Leviticus 12 CHILD BIRTH The care God took to explain events around the birth of a child is significant because it reminds us that every child is important to God. There is no casual looking at the unborn as if they are of no value. When God brings about life through fertilized seed, something important has taken place because God is the Source of all life. The birth of a child is a joyous event, but it is also a serious event. A human being has begun an eternal journey at conception and now that person is in a family to prepare for, and be trained for that journey. As a life unfolds before a new person they will come to a place when they will be able to put personal faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. For those who do not put faith in Christ, they will be eternally lost in the lake of fire. The event of childbirth reminds us of the fact that every person will be in saved for heaven or lost in hell. With joy we welcome the new child and with seriousness we are reminded of the purpose of every life and the consequences that lie ahead of every person.
The uncleanness associated with childbirth is not referring to something dirty or sinful but to the bodily emissions that accompany childbirth. The temporary condition of a woman's body following childbirth needs time to recover and to heal itself. That may not be considered physical sickness today, but there is a certain degree of weakness that needs time for full recovery to overcome. A new mother in ancient Israel was not to participate in any activities related to the Tabernacle or the altar until the prescribed time had passed. If the newborn was a boy, she was to wait one week for physical cleansing to take place and the rite of circumcision to be carried out on the boy. Then there was a period of thirty three days that passed until she was considered ceremonially clean. If the child was a girl, two weeks were required for physical cleanness and sixty six days for ceremonial healing. Many of the things we read about concerning Israel are not easily understood as to the reasons, but we can be sure there are reasons why God required certain things and forbade others. We may not know all the reasons behind things in our own lives but that is why our faith in God and willingness to act according to His revealed will is so important. To trust Him is pleasing to Him.
Religions of that ancient time often incorporated sex into the practice of religion as a fertility rite because of a desire to initiate life and symbolically worship that life source they thought was found in their pagan idols. They were worshipping the creature more than the Creator. The germination of seeds planted was accompanied by sexual promiscuity as the pagan gods were appealed to, that life would come from the planted seed. The children of Israel were to be distinctly different from the practices of the Egyptian religions and the Canaanite idolatry. Worship of God and sexual activity were entirely separate to those who followed the Lord. They were to "be fruitful and multiply" on earth as God said at the beginning of human history. But their worship was related to the God of heaven who created all things and by "whom all things consist." Worship of God is directed to Him personally. We can thank Him directly for His gracious provision of food, raiment and a bountiful harvest. How thankful we should be for His design of the marriage of one man and one woman for life. Certainly we are grateful when our children are born safely and we thank Him for the new life He has entrusted to our care.
We need to be conscious in these days of sexual promiscuity and self-seeking pleasure, that we do not look on a new life as something we have the right to give or take. Christians need to remember it is "the Lord who giveth, and the Lord who taketh away." Those things are not up to us and neither are they a right of ours. Abortion, euthanasia and anything associated with them is not our right to interfere with in any way. The keys of life and death are in the hands of the Lord. We are not to take these matters into our own hands.
When a new mother brought a lamb for a burnt offering to the Lord, it was to be one year old. That lamb had to be born before the child was conceived. God is the One who gave life to both the sinner and the substitute. How significant it is that before the child was conceived in sin, the sinless substitute was already provided for the child. The perfections of our Lord Jesus Christ and the value of His person and work had already been provided for us before we were born. There was full provision made for our acceptance with God when we began our existence. Every human being has had provision made for their salvation before they were conceived. Those thousands who die in infancy every day have been provided for by God when the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was made - "The Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world."
Millions of children unborn or born and who have died young will grow into a multitude of people who will praise God for who He is. Their voices may blend in worship with those of us who will worship as sinners saved by grace and will give our praise and thanksgiving "unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." The new mother who brought her lamb or the doves or pigeons, would be reminded that God gave life to her child and her burnt offering would be all for God. She would also be grateful for the blessing she received by having this new significant person in her life who would be a constant reminder of the God who gives life. The waiting time before she came to offer her burnt offering would give her plenty of time to consider the difference between the holy way the God of heaven and those who worship Him look at life, and the immoral way the pagan worshippers of idols look at life.