Pregnant Pause

Leviticus 12

So it was a bad time to be a woman.

God tells Moses the purification procedure following childbirth. If she has a son, she's ceremonially unclean for a week. On day eight, the boy is to be circumcised- plenty of life left for the trauma to be reduced. Then she has 33 days to wait for purification from the bleeding. She can't touch anything sacred during this period of time. If she has a daughter, she has a two week period of uncleaness followed by a 66 day wait to be purified.

After this period of time, she is to bring a year old lamb to the tent of meeting for a burnt offering and a dove or pigeon as a sin offering. If she can't afford the lamb, she can bring two birds instead.

My puzzlement comes not from the need for purification- I think I get the whole sacredness of the blood thing (at least in part). My bigger question is the differing purification times for the gender of the child. So, having a daughter makes you twice as unclean? Is this simply a reaction to cultural norms of the time? Is God making a statement of some kind about gender? Surely bleeding in the mother wouldn't differ depending on the gender of the child? It reads almost like punishment for producing a less desirable gender. This is troubling for two reasons (at least). First, it's beyond the mother's control- and second, and more importantly, it suggests that a male child is a more desirable alternative.

In my mind this is just one of a number of troubling passages concerning gender differences...and apparent misogyny...and misogyny might be too strong of a word, but certainly a different standard and value being placed on gender.

Contrast this issue with the New Testament concept of their being no male, and no female in Christ.