Scripture Daily

Context No. 1931 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 12:1-8: in context

1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a woman conceives, and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her monthly period she shall be unclean. 3In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4She shall continue in the blood of purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. 5But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her period; and she shall continue in the blood of purification sixty-six days. 6“‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove, for a sin offering. 7He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her; then she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. “‘This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female. 8If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”

The law gives instructions for a woman's purification after childbirth: a time of separation, and then an offering at the sanctuary, a lamb for a burnt offering and a bird for a sin offering. But then comes a provision for the poor: if she cannot afford a lamb, she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean. The poor were not to be excluded from worship by the cost of the offering.

There is a quiet mercy in this law: God made provision so that the poor would not be shut out of worship by what they could not afford. The standard offering was a lamb; but for the woman who could not afford a lamb, God provided a cheaper alternative, two small birds, and declared it fully acceptable, making atonement for her just the same. Her poverty did not bar her from coming to God; God made a way for her to fulfill her obligation and be cleansed, within her means. This reveals something of God's heart: that he does not want the poor excluded from access to him, and makes provision so that all, whatever their means, may come. It is a mercy that runs against the way of the world, which so often gives the poor less access, less welcome, fewer options; God's law made a way for the poor to come on equal terms, their humble offering as acceptable as the rich man's lamb. And there is a striking footnote to this law in the New Testament. When Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple, the offering they made was this very one, two birds, the offering of the poor. God's own Son was born into a family too poor to afford a lamb, who came with the humble offering the law provided for the poor. The King of glory entered the world among the poor, and his parents brought the poor person's offering. This tells us that God is not far from the poor but near to them, that he entered the world among them, and that their humble offerings are as precious to him as any. The law that made a way for the poor woman to come with two birds reflects the God who welcomes the poor, who made provision for them, and whose own Son was born among them. No one is shut out of access to God by poverty; he has made a way for all to come, and the humble offering of the poor is fully acceptable to him.

Do I imagine that access to God or a place in his worship depends on what I can afford or bring, or can I take to heart that God made provision so the poor would not be excluded, welcoming the humble offering of two birds as fully as the rich man's lamb, and that his own Son was born among the poor and presented with the poor person's offering?

Sources