Mara

Concerning the extra time given for uncleaness for a female baby as opposed to a male baby I’ve had a couple friends who didn’t know each other come to the same conclusion. This is NOT based on the words of the Bible but on the inner prayer closet of a couple of women who also wrestled with wondering if God loved them less as women. So it should not be put forth as Bible fact, but as women wrestling with God and the conclusions they have felt impressed with in deep, sincere, earnest prayer.

Both these friends, independently, felt as though the extra time given daughters was an extra long bonding time that the mother and daughter needed in a culture that favored sons. It, as mentioned above, kept the father out of the picture to make impatient demands on his wife. It also kept out older brothers who might be favored over the daughter. Basically it set up a time for mother and daughter to just be who they were and bond as such outside the boundary of overwhelmingly male influence, in a little world of their own. Hopefully the bonding time would help and support them both as they worked to figure out how to navigate the sometimes choppy waters of a male-dominated culture.

AFA Jephthah. I don’t know if that has anything to do with gender. His daughter was simply the first one out to greet him and he was an idiot for making such a rash vow. Others most likely have a better idea of it than me.