Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Days of her purification - That is, thirty-three days after what was termed the seven days of her uncleanness - forty days in all: for that was the time appointed by the law, after the birth of a male child. See Leviticus 12:2, Leviticus 12:6.
The MSS. and versions differ much in the pronoun in this place: some reading , Her purification; others , His purification; others , Their purification; and others , the purification of Them Both. Two versions and two of the fathers omit the pronoun, , their, and , his, have the greatest authorities in their support, and the former is received into most of the modern editions. A needless scrupulosity was, in my opinion, the origin of these various readings. Some would not allow that both needed purification, and referred the matter to Mary alone. Others thought neither could be supposed to be legally impure, and therefore omitted the pronoun entirely, leaving the meaning indeterminate. As there could be no moral defilement in the case, and what was done being for the performance of a legal ceremony, it is of little consequence which of the readings is received into the text.
The purification of every mother and child, which the law enjoined, is a powerful argument in proof of that original corruption and depravity which every human being brings into the world. The woman to be purified was placed in the east gate of the court, called Nicanor' s gate, and was there sprinkled with blood: thus she received the atonement. See Lightfoot.
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