Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 12:2

"Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean." — Leviticus 12:2 (ASV)

If a woman has conceived seed. —Rather, if a woman brings forth seed, that is, is delivered of a child (Genesis 1:29). This general statement is afterwards specified by the phrases and born a man child, and bear a maid child, in the verse before us, and in Leviticus 12:5. Thus, the regulations about impurity naturally begin with the beginning of life.

According to the administrators of the law during the Second Temple, the regulations set forth here regarding deliverance are in force even when it is an untimely birth, or when the child is born dead, provided it has a perfect shape, which it assumes after forty days of its conception. Among the Hindus, too, the mother in case of a miscarriage remains in a state of defilement as many nights as months have elapsed since her conception.

And born a man child. —Better, and gives birth to a male child. The expression rendered here in the Authorized Version by a man child is translated in Leviticus 12:7 simply male. In so short a paragraph discussing the same enactment, it is important that words identical in the original should be translated uniformly in English.

She shall be unclean seven days. —Though the issue of blood which succeeds childbirth generally only lasts three or four days, yet the period of uncleanness is extended to seven days to include exceptional cases.

According to the days... —Better, as in the days of the uncleanness of her monthly courses, that is, her uncleanness is to be of the same duration, and she is to observe the same rules and be subjected to the same restraints as during the period of her menstruation . The fact that reference is made here to the regulations about the periodical impurity of women which have not yet been laid down shows that, like other laws, this law was already known to and generally practiced by the Jews before it was finally fixed in the Levitical code.