It is easy to take offense at the differences between men and women given in the bible, because the bible does not treat them as equals and it should not, let me explain.
There is a difference between men and women, it may come as a shock but they are not created equal. That does not mean that men are of greater value than women or visa versa. But value and worth are not the same as purpose.
Take for instance Leviticus chapter 12, here we find the laws regarding a woman after giving birth. The bible requires that a male child be circumcised on the 8th day following birth and then his mother is to continue in her purification for 33 days.
But if she gives birth to a daughter she is unclean 2 weeks and be purified for 66 days, what gives?
Does having a little girl make her mother more unclean by nearly double that of giving birth to a little boy, is the bible so sexist that girls are worse than boys?
In order to better understand the values of God and His word, we must look at this differently by giving greater respect to life, after all that is what the Lord does.
The world and really the enemy wants to strip the value and the beauty of God’s creation by removing the respect and honor we should pay to life and the very unique roll of women in bringing life into this world.
Because, it is only in the womb of a woman that creation still occurs. The bible tells us that it is the Lord Himself who knits people together in a mother’s womb, this is amazing to consider and it should be honored and given special attention.
Which brings us back to why when a woman gives birth to a girl she must go through a longer period of purification that is double that of giving birth to a boy, it is the potential for future life.
That daughter born to her mother might some day give birth herself, she carries within her body not only the potential for life in the eggs but the womb that one day might protect her child.
You see the law of Leviticus 12 is about respecting and reverencing life not about demining girls as inferior or dirty. We are saying that life is so very precious, so very valuable that we should recognize the potential that every woman carries from the moment they come into this world, the potential for life.
