Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Tony,
     You asked:

>  Do any of you know why it is according to Lev 12:1-5 a woman would be
>considered "unclean" for double the amount of time if she gave birth to a
>daughter as opposed to a son? If she bears a son, the mother is unclean
>for a week, to be continued for another 33 days, if a daughter she is
>"unclean"
for two weeks, to be continued for another 66 days. Any thoughts on why
this is the case?

C. F. Keil, _The Pentateuch_, in Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:376,
notes: "The prolongation of the period, in connection with the birth of a
girl, was also founded upon the notion, which was very common in antiquity,
that the bleeding and watery discharge continued longer after the birth of
a girl than after that of a boy (Hippocr. Opp. ed. Kühn. i., p. 393;
Aristot. h. an. 6, 22; 7:3; cf. Burdach, Physiologie iii. p. 34)."

Keil explains the extension of the period from 40 to 80 days by the
symbolic significance in the number forty: 33 + 7 = 40 days (sequestration
of the mother after a male child) and 66 + 14 = 80 days (sequestration
after a female child).

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard