Female sperm?

Leviticus 12:1—”This passage falsely says that women produce sperm.”

Critics have alleged that the Hebrew phrase “conceived seed” when used of women as in this verse indicates semen production. The word in question is “תזריע” ( tazria‛ ), which literally means “to make seed.” This is perfectly true, for when a woman’s body produces the egg in the ovaries this is “seed” just as much as semen is. There is absolutely no reason to view this passage as unscientific—both males and females have a form of “seed” (semen and egg) which contributes to conception.

One might as well ask why in the Qur’ān it says that man “is created from a gushing fluid which proceeds from between the backbone and the ribs” (‏ يخرج من بين الصلب والترائب —at-Tariq 86:7). All the acknowledged translations and tafsir agree on this puzzling analysis, but there are fully seven different radical re-interpretations of this verse by apologists to reconcile it with modern science. Surely we can agree that we cannot so boldly judge confusing passages of scripture.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *