According to the Lord’s instruction to Abraham, every Hebrew male had to be circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 17:9–14). On the eighth day, the mother was allowed to accompany her son to the temple for the circumcision ceremony. In this instance a positive law (circumcision) was preferred over the law of uncleanness. The Israelites needed to know how the two commands were harmonized.
3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.