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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Pubblicato in:Vetus Testamentum
Autore principale: Thiessen, Matthew 1977- (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
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Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Pubblicazione: Brill 2018
In: Vetus Testamentum
(sequenze di) soggetti normati:B Bibel. Levitikus 12 / Donna / Nascita / Purezza / Embriologia
Notazioni IxTheo:HB Antico Testamento
NBE Antropologia
Altre parole chiave:B Childbirth embryology lochial discharge medicine postpartum ritual impurity
Accesso online: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Edizione parallela:Non elettronico
Descrizione
Riepilogo: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
Comprende:In: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12341314