The Legislation of Leviticus 12 in Light of Ancient Embryology

Interpreters have provided numerous unsatisfactory reasons for why priestly literature stipulates that women endure a longer impurity after the birth of a girl than they endure after the birth of a boy. This article situates Leviticus 12 within a wide range of medical discourses, found in Hittite, G...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vetus Testamentum
Main Author: Thiessen, Matthew 1977- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2018
In: Vetus Testamentum
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bible. Levitikus 12 / Woman / Birth / Purity / Embryology
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
NBE Anthropology
Further subjects:B Childbirth embryology lochial discharge medicine postpartum ritual impurity
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Interpreters have provided numerous unsatisfactory reasons for why priestly literature stipulates that women endure a longer impurity after the birth of a girl than they endure after the birth of a boy. This article situates Leviticus 12 within a wide range of medical discourses, found in Hittite, Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian literature, in order to illuminate the priestly rationale behind this legislation. It demonstrates that these differing periods of ritual impurity relate to ancient medical beliefs that females developed more slowly than did males. These different articulation rates were believed to result in different lengths of postpartum lochial discharge, which meant that the new mother suffered different lengths of ritual impurity based on the sex of the newborn child.
ISSN:1568-5330
Contains:In: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12341314