Leaven(yeast)
Summary
A fermenting substance, typically old dough, used to cause bread to rise, which serves in Scripture primarily as a symbol of pervasive influence, usually negative but occasionally positive.
☩Nature and Use
Leaven consisted of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which was mixed into fresh dough prepared for baking. The fermentation it produced was a form of decomposition, which is why leaven became associated with corruption. Because making leavened bread required time, unleavened bread was used in situations requiring haste, as when Abraham entertained angels or when Israel fled Egypt. Wine lees were also employed to promote fermentation.
☩Ritual Prohibitions
Leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by fire, apparently because its tendency to corrupt made it unfit for holy purposes. During the seven days of Passover, Israelites were commanded to have no leaven in their houses or in the land, on pain of being cut off from the congregation. The Jews searched their houses with extreme care to purge out every particle before this feast began. However, leavened bread was permitted with the peace offering thanksgiving and with the firstfruits at Pentecost, where it represented the ordinary food of the people offered in gratitude.
☩Negative Symbolism
In most scriptural contexts, leaven symbolizes evil's pervasive, corrupting influence. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (hypocrisy), the Sadducees (false doctrine), and Herod (worldliness). Paul commanded the Corinthians to purge out the old leaven of malice and wickedness, keeping the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. He warned the Galatians that a little leaven of legalism leavens the whole lump, corrupting the purity of the gospel.
☩Positive Symbolism
In the parable of the leaven, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to leaven that a woman hid in three measures of flour until the whole was leavened. Some interpreters see this as a positive image of the gospel's pervasive transforming power spreading throughout the world. Others maintain that even here leaven retains its negative connotation, warning that evil would spread throughout the visible kingdom until Christ purges it at His coming. The parable emphasizes leaven's defining characteristic: its hidden, penetrating, and thoroughly pervasive influence.
Related Verses31 mentions
References
- 1.George Morrish, "Leaven," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Leaven," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.Edwin W. Rice, "Leaven," in The People's Dictionary of the Bible (American Sunday-School Union, 1893).
- 4.Richard Watson, "Leaven," in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (John Mason, 1831).
- 5.Don Fleming, "Leaven," in Bridgeway Bible Dictionary (Bridgeway Publications, 1990).