Luke 13:21

13:21 It is like the yeast: Leaven can represent evil (see 12:1; 1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9), but here it is a positive image of the permeating, transforming power of the Kingdom.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 13:21. Ἐνέκρυψεν, hid in) so that the leaven seemed to be quite absorbed by the dough.—ἄλευρον) The words, Ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία, seem to have been introduced into the text here from Matthew: I have, as I think, demonstrated clearly enough in my Apparatus Crit. that the very ancient Italic Version had ἄλευρον. And the steady testimony of Ambrose to the same is exhibited, not merely in his commentary on this passage, but also in his Fifth Discourse.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_13:21. Introduction of a new act in the progress of the journey (Luk_9:57, Luk_10:38, Luk_17:11). The mention of the journey holds the historical thread.

καὶ πορ. ποιούμ.] teaching, and at the same time, etc.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 21. Like leaven] See this explained, Mt 13:33.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. It is like leaven] Except in this parable, leaven in Scripture (being connected with corruption and fermentation) is used as the type of sin. See Luk_12:1; Exo_12:1; Exo_12:15-20; 1Co_5:6-8; Gal_5:9. Here, however, the only point considered is its rapid, and unseen, and effectual working.

in three measures of meal] The verisimilitude, simplicity, and vividness of the parables arise from the natural and specific details introduced into them. To press these into separate lessons only leads to arbitrary exegesis and false theology. Probably the ‘three measures’ are only mentioned because they are the ordinary amount which a

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he went through the cities and villages,.... Either of Galilee, or of Judea, or both; since he was upon his journey from Galilee, through Judea, to Jerusalem, as it follows:

teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem; as he was journeying he taught in every place he came, where he could have an opportunity; his delight was to do good both to the bodies and souls of men; and he was constant and assiduous in it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Ver. 21. See Mat 13:33.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The flour represents us Christians, who receive the Lord Jesus into the inner parts of our soul, till we are all inflamed with the fire of his heavenly wisdom. (St. Ambrose)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. The first of these two little parables of the kingdom, "the mustard seed," portrayed its strangely rapid growth. The second, "the leaven," treats of the mighty inward transformation which the kingdom of God will effect in the hearts of men and women. Chemically speaking, leaven is a lump of sour dough in which putrefaction has begun, and, on being introduced into a far greater mass of fresh dough, produces by contagion a similar condition into the greater bulk with which it comes in contact. The result of the contact, however, is that the mass of dough, acted upon by the little lump of leaven, becomes a wholesome, agreeable food for men. It was a singularly striking and powerful simile, this little commonplace comparison, and exactly imaged the future progress of "the kingdom." Quietly, silently, the doctrine of the Master made its way into the hearts and homes of men. "He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets". (Mat_12:19) None on earth would have dared hint at the future success of the doctrine of the Master during the Master"s life, and his death seemed as though it would effectually crush out the last feeble spark of life. The apparent result of his work was the devotion of a few simple hearts, mostly of fishermen, artisans, and the like, and yet, though men suspected it not, the secret and powerful influence was already at work among men. The story of the years succeeding the cross and the Resurrection, on a broader stage and with more actors, was a story of similar silent, quiet working. In a century and a half after the strange leaven-parable had been spoken, the whole civilized world knew something of the Master"s history and doctrine. His disciples then were counted by tens of thousands. No city, scarcely a village, but contained some into whose hearts the teaching had sunk, whose lives the teaching had changed. In three measures of meal. Perhaps referring here to the well-known division of man into body, soul, and spirit. More likely, however, the number 3 is used as the symbol of completeness, signifying that the Divine purpose was then influencing the whole mass of mankind. Till the whole was leavened. It would seem as though the Master looked on to a definite time when all nations should come and worship him, and acknowledge his glorious sovereignty. If this be the case, then a very long period still remains to be lived through by the world; many kingdoms must rise and fall, new civilizations spring up, before that day of joy and gladness dawns upon the globe that is, reasoning on the analogy of the past. Be this, however, as it may, the drift of both these parables of the kingdom distinctly points to a slow yet a progressive development of true religion. Very different, indeed, was the Jewish conception of Messiah"s kingdom. They expected a rapid and brilliant metamorphosis of the then unhappy state of things. They never dreamed of the slow and quiet movement Messiah"s coming was to inaugurate. One thing is perfectly clear the Speaker of these two parable-stories never contemplated a speedy return to earth. With strange exactness the last eighteen hundred and fifty years have been fulfilling the conditions of the two similes, and as yet, as far as man can see, they are not nearly complete.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Covered up - So that, for a time, nothing of it appeared.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

21. ὁμοία ἐστὶν ζύμῃ. Except in this parable, leaven in Scripture (being connected with corruption and fermentation) is used as the type of sin. See Luk 12:1; Exo 12:1; Exo 12:15-20; 1Co 5:6-8; Gal 5:9. Here, however, the only point considered is its rapid, and unseen, and effectual working. The former parable illustrates the growth of the Gospel, the latter its transforming power.

εἰς ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία. Σάτον (the Hebr. seah, about a peck) occurs only here and at Mat 13:33. (Gen 18:6, LXX[279] μέτρον.) The verisimilitude, simplicity, and vividness of the parables arise from the natural and specific details introduced into them. To press these into separate lessons only leads to arbitrary exegesis and false theology. Probably the “three measures” are only mentioned because they are the ordinary amount which a woman would leaven at one time. If any one likes to improve the detail by applying it to (1) body, soul, and spirit (1Th 5:23); or (2) to Jews, Samaritans, and Galilaeans; or (3) to the three sons of Noah (!), as representing Semites, Aryans, and Allophylians,—it should be understood that these are pious applications, and interesting plays of fancy, not comments on our Lord’s words.

[279] LXX. Septuagint.

ἕως οὗ ἐζυμώθη ὅλον. The whole heart of each man (2Co 10:5), and the whole world (Luk 24:47).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Leaven. See on Mt 13:33.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.