What does Luke 2:22 mean?
Mosaic law provided Israel a series of commands relating to ceremonial purity. One of these regulations involved childbirth, and here Mary and Joseph are completing the required purification (Leviticus 12). This cleansing is not an atonement for sin, but a symbolic restoration of purity. By law, those who could afford a lamb were required to offer one, in addition to a bird, for the purification sacrifice. Those unable to afford a lamb could bring two birds, rather than just one.According to this passage, Joseph and Mary are poor enough that they fall into the latter category; they offer a pair of birds to fulfill their requirement (Luke 2:24). Their act not only satisfies ceremonial purity, but it also obeys the instructions given at Israel's exodus from Egypt: that firstborn were to be consecrated to God (Exodus 13:1–2).