Today I read Leviticus 12 which deals with the laws regarding a woman and childbirth. It is pretty crazy to me that the time a woman needs to recover from giving birth to a boy is different from the time she remains unclean if she has a girl. Does Heavenly Father know something we don't in regards to how the woman's body handles giving birth based on the gender? And it's not a small difference either. For a boy it's around 30 days but for a girl it's over 60! I can't help but wonder about the huge difference. I'm sure I'll know someday.
The rest of the chapter is about offering a sin and an atonement offering after childbirth to become clean. The idea that a woman is unclean is a little like the Chinese practice of a woman not bathing or doing anything strenuous after giving birth for 30 days. In Chinese culture, when a woman gives birth, she does not leave the house, bathe, or really do much of anything for the first month, so her body can rest. As I understand it, she stays in bed with the exception of getting up to go to the bathroom. Typically her mother will come and take care of the new baby and do all the housework for her. This is so the woman's body can rest and recover after the stress of childbirth. It sounds like Heavenly Father is trying to also minimize the woman's chance to catch a disease or get sick. The stress of childbirth is very high and I imagine that it can put a lot of pressure on the woman's body and wrack her immune system leaving her vulnerable to infection. I suspect this is the real reason why Heavenly Father wanted the women isolated for at least a month after childbirth. Heavenly Father never gives any laws without a good reason, we just don't always know what that reason is.
This chapter is a good example of why I can't wait to meet Heavenly Father. I have so many questions about things from the past and I want to see and know it all. I love learning new things and when I die, I want to learn it all. It will be interesting to see how it all works and how we are taught. I can hardly wait! Until tomorrow.
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