Catholic Commentary on Leviticus 12

"She is to bring a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons." (Leviticus 12:6,8)

Purification after Childbirth

Leviticus 12 addresses the purification required after childbirth. A woman who gives birth is considered ritually unclean for a period after the birth and must bring a burnt offering and a sin offering to the entrance of the tent of meeting when her purification is complete. The offering for the poor is explicit: if she cannot afford a lamb, two doves or two young pigeons. This is the offering Mary and Joseph bring when they present Jesus at the Temple forty days after his birth in Luke 2:24: two young doves, the offering of the poor. The holy family is economically vulnerable; their offering reveals it.

The purification offering after childbirth has puzzled commentators: why does bringing life into the world require a sin offering? The tradition has generally understood it not as a statement that birth or motherhood is sinful but as a recognition of the vulnerability and mortality that accompany entry into human life: the blood of childbirth, like all blood, belongs to the domain of life that requires ritual attention. The Catechism notes the presentation of Jesus at the Temple as the fulfilment of this law, the one who will make all purification unnecessary presenting himself at the sanctuary (CCC 529).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Mary and Joseph brought the offering of the poor: two doves. The Son of God entered a family that could not afford a lamb. The one who is the Lamb entered the world in circumstances that required the dove's offering. Let the poverty of the holy family be your comfort when your offering is small.

Prayer

Lord God, you accepted the offering of two doves from the holy family. Accept our small offerings too, made from what little we have. And receive the one who fulfilled every purification law, the Lamb who needed no offering himself. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

12
Purification after Childbirth
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites, ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be unclean for seven days, as she is during the days of her menstruation. 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.
 
4 The woman shall continue in purification from her bleeding for thirty-three days. She must not touch anything sacred or go into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are complete.
 
5 If, however, she gives birth to a daughter, the woman will be unclean for two weeks as she is during her menstruation. Then she must continue in purification from her bleeding for sixty-six days.
 
6 When the days of her purification are complete, whether for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. 7 And the priest will present them before the LORD and make atonement for her; and she shall be ceremonially cleansed from her flow of blood. This is the law for a woman giving birth, whether to a male or to a female.
 
8 But if she cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons,* 12:8 Cited in Luke 2:24 one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’ ”

*12:8 12:8 Cited in Luke 2:24

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