Friday, June 21, 2013

The Law of Purification of Women as a Type of Christ, Lev 12:2-4

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2 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.
3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 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. (Lev. 12:2-4)

If we look at these verses only through the lens of equality of the sexes we may think it unfair to pronounce a woman unclean for bearing a child.  But if we look at it as a type of Christ, we may appreciate it better. 

Christ is the means by which we are to be “born again,” so the newborn represents the born-again soul.  Just as the innocent Christ takes the sins of the soul that is born again, the innocent mother submits to be considered ceremonially unclean for a certain period. 

Though we don’t know how much pain Christ went through to deliver us all from sin, the Lord must have thought that associating it with childbirth and delivery pains would help women understand it better.  I think this shows His concern for faithful women and it suggests that He really does know what women go through.

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