Leviticus 12:5-7
5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the firsta year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:
7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.
If motherhood was so blessed by God, why did mothers have to bring a sacrifice to God to expiate for having children?
PROBLEM: The Bible exalts the position of motherhood saying, “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine … your children like olive plants” (Psalms 128:3). Nevertheless, mothers were commanded to bring a sacrifice to the altar for “purification” and “atonement” after the birth of a child (Leviticus 12:5-7).
SOLUTION: Some take this sacrifice as merely symbolic, but even then it must symbolize something that is literally true. It seems best to make a distinction between the office of motherhood as such and motherhood in a fallen world. God did create a wife for Adam and command them to have children (Genesis 1:27-28). In this original and pristine sense, motherhood is pure and unstained.
Unfortunately, since the Fall of Eve (with Adam) motherhood is not without the taint of sin. David confessed, “in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:5). Since motherhood, like everything else in this fallen world, is subject to sin, it too needed purification. After all, “the plowing of the wicked are sin” (Proverbs 21:4) in a fallen world. As a result of the Fall, every woman bears children in pain (Genesis 3:16). It is appropriate, then, that mothers be reminded of God’s gracious provision for them and through them by the offering of a sacrifice on the birth of a child.