Thread: Leaven In Matthew 13: 33 and In Luke 13: 18-21
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Leaven In Matthew 13: 33 and In Luke 13: 18-21
Posted : 8 Aug, 2013 12:59 AM
Leaven In Matthew 13: 33 and In Luke 13: 18-21
Leaven in several New Testament verses is from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance number 2219, zarah, which is said to be from 2114, zuwr, to turn aside, especially for lodging, hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane,to commit adultery..." Back to number 2219, zarah is said to mean "to toss about,by implication to diffuse, winnow, cast away, compass, disperse, fan, scatter, spread..."
Zarah, translated as leaven, is used twelve times in the New Testament - and leavened is used twice.
Matthew 13: 33,"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" is very brief.
Luke 13: 18-21: "Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
19. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
20. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21. It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
The fowels of the air lodging in the great tree sounds like the tree in Daniel 4:10-12. "I saw, and behold a tree was in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of all the earth: The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heavens dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it."
In Matthew 13: 4, the fowls come and eat up the seed planted, and in Matthew 13: 19 the wicked one is said to come and catch away the word of God sown in the heart. In Revelation 18: 2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."
Birds are metaphoric for evil in scripture, and in Luke 13: 19 the mention of the fowls of the air living in this great tree which grew from a grain of mustard seed is a key to the meaning of leaven. "A little leaven leaventh the whole lump."
Christ is using leaven as a metaphor. Remember that in Matthew 13: 10-11 "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."
Matthew 13: 34-35, which immediately follows his statement in verse 33 about the leaven . says that "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."
In Matthew 13: 33 and in Luke 13: 18-21, Christ does not explain what he means by leaven. The Holy Spirit gives ears to hear to those who are in Christ - and the meaning of leaven can be understood from the way it is used in other places.
It would be inconsistent to interpret leaven in Matthew 13: 33 and in Luke 13: 18-21 as being something good, but bad in Mark 8: 15, in Luke 12: 1, in I Corinthians 5: 6-8, and in Galatians 5: 9.
The Holy Spirit is consistent and does not use metaphor in one way in some texts and in an opposite way in other texts; that would be confusion, or confusion of faces as Daniel talks about.
However, it is possible that man-made theology might define leaven as good in Matthew 13: 33 and in Luke 13: 18-21 to protect the church from the understanding that prophecy says it will be leavened.
Then, to be consistent, man-made theology might claim that the falling away of II Thessalonians 2;3-4 was a prophecy totally fulfilled at some early time, say around the time of the fall of Jerusalem, even though this would not do justice to the part of about the man of sin sitting in the temple claiming he is God, which has a different fulfillment in the New Covenant time.. And the prophecy of Paul in I Timothy and in II Timothy about a departure from sound doctrine, etc could be explained away by saying this only applies to the Gnostic apostasy very soon after it was written by Paul.
Mark 8: 15: "And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod."
Luke 12: 1: "In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
I Corinthians 5: 6-8: "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Galatians 5: 3-9: "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
Paul is talking about the leaven being a return to the Old Covenant ceremonial law just as far as circumcision is concerned. He is saying that this leaven of returning to circumcision will soon leaven the entire group and their doctrines. This meaning that a small amount of false doctrine will grow and take over the entire group and its doctrines has to be applied also to Matthew 13: 33 and to Luke 13: 18-21. Otherwise we have inconsistency in the use of the leaven metaphor.
This is such a great post!!! No one can escape Torah is bloody. Yet my people want to just say we are under grace and have always been. Not true we were under blood then and are still under blood (just now the Messiah�s); and all people either have the blood of the Lamb (Y-shua) or they don�t. Very black and white. Now I am a Torah thump-er� festivals and morals/values law (I think the whole world should be� especially those called Christians) ((but that�s another post)). I have to be honest because I have always thought leaven was just generically sin. This I will ask my Rabbi about and study. Thank you for insight to the deeper� I love that!!!
II Timothy 3: 1-7 is supported in its prophecy of a departure from sound doctrine by several New Testament scriptures.
II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 is one. Matthew 24: 9-12 is another. I Timothy 4: 1-2, II Timothy 4: 3-4, II Peter 2: 1-3 and I John 4: 1 are some others. I John 4: 1 says "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
II Peter 2: 1-2 says ""But there were false prophets also among
the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the
way of truth shall be evil spoken of."
But it is the support of Matthew 13: 33 and Luke 13: 18-21 to II Timothy 3: 1-7 which some who claim to be Christians have questioned. The reason given is that in Matthew 13: 33 and Luke 13: 18-21 leaven is used as a metaphor to indicate that the Kingdom of God is to grow large from a small beginning. But those who claim to be Christians may want to find reasons for protecting their churches from the prophecy that the churches will go into false doctrines, when they are already in false doctrines.
The use of leaven in I Corinthians 5: 6-8, and in Galatians 5: 9 apparently has not been questioned very much. Statements about the leaven of the Pharisees In Mark 16: 6 and Luke 12: 1 have not been questioned much since those who question Matthew 13: 33 and Luke 13: 18-21 may agree that the doctrines of the Pharisees are harmful and should not be allowed to increase among Christians.
Paul in Galatians 5: 9 says "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," and he means that accepting circumcision by Christians will leaven the entire group and their doctrines in that once a small part of the Old Covenant ceremonial law is accepted, it will increase and leaven the whole body of doctrine.
In Galatians 5: 9 Paul can be seen to be warning that a small amount of any false doctrine, if left unchecked, will leaven the entire doctrine of Christians.
Luke 13: 21 says "It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George R. Berry, 1980, on page 200 for Luke 13: 21 says "Like it is to leaven, which having taken a woman hid in meal seahs (measures) three, until was leaven all." The Textus Receptus says "ομοια εστιν ζυμη ην λαβουσα γυνη ενεκρυψεν εις αλευρου σατα τρια εως ου εζυμωθη ολον.
It looks like a doctrine that saying leaven in Luke 13: 21 does not leaven the entire thing cannot be found in the other Greek text, that of Westcott-Hort, which is the heresiarchal text, and part of the Wrecking Machine. But on this issue its not too heresiarchal.
The New American Standard says ""It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened." And the American Standard and the New Revised Standard both talk about until all is leavened.
The NIV, however, does not follow the Greek as closely as the other three translations above, saying "It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
There is no plain statement in the texts of Matthew 13: 33 and Luke 13: 18-21 indicating that in these texts leaven is used to indicate the growth of the Kingdom of God from a small beginning to a large kingdom. It is rather the absence of such a plain statement that may be leading some to interpret these texts as saying leaven grows the Kingdom of God.
Luke 13: 18-21: "Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
19. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
20. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21. It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
In addition, the metaphoric "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it" cannot be ignored. Look up "Fowls," in Daniel 4: 10-12, and especially see bird in Revelation 18: 2, " Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Find out what Babylon is as another metaphor in Jeremiah 50 and 51 and in Revelation 17 and 18. Two clues are in Revelation 18: 4, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues," and in Revelation 18: 23, "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee..."
It is because Paul in Galatians makes it clear that circumcision is the issue as part of bringing back the Old Covenant into Christianity, and so when he says "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" we understand that he is using the metaphor of leaven, following Christ's use of it in Matthew 13: 33 and in Luke 13; 18-21, to say that a small amount of false doctrine will increase - if left unchecked - to take over the entire Christian group and its entire doctrine.
So, Luke 13: 18-21 also supports II Timothy 3: 1-7, as a prophecy about the loss of sound doctrine.
