newborn baby has peculiar susceptibility to bleeding between the 2nd and 5th days of life. Hemorrhages at this time can be critical and may even produce serious damage to internal organs, especially to the brain, and cause death from shock and exsanguination. An important blood clotting element, vitamin K, is not formed in the normal amount until the 5th to the 7th day. The first safe day to perform circumcision would be the 8th day. A second element which is also necessary for the normal clotting of blood is prothrombin which is minimal in the first few days of the baby’s life, but skyrockets to 110% of normal on the 8th day and then levels off to 100%. An 8-day-old baby has more available prothrombin than on any other day of its entire life….
Also, with a child, the sensation of pain begins with the head, and gradually moves down the body. By the eighth day, the pain sensation has not yet gone as far down as the genital area. So, really it is a painless operation for the child on the eighth day, any longer and it would be painful, and the blood will coagulate on the eighth day, so, it was the ideal day for circumcision.
As for the quarantine rules related to childbirth, one can research the many medical benefits. As for the increased time for the birth of female babies, a cynic might suggest that this is some sort of biased penalty. However, not only do women face different post-partum hormonal imbalances after the birth of a female child, survivability likely increased for female babies who benefited from increased isolation, and female babies promised future reproduction, arguably making their survival even more important. All this having been said, the key takeaway is that we cannot limit God’s word to our very limited understanding. As stated previously, all that really matter is God commanded it.
Leviticus 12:8 – And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.
God has a heart for the poor.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 26 February 2025: Trust in God and His word beyond your understanding and obey Him confidently, joyfully, and with patient, passionate endurance.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 