And when the days of her cleansing are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he shall present it before Jehovah, and make atonement for her; and she shall be clean from the flux of her blood. This is the law for her that hath borne a male or a female.
A short law closes a short chapter. The mother brings her offerings, the priest presents them before the LORD, and she is clean. So why should the birth of a child need a sin offering at all?
The chapter does not accuse the mother of doing anything wrong. One commentator reads the law as a lesson about human nature, not human behaviour:
In this chapter we are taught that the conception and birth of a male child brought seven days of ceremonial defilement to the mother, along with thirty-three days of separation from the sanctuary. These periods were doubled for a female child. Has this no voice? Can we not read in it a humbling lesson? Does it not declare to us, in language not to be misunderstood, that man is "an unclean thing," and that he needs the blood of atonement to cleanse him?
The waiting days were not empty. They kept her from the holy things and the sanctuary. She came with her offerings as one confessing a need:
To bear children was woman's lot, yet that made her unclean, and she had to feel it and own it. She felt it during those days, when she could not share in the holy things or approach the sanctuary. She owned it, as she drew near with the appointed sacrifices, which declared her need of atonement and of a substitute to die for her.
One offering deals with wrong done. Another deals with what a person is. Only the second is asked here:
Notice here that there was no trespass offering, for it was not a matter of her having done anything wrong. But the sin offering deals with the sinful nature we inherit at birth. This offering speaks of God condemning sin in the flesh by the cross of Christ (Rom. 8:3). The burnt offering tells us that God's glory is the first consideration in this matter. When God is glorified and sin condemned, the unclean one is made clean (v. 7).
The burnt offering and the sin offering are not two remedies. They are two views of one death:
Here the death of Christ is set before our thoughts in its two grand aspects. It is the only thing that could meet, and perfectly remove, the defilement connected with man's natural birth. The burnt offering presents the death of Christ according to God's estimate of it. The sin offering, on the other hand, presents the death of Christ as it meets the sinner's need.
The chapter doubles every period when the child is a girl, and it names the offerings in an unusual order. One writer finds meaning in both:
For the female child all these numbers are doubled — the witness, no doubt, to the entrance of sin by the woman. In either case, purification is completed by a lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. The usual order in which these are mentioned is reversed, and the difference in size between the offerings underlines it. God puts first that perfect obedience of Christ which has glorified Him in view of Adam's disobedience.
Notice what could be scaled down for a poor mother, and what could not:
God's care was so tender that He comforted the poor by accepting a pigeon or a turtledove for the burnt offering. Yet the richest could not boast of more than a pigeon or a turtledove for the sin offering. What was required to clear the evil away by atonement was the same. Rich and poor stood on the same level. For the joy of acceptance the pigeon of the poor was as valid as the rich woman's sheep.
One writer applies this law to the mother of Jesus:
Blessed she is, but the Virgin Mary was never without sin. The rule appointed in this chapter proves it, and Luke tells us she kept it. At the end of the appointed forty days she came with two birds, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest offered them to make atonement for her. She confessed her need of atonement by blood as she stood at that altar and watched the birds die. Yet what brought her there was the birth of the very One who would accomplish that atonement, really, fully, and finally. He was perfectly holy, and this law said nothing about the child.
- Ruin. Birth itself carried defilement. The law traces uncleanness to the first moment of a life, not to any act.
- Owned. Being kept from the sanctuary made her feel the need. Bringing the sacrifices made her admit it.
- Remedy. No trespass offering was asked, because she had done nothing wrong. The sin offering meets the inherited nature; the burnt offering meets God's glory.
- Reach. The sin offering stayed a bird for rich and poor alike. Only the burnt offering could shrink, so no one was priced out.
- Result. Atonement made, she is clean — and the mother of Jesus took her place under this law, though the law said nothing about her holy child.
And if her hand cannot find what is sufficient for a sheep, she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons; one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her; and she shall be clean.
Leviticus 12 has dealt with the uncleanness that comes with birth. Its last verse lets a mother who cannot afford a lamb bring two small birds instead — so does a cheaper sacrifice buy a lesser cleansing?
No one is shut out here by what he lacks. One writer carries that straight into the gospel:
Grace meets the needy one just where he is, and as he is. The atoning blood is brought within the reach of the very lowest, the very poorest, the very feeblest. All who need it can have it. "If he be poor" — what then? Let him be cast aside? No; Israel's God could never deal that way with the poor and needy. Most exquisite grace! "To the poor the Gospel is preached." None can say, "the blood of Jesus was beyond me."
The verse turns on what she cannot afford. Older translations read "not able," and grace builds its provision around that inability.
Divine grace delights in making provision for those who are "not able" to make provision for themselves.
The swap only touches the burnt offering. Every woman, rich or poor, brought a bird for the sin offering.
God's care was so tender that He comforted poverty by accepting a pigeon or a turtledove for a burnt offering. Meanwhile the richest could not boast of more than a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. What atonement required to clear the evil away was the same. Rich and poor stood on the same level. For the joy of acceptance the pigeon of the poor was as valid as the rich woman's sheep. What a rebuke to every form of favouritism!
The worshipper's own strength of faith changes nothing either.
The grasp may be feeble. The faith may be wavering. The experience may be shallow. But let the reader remember, for his soul's joy and comfort, that what counts is not the depth of his experience, the stability of his faith, or the strength of his grasp. It is the divine value, the unchanging power of the blood of Jesus. Our ever gracious God shows His tender care here: the blood of a turtledove was as effective for the poor as the blood of a bull for the rich.
The verse gives the two birds two different jobs.
This chapter brings the death of Christ before our thoughts in its two great aspects. Nothing else could meet the defilement connected with man's natural birth and perfectly remove it. The burnt offering presents the death of Christ according to God's estimate of it. The sin offering presents that death as it bears on the sinner's need.
Notice which offering the verse names first:
These two are named in reverse of the usual order, and the unequal size of the offerings underlines it. God puts first that perfect obedience of Christ which has glorified Him in view of Adam's disobedience.
The two birds were not a fee for a service. They were a confession.
To bear children was woman's lot, yet that made her unclean, and she had to feel it and own it. She felt it during those days, when she could not eat the holy things or come near the sanctuary. She owned it when she came with the appointed sacrifices, which declared her need of atonement and of a substitute to die for her. She had brought a living creature into the world, and for that she herself needed the death of the sacrifice.
This is the offering Mary brought after the birth of Jesus.
Here we read of the grace of God to the poor. Compare this closing verse with Luke 2:24, and we learn the amazing depth to which God stooped to show that grace... So the supposed parents of our blessed Lord Jesus were so poor that they had to use the gracious provision made for those who could not afford "a lamb for a burnt offering." What a thought! The Lord of glory, the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth, owned "the cattle upon a thousand hills." He appeared in the world His own hands had made, in the narrow circumstances of humble life.
Her two birds said two things about her — and one thing about her child.
Her offering showed her poverty. The purpose for which she brought them showed her need as a sinful creature... She was sinful. Her child was holy. He would in time give Himself as the ransom for His mother's soul.
- Need — birth itself left the mother unclean; she had to feel it and own it, and come with a substitute that died for her.
- Provision — grace lets two birds replace the lamb: one for the burnt offering, one for the sin offering, the two sides of one death.
- Reach — the atoning blood comes within reach of the very lowest, so no one can say it was beyond them.
- Equality — rich and poor brought the same bird for the sin offering, so the cheaper gift never bought a lesser cleansing.
- Proof — Mary brought these two birds herself, so the Lord of glory entered the world through the provision made for the poor.