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1 TiMOTHY 2:15
She will be saved through childbearing. Why is a woman ‘unclean’ after giving birth (Leviticus 12:2)? Questions about uncleanliness could be ask of every issue that require a ritual ‘decontamination’ but yet we wonder why by the act of giving birth, which is one of the highest form of obedience to God, a woman becomes ‘unclean’. We need to remember that ‘uncleanliness’; has nothing to do with personal sin, and that technically, it is solely related to presence in the Temple. When you clean house or do the natural things that need to be done while working, you get dirty. You haven’t sinned by a personal lack of hygiene but you still need a bath. I’d almost like to call it a spiritual ‘debriefing’ before re-entering in the presence of God. As far as childbirth is concerned, Paul actually addresses it as a way for a woman to be ‘saved’ We must not be fooled by the English terminology though; childbirth is not a special ‘plan of redemption’ for women only. The word ‘saved’ in this sentence could be better defined today as, ‘preserved’, or ‘completed’ (see Strong’s Concordance). I do not have first-hand experience at conception, but science having exposed the mechanics of childbirth stole from us its miraculous nature. After thirty years plus of active married life without practicing any form of birth-control, my wife and I have only had six children. I’d like to therefore argue that whereas God may use (or not) human ‘mechanics’, conception is more a matter of God’s doings than of human’s mechanics. Conception is the result of God’s workings within our body, and something solely experienced by women. In the case of the woman suspected of adultery, pregnancy was the sign of her vindication by God (Numbers 5:28). Again the Hebrew of this text is very interesting; it says ‘she shall conceive seed (my translation), using the same terminology of a woman having ‘seed’ as in the verse when God mentions the ‘seed of Eve terminating the devil’s power (Genesis 3:15). I am sure that God is savvy in human biology and that He Is aware of the fact that women carry eggs but no seed. The man carries ‘seed’. Only twice this terminology of women carrying ‘seed’ is used in the Torah text, and they are used in relation to a redemptive sign for women (Numbers 5:28; Genesis 3:15). In the apostolic Scriptures, using the Septuagint text of Isaiah 7 Matthew informs us that Miriam, the mother of Yeshua was a virgin when she conceived, implying therefore that she carried egg and ‘Seed’. The Child Miriam carried became ‘cleanlines/tahor-ness’ not only for women but for the whole world. This represents a fulfillment of the prophecy concerning Eve’s ‘Seed’ overcoming the enemy, and of the women suspected of adultery. In Him and in His Words do we ‘immerse and become ‘clean/tahor’ unto God (John 14:3).
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Luke 2:22
And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Leviticus we are told that, 'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed’ (Leviticus 12:2-4). Luke ties this verse to the birth of Messiah when he says, ‘And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord’ (Luke 2:22). Miriam therefore came to make an offering at the end of the days of her purification as was prescribed by Moses and that is when she meets Simeon (Luke 2:25). Luke actually makes sure to tell us how Miriam and Joseph did everything according to the Levitical process. It is important here to note that even though most Biblical texts relate to Miriam’s post-natal state as ‘unclean’ and therefore having to present an offering at the Temple; her condition has nothing to do with moral deficiency or spiritual unworthiness. A woman giving birth actually is at the height of her godliness and righteousness before God. What the Torah refers to as the ritual unclean state is solely the reality of being human and therefore impure before. This ritual uncleanliness is solely Temple related. We are told in the Gospel of Luke that ‘when the time came for their (Miriam and Joseph) purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him (Yeshua) up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’ (Luke 2:22-24). We see in Luke’s rendering of the story that Miriam and Joseph brought "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’, and that is because they could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:6-8). Little did young Miriam know, oh how little did she know that whereas she could not afford to bring Lamb to the Temple for her purification, she actually brought to God the ultimate Lamb who would end up purifying not only her, but the whole world with her! |
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