Leviticus 11 covers what is clean and unclean in the contact of God’s elect with people. Chapters 12 through 15 then cover man’s uncleanness in various aspects and man’s filthiness in different conditions, including the uncleanness of mankind in birth, leprosy, and discharges.
Leviticus 12 shows that the very source of man is unclean. Chapter 11 tells us to be careful in contacting certain kinds of persons lest we be defiled, but chapter 12 indicates that our birth is unclean. Our uncleanness is from birth. The source of our birth is uncleanness.
In figure, woman represents all mankind. In God’s economy, in His divine dispensation and divine arrangement, all mankind is female. Whereas woman represents all mankind, man represents God and Christ. Christ is the unique male, and all those who are married to Him are females. Hence, the uncleanness within the woman signifies the uncleanness within all mankind. Everyone is unclean, male and female alike.
The uncleanness of the human birth coming out of the woman signifies that the source of all mankind is unclean. Moreover, this uncleanness comes from within mankind. Since the source is unclean, whatever is born of the source is also unclean. We do not become unclean simply by contacting something unclean; we are unclean by birth. We were unclean even when we were in our mother’s womb. We were born in uncleanness and live in uncleanness.
The male signifies the strong ones in mankind. The uncleanness of the male’s birth is for seven days, but the uncleanness of the female’s birth is for fourteen days (vv. 2, 5a). The extent of the male’s uncleanness is less than that of the female, signifying that the uncleanness of the strong ones among mankind is less than that of the weak ones.
The female, being weaker than the male by birth, is doubly unclean in her weakness, as signified by the fourteen days. Hence, the extent of the female’s uncleanness is greater than that of the male.
On the eighth day after birth, the male was to be circumcised (v. 3). This signifies that the flesh of the unclean person should be put aside through the death of Christ so that he might be brought into the resurrection of Christ, not only to be cleansed but also to have a new beginning of life.
To be circumcised is to cut off our natural being, the source of our uncleanness. Actually, our entire being should be circumcised, that is, put to death. This was accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross, and it is applied, executed, and carried out by the powerful Spirit (Col. 2:11 and footnotes, Recovery Version).
Circumcision was carried out on the eighth day. The eighth day is a new start, the start of a new week. In the Bible the eighth day refers to Christ’s resurrection. Death ends the old course, and resurrection begins a new course. In the resurrection of Christ we experience the circumcision which He accomplished on the cross, and we are regenerated so that we may not only be cleansed but also have a new beginning of a new life.
After the completion of the test for uncleanness, a burnt offering and a sin offering needed to be offered (Lev. 12:6-8). This signifies that after our uncleanness by birth is fully dealt with, we need Christ to be our burnt offering, related to not being for God, and our sin offering, related to sin (Heb. 10:5-7).
The burnt offering is a type of Christ living for God on our behalf to satisfy God’s heart. Christ was absolute for God. As the burnt offering, He takes our place; He replaces us. Now we take Him as our burnt offering. In Him we are one with Him, and we also become a burnt offering to God.
The sin offering is a type of Christ redeeming us from our sin of not living for God. We are not absolute for God, and we are sinful in the eyes of God. Thus, we need Christ not only as our burnt offering but also as our sin offering.