“Babies!”

Sunday, June 09, 2013

In Leviticus 12, why were women who gave birth commanded to give a sin offering?  This seems to imply there is something inherently sinful about giving birth, which doesn't make sense.

Sincerely,
Born Free

Dear Born Free,

It is hard to tell for sure why this law was written the way it was.  Most scholars agree that there is much that we don’t fully understand about the details surrounding Old Testament sacrifices.  There are a few possible answers, but certainly nothing definitive.

1. This sin offering could be associated with physical uncleanness, not a moral failing.  In Num 19:9-17, we see the ashes of a sin offering being used to purify people from the uncleanness associated with touching dead bodies, sickness, etc.  All of these impurities were ceremonial impurities – but not sin in the sense that we think of it in New Testament terms.  A mother was unclean from the blood involved in childbirth.
2. It may fit into the category of a generic sin offering because all people sin (Rom 3:23).  Job made sacrifices for his children in case they might have sinned (Job 1:5).  As the mother began the process of raising and nurturing a child, this sin offering would have served as a generic sin offering for previous sins she had committed unwittingly (Num 15:27).

Those are two possibilities, but as we said, there is no definitive answer that we are aware of.  This may fit into the category of “the secret things belong to God” (Deu 29:29).  No matter what, it doesn’t prove that childbirth is inherently sinful because God commanded Adam and Eve to “go forth and multiply” before sin entered the world (Gen 1:28).  God would never command mankind to do something that was wrong.

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