Douglas points out, ‘All bodily discharges are defiling and disqualify from approach to the temple.’49 She is, therefore, ritually unclean. The idea that the problem is the discharge and not the childbirth is confirmed by the parallel made with the uncleanness that accompanies menstruation (see 15:19–24).50 Blood is taboo. And losing blood is a sign of not being whole or complete; one is imperfect and thus considered unclean. The mother must wait seven days—the Hebrew number of perfection—until the