Does Leviticus 12 Mean that Giving Birth is a Sin?
Is Giving Birth a Sin?
In Leviticus 12 God gives the Israelites some laws about giving birth. He says:
“When a woman gives birth to a boy, she’ll be unclean for 7 days … Then she needs to stay in the blood of her purification for 33 days where she shouldn’t touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary until her purification time is completed.”
—Leviticus 12:2&4
Those are God’s instructions for having a baby boy, but verse 5 says that the time periods double when having a baby girl! (Weird!) Then verse 6 continues:
“After the mom completes her purification time, she needs to bring a one-year-old lamb to the priest at the meeting tent for a roasted offering and a young pigeon for a sin offering. Then the priest needs to offer them to the Existing One to cover for her. Then she’ll be cleansed from her blood flow.”
—Leviticus 12:6–7
This passage is super weird! Why did God instruct the Israelites to sacrifice a sin offering after giving birth to a child? Is giving birth a sin? How could giving birth to a child be a sin if God told humanity to be fruitful and multiply??
Maybe the Sin Offering Acknowledges the Birth of a New Sinner
Maybe God wanted the new mom to sacrifice a sin offering because she had just brought a new sinner into the world. This new sinner would be destined to constantly sin time-after-time throughout the entire process of growing up and for the rest of his life. So maybe the sin offering was kind of like saying,
“God, I just birthed this new sinning machine, and I apologize in advance for all the ways that this child will inevitably offend you throughout the course of his life.”
As a silly example: The IRS wouldn’t fine me if I made an innocent computer program, but if my computer program steals from them by helping people evade taxes, then that’s offensive to them and they will definitely fine me. Maybe that’s the kind of situation that mothers find themselves in when they give birth to a sinful child. It’s not a sin to have an innocent child, but because that child will constantly offend God by sinning, then He asks for a sacrifice.
So the physical act of pushing out a baby might not necessarily be a sin, but because babies are born with a sinful nature that opposes God, then there is a sin-producing element to it.
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