2025查经笔记“怀孕”（利未记12-13）与“麻疯”（利未记14-15）
2025 notes on Tazria（Leviticus 12-13) and Metzora (Leviticus 14-15)
（ Applied ChatGPT for English translation.）
（This week the two portions are combined in reading. 本周两个读经进度合并。）
利未记Leviticus 12:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.你晓谕以色列人说，若有妇人怀孕生男孩，她就不洁净七天，像在月经污秽的日子不洁净一样。
2025注释： “怀孕”תזריע： 这个词与创世记3:15女人的“后裔” 有相同的词根זרע。
זרע本身通常用来表示种子或播种，用来表示女人怀孕生子的经文不是很多。两处经文共享相近的关键词可能提示我们经文间的一种联系。创3:15造物主对蛇预言“…女人的后裔要伤你的头，你要伤他的脚跟。” 这个后裔预表弥赛亚（基督），在新约实现了。Rashi解经也提到本节与创世之初的联系，https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.12.2.1?lang=bi ，但出于犹太人的立场没有提到新约。
2025 Commentary:
“Conceive” (תזריע): This word shares the same root (זרע) as “seed” in Genesis 3:15, where it refers to the “offspring” of the woman. The word זרע is generally used to mean “seed” or “sowing,” and there are not many passages where it is specifically used to describe a woman conceiving and giving birth.
The shared key Hebrew root in these two passages may suggest a connection between them. In Genesis 3:15, the Creator prophesied to the serpent: “… her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This “seed” foreshadows the Messiah (Christ), who fulfills this prophecy in the New Testament.
Rashi’s commentary also mentions the connection between this verse and the beginning of creation (see: https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.12.2.1?lang=bi), but from a Jewish perspective, it does not reference the New Testament
12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 第八天，要给婴孩行割礼。
2025注释: “第八天”：路加福音2:21说: “满了八天，就给孩子行割礼，与他起名叫耶稣，这就是没有成胎以前，天使所起的名。” 公元新年是圣诞节的第八天，可能是记念耶稣割礼和起名。犹太人割礼与起名通常在同一天https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144470/jewish/Naming-the-Newly-Circumcised-Baby.htm。第八天，是七天一周期时间表中新的开始。女人吃禁果犯罪后，人类受困于罪和苦难，包括女人生产的不洁净很可能也是原罪的后果（创3:16: …你生产儿女必多受苦楚。…）。但基督的割礼与起名的这天是新的开始，是公元的开始，是战胜罪与其后果的新开始。耶稣是主拯救的意思，预表人类将被主从罪恶与苦难中拯救出来。
2025 Commentary:
“The eighth day”: Luke 2:21 says, “And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”
The New Year’s Day in the Gregorian calendar is the eighth day after Christmas, and it may commemorate Jesus’ circumcision and naming. Among Jews, circumcision and naming usually take place on the same day (see: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144470/jewish/Naming-the-Newly-Circumcised-Baby.htm).
The eighth day marks a new beginning in the seven-day cycle of time.
After the woman sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, humanity became trapped in sin and suffering, and the ritual impurity of childbirth likely stems from this original sin (Genesis 3:16: “… in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…”).
However, Christ’s circumcision and naming mark a new beginning—the beginning of the Christian era—the beginning of victory over sin and its consequences.
The name “Jesus” means “the LORD saves,” foreshadowing that humanity would be saved by the Lord from sin and suffering.
13:2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:人的肉皮上若长了疖子，或长了癣，或长了火斑，在他肉皮上成了大麻疯的灾病，就要将他带到祭司亚伦或亚伦作祭司的一个子孙面前。
2025注释: “人”，这里的希伯来文是亚当אדם，这也可能暗指创世记的原罪，那是麻疯病的根源。
2025 Commentary:
” a man”: The Hebrew word here is Adam (אדם), which may also allude to the original sin in Genesis, considered the root cause of leprosy.
13:44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.那人就是长大麻疯，不洁净的，祭司总要定他为不洁净，他的灾病是在头上。
2025注释: 麻疯病在圣经里常与犯错误有关，比如说可能是因毁谤，或是高傲所受的惩罚。民数记12:1，10记载“摩西娶了古实女子为妻。米利暗和亚伦因他所娶的古实女子就毁谤他，…米利暗长了大麻疯，有雪那样白。…”
又比如乌西雅王因为高傲想越职烧香，历代志下26:16，19说“ 他既强盛，就心高气傲，以致行事邪僻，… 要在香坛上烧香。… 额上忽然发出大麻疯。”
参见https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metzora_(parashah)
2025 Commentary:
In the Bible, leprosy is often associated with committing sins, such as slander or arrogance, and is seen as a punishment for such behavior.
Numbers 12:1, 10 records: “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. … and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow…”
Another example is King Uzziah, who became proud and sought to usurp a priestly task of burning incense. 2 Chronicles 26:16, 19 says: “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. … and he had leprosy in his forehead.”
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metzora_(parashah)
14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 至于那只活鸟，祭司要把它和香柏木，朱红色线并牛膝草一同蘸于宰在活水上的鸟血中，
2025注释: 这是圣经里对已痊愈的麻疯病人所做的一种洁净仪式。其中所用的材料有象征意义(参见Rashi解经利未记14:4）。https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.14.4.3?lang=bi
鸟是叽叽喳喳的，象征毁谤人的坏习惯需要解决，香柏木是高的，象征高傲的问题需要解决，要像朱红色线原文词根里所用的虫子תולעת和低矮的牛膝草那样谦卑下来。关于活水，因为是地下冒出的泉水，我觉得象征死里复活的基督，基督徒要通过洗礼把旧人与基督同埋葬，让新人与基督同复活，这样才能彻底改正旧人的坏习惯。
2025 Commentary:
This is a purification ritual prescribed in the Bible for someone who has recovered from leprosy. The materials used in the ritual carry symbolic meanings (see Rashi’s commentary on Leviticus 14:4: https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.14.4.3?lang=bi).
The bird, which chirps incessantly, symbolizes the bad habit of slander that needs to be corrected. The cedar wood, being tall, symbolizes arrogance that must be humbled, just as the scarlet thread’s root word in Hebrew refers to a worm (תולעת) and the hyssop is a lowly plant, both symbolizing humility.
Regarding the running water, because it refers to water springing up from underground, I believe it symbolizes Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Christians, through baptism, are to be buried with Christ in the death of the old self, and raised with Christ as a new person—only then can the bad habits of the old nature be truly corrected.
15:20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.女人在污秽之中，凡她所躺的物件都为不洁净，所坐的物件也都不洁净。
2025注释: 在现代，因为圣殿已被毁，犹太人不能去圣殿敬拜，对女人月经的仪式性不洁净可能不需要像以前那么小心。但很多犹太人仍然注意避免在月经期间过夫妻生活，因为圣经里对此有“剪除”的惩罚（利未记20:18），那是一类很严重的惩罚。参见
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niddah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareth
2025 Commentary:
In modern times, because the Temple has been destroyed and Jews cannot worship there, the ritual impurity associated with a woman’s menstruation may not require as much strict observance as before. However, many Jews still take care to avoid marital relations during a woman’s menstrual period, because the Bible prescribes the punishment of being “cut off” for such transgression (Leviticus 20:18), which is considered a very serious penalty. See: