Matthew 13:33

Mat_13:33

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven.

The parable of the leaven

I. The power which is to raise man must come from without.

Took leaven. It is assumed that man needs raising, and this is possible only through the introduction from without of an energy distinctly Divine. Humanity has no self-leavening power. I would ask those who imagine that we need no celestial leaven to raise us how long our moral elevation as a people would continue if the influences which come from the Bible could be shut off?

II. That the leaven must be lodged and work within. The leaven was hidden in the meal. This denotes that the mysterious element which possesses such penetrative powers is for a time concealed from sight. The chief mischief connected with man lies within. Many systems of reformation proceed on the supposition that the unhappy condition of man is external, not in himself, but in his circumstances. But vice is not confined to slums. The chief elements of mans degradation are ignorance, selfishness, and misery; these are within a man, and can be counteracted only by that which shall work within.

III. The penetrative and diffusive power of this leaven. It spread till the whole was leavened. This it does because it is leaven, and works according to the law of its own essence. It was not leavened in an instant, but by gradual infection; an emblem of the spread of the gospel in the soul. Professors do not become perfect all at once. Religion operates from individual to individual. Where leaven is at work it will be felt. It works amidst seeming improbabilities. (E. Mellor, D. D.)

Leaven a hidden force

It was hidden; so hidden that those who will believe in nothing but what they see might doubt whether it was there at all. ]t was hidden but not lost; hidden that it might not be lost; hidden that its searching and diffusive energy might be tested and revealed. From this feature of the parable we not only do not shrink, but we give to it the utmost possible prominence. It holds strict analogy with the great fact that the mightiest forces in the world are all lodged, if I may so speak, out of sight, and work outwards, and upwards, and downwards from their deep home of mystery. The chief Worker-He without whom no one and nothing could work at all-hideth Himself, so that no eye hath seen Him, or can see Him. From His secret pavilion He sustains all the forces of the universe, whether they be mechanical or vital, and yet His Hand is never seen. The leaven of man himself-that leaven without which there would be no man-his soul, is hidden. How hidden, we know not; where hidden, we know not; but it is hidden, and, amid all the marvels of its working, is never seen. No eye hath seen man at any time, any more than it has seen God. (E. Mellor, D. D.)

Leaven a living force

The yeast used in making bread is by no means the dead, inoperative thing it seems. It is a plant as much alive as the snowdrop that has just burst its way through the soil, and foretold by its graceful bell the coming of the spring. It is a vegetable growth, of enormous energy for its size, multiplying itself at a rate incredible to any but the scientific mind; feeding its active life, as it grows from spot to spot, upon the material into which it has been introduced, until there is nothing left for it to feed upon and assimilate to itself. The change it effects in its progress is described by the chemist as a decomposition of the sugar contained in the dough, and a liberation of carbonic acid; but the principal fact revealed by the microscope is that you have a congregation of living cells, gathered about a living central nucleus, all charged to the full with that subtle and supreme force, which we, in our ignorance, call LIFE. Like that, says Christ, is the kingdom of heaven-the rule of a living presence, of a living God. The gospel is the power of God at work for the salvation of souls. Christianity is itself a living, breathing presence, not a mere dull, dead thing; a life. It is characteristic of leaven to show an almost insatiable greed of activity. It is a type of stupendous increase. With a rapidity that is marvellous, it passes on from particle to particle of the meal in which it is placed, until the last stroke of work is done. Give it an appropriate temperature, and favourable materials, and an express engine will stop sooner than it. In no point is the teachers simile better sustained by facts than in the unspeakable and irrepressible activity of the gospel. It is a living force: and action is essential to its life, as air is to the life of man. Only with tremendous difficulty can it be checked. (J. Clifford, M. A.)

Christianity, like leaven, works in a congenial and much assisting sphere

It is hid, according to Christs parable, in MEAL, not amongst stones on which it could have no effect, not amongst iron-filings where a magnet would be better placed, not in the earth where seeds would get better nourishment; but in meal; in that material which has an affinity for it, and upon which it is specially fitted to act. The leaven is placed where it is wanted, where it can work, and where it can work with success. Leaven is not better suited to work in meal than Christ in mens hearts for their salvation. (J. Clifford, M. A.)

Leaven an assimilating force

The portion of dough taken as a ferment, and inserted within the three measures of meal, makes that meal like itself, subjugates it, and impresses its own character upon it, penetrating it totally, and assimilates its nature to its own. It is not simply that it touches particle after particle of the flour, as water might do-that would only make a paste; or comes into contact with the whole meal, as a hand might do-that would simply move it without altering it; but it really puts its own life into the meal and penetrates it with its living nature from centre to circumference. It is in the nature of leaven to make all the meal like itself; so it is in the nature of the gospel to Christianize those who receive it; i.e., Christ subjugates, penetrates, and assimilates the believer to Himself. He puts His life into each part of him;

(1) the life of His thoughts into his thinking, so that every thought is brought into captivity to Christ;

(2) the life of His love into his heart, so that he is unselfish and beneficent;

(3) the life of His righteousness into his conscience, so that the law of right is his rule;

(4) the life of His obedience into his will, so that it is his meat to do the will of the Father. (J. Clifford, M. A.)

The parable of the leaven

We learn-

I. God employs human agency for the conversion of the soul.

II. To outward appearance, the means are very unlikely and insignificant.

III. The change produced is radical, gradual, final, and manifest.

IV. Favourable circumstances are necessary for the leaven to work successfully. (A. Griffin.)

The law of leaven has signally characterized the entire history of the kingdom of heaven in the world

The leaven illustrates-

I. The history of Gods revelation to man.

II. The history of the christian church.

III. The history of opinions or doctrines.

IV. The history of individual conversions.

1. Donor despise the day of small things.

2. Infer hope for the world. (J. M. Sherwood.)

A symbol of Christianity

I. Christianity is really alive.

II. Christianity is at work as well as alive.

III. Christianity, like leaven, works in a congenial and much assisting sphere.

IV. The most distinguished feature is that it leavens the meal in the midst of which it is placed. So the most characteristic effect of Christianity is that it Christianizes men; it assimilates them to Christ by filling them with the life of Christ.

V. The leaven is hidden in the meal, and all the work it does, it does secretly. Christs best, most real, and most powerful work, is always unseen.

VI. But it advances victoriously and totally. (J. Cliffbrd, M. A. , LL. B. , B. Sc.)

This parable represents

I. The penetrating power of Divine grace. The grace of God is a vital and holy force.

II. The mysterious power of Divine grace. The grace of God is imparted to the soul. But is imperceptible in the soul.

III. The transforming power of Divine grace. The grace of God works slowly, successfully. (J. T. Woodhouse.)

Children to be educated, not only in the truth, but for its diffusion

This parable describes the progressive influence of the truth of God within the heart, and also without in the world. Leaven works strongly, so does the Word on the thoughts and feelings. It works silently; so does the gospel secretly diffuse its influence through the soul. Leaven works permanently, imparting qualities which remain fixed in the substance which it penetrates.

I. The bible states that the whole world is to be leavened by the truth of God (Psa_22:27-28).

II. The bible which contains this heavenly truth is admirably fitted for universal diffusion.

1. It is a Divine authority.

2. It speaks to the heart of man.

3. It prescribes to man his duty in every possible station and relation in which he can be placed.

4. It is a bond of union.

5. It inspires and fills the heart with hope.

III. Little has yet been done for leavening the world with truth.

IV. Why has not more been done for the leavening of the world with truth.

V. How shall we prepare to do more than has yet been done for leavening the world with truth.

VI. Never will the church make successful effort for the leavening of the world with truth until every child under her care be educated with a view to this noble object. (W. B. Kirkpatrick.)

I. The elements which are here brought together.

1. The first of these may be considered as representing human nature. The parable represents the possibility of mans restoration.

2. The second element used in this parable may be regarded as an emblem of the gospel. The gospel, when compared to the world, exhibits an amazing disproportion

(1) as to quantity. The leaven is small in proportion to the meal. The small origin of the gospel in contrast with the mighty change effected by it;

(2) the contrast as to quality. There is a natural adaptation in the one element to the other, the one is moist, the other dry; this is favourable to the process. So in the gospel there is moral adaptation.

(3) A contrast as to their influence. We might despise the hiding of the leaven as trivial; but the result is seen. The progress of the gospel irresistible.

II. The mode of operation by which this result ensues.

1. These elements must be brought into actual contact.

2. The operation is gradual.

3. It is invisible.

4. It is irresistible.

III. The final progress and triumph of the gospel.

1. That all analogy leads us to expect its universal progress.

2. This is the purpose of God.

3. This is the burden of prophecy.

4. The musings of holy men on the future glory of the Church point in this direction.

5. The prayers of the pious refer to this event.

6. This result is highly desirable.

7. The Spirit of God is fettered by no analogy, His influence may be signally exerted. (T. Smith.)

Christianity an impartation, not an evolution

The kingdom, then, is not an off-shoot from the world, but some sort of an importation into it: not an outgo, but an income. It is a new ingredient put into society. The woman put the yeast into the dough; the dough did not develop the yeast. Scripture is everywhere consistent with this representation. History did not produce Christ: He came into the world from beyond and above. The Law, too, came into the world; it was not a Mosaic transplant from Egypt, but entered the world at the point where Sinai and the sky meet. The whole series of communications from Eden to Patmos is consistently exhibited as so much importation. Our own experience, Zoo, has something to say in the same line. We are succumbing every day to influences that are not set down in the books, k world of unseen facts and forces lies against us as the sea lies against the shore. What we call conscience is no barren discernment between what is bad and what is good; it is the organ through which the unseen comes near to us and becomes within us both as a consciousness and a power. We are not left alone, or let alone. O God, Thy Kingdom comes! It does come, keep coming. An eye peeps in at the skylight. Impalpable fingers tap at the window and knock at the door. The sky mixes itself with the ground, the sea shimmers under the light of the stars, and the meal stirs and is made quick at the touch of the entering leaven. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)

The work of Christianity will be complete

I do not know that anything exact is denoted by the three measures. It may refer to the totality of the race as represented by the three sons of Noah by whom the earth was peopled; or perhaps to the totality of the individual man as composed of body, mind, and spirit. At any rate, this threefoldness points, as usual, to entireness and completeness. The kingdom of heaven has come on earth to stay and to work a whole work. This irresistibleness is a ground of vast encouragement. To be sure this force is one that works stealthily. We do not see the processes. God constructs the machinery of event as we make clocks, with all the pinions and axles packed in behind the dial-plate. We see the pendulum swing, but we do not think of it as result, because we do not see the weight that, with cunning indirection, is all the time pulling at the pendulum … We must be careful not to underrate the influences that work without show or noise. The unseen and the unheard really make out a good deal more than half the universe … Christianity is not a matter of places and days, rites and observances; it is a matter of having the leaven of God to work in us that we shall be gentle and pure, unselfish and sympathetic as God is. And men have made at least a commencement towards becoming so. It is not natural for men to devote their time to others interests. But more and more time is being devoted in this way, and money too, which means that the kingdom of heaven is gaining a closer and closer grip upon us: the kingdom of heaven is coming. Men are sorry for the distressed, and try to relieve them. Why, that is Christianity. We know that we love God, because we love the brethren Not as though we were already perfect. There is knavery, selfishness, uncleanness of all sorts and degrees. Yet the leaven is certainly working, and such a review of the centuries as has been suggested makes it clear, to the point of demonstration, that the will of God is being increasingly done, and especially that the ideals of gentleness, mutual interest, reciprocal sympathy, with which the gospel is so thickly strewn, are being growingly realized. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)

The religion which will save a mans soul is a religion that goes into his whole being, and changes him into something quite different from what he was before, when in the service of the world. A great deal less than this will enable a man to live respected by his neighbours; a great deal less will, after a time, satisfy even his own conscience, and enable him to live contentedly in his present measure of strictness. For conscience soon lowers its demands when they have been made and rejected; and an evil heart of unbelief rests content at last, on a conscience seared as with a hot iron. (W. J. Irons, D. D.)

The Leaven

We may reduce the parable to three general heads.

I. What is compared? The matter compared is the kingdom of heaven.

II. To what is it compared? Leaven.

III. In what is it compared. Now the concurrence of these lies in the sequel-which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Wherein are remarkable

(1) the agent-a woman;

(2) the action-which is double, taking and hiding, or putting in the leaven;

(3) the subject-is meal, or flour;

(4) the continuance-until the whole mass be leavened. (T. Adagios.)

Need of leavening

No flesh that is putrefied, except it be first purified, shall be glorified. No man goes to heaven as by a leap, but by climbing. Now this sanctity is called the kingdom of heaven, (T. Adagios.)

Leaven sour but sweetening

Leaven hath a quality somewhat contrary to the meal, yet serves to make it fit for bread. The gospel is sour and harsh to the natural soul, yet works it to newness of life. It runs against the grain of our affections, and we think it troubles the peace of our Israel within us. It is leaven to Herod to part with his Herodias; to Naaman to be bound from bowing before Rimmon. Christ gives the young man a sour morsel when he bids him give his goods to the poor. You choke the usurer with leaven when you tell him that his sins shall not be forgiven till his unjust gains be restored. You may as well prescribe the epicure leaven instead of bread, as set him the voider of abstinence instead of his table of surfeits. This is leaven indeed, to tell the encloser that he enters commons with the devil, while he hinders the poor to enter common with him; or to tell the sacrilegious that Satan hath just possession of his soul, while he keeps unjust possession of the Churchs goods. When his leaven is held to carnal lips it will not go down, no, the very smell of it offends. The combat of faith, the task of repentance, the mercifulness of charity, this same rule of three is very hard to learn. To deny a mans self, to cashier his family lusts, to lay down whole bags of crosses, and to take up one, the cross of Christ. Oh sour, sour leaven! (T. Adagios.)

Signs of leavening

He hath an unleavened hand, that is not charitable; an unleavened knee, that is not humble; an unleavened tongue, that blasphemes; an unleavened eye, that maliceth; an unleavened heart, that securely offendeth. The outward working shows the inward leavening, and the diffusion is an argument of the being. (T. Adagios.)

What leaven can do

The world begins with great promises; but could it give as much as ever the prince of it proffered to Christ, it cannot keep thy bones from the ague, thy flesh from worms, nor thy soul from hell. Behold, a little leaven shall sanctify thee throughout, the folly of preaching shall save thy soul, and raise thy body to eternal glory. (T. Adagios.)

The nature of leaven

It consists of myriads of the cells of the common green mould in an undeveloped state. If a fragment of the dough with the leaven in it be put aside in a shady place, the cells of the fungus in the leaven will vegetate, and cover the dough with a slight downy substance, which is just the plant in its complete form. The swelling of the dough, and the commotion which goes on in the leavened mass, are owing to the multiplication of the plant-cells, which takes place with astonishing rapidity. By this process of vegetation, the starch and sugar of the dough are converted into other chemical products. But it is only allowed to go a certain length, and then the principle of growth is checked by placing the dough in the oven, and baking it into bread. Leaven is thus a principle of destruction and construction-of decay and of growth-of death and of life. (Hugh Macmillan.)

The parable of the leaven hid in three measures of meal

The Word of God may be compared to leaven.

1. Leaven is of a diffusive quality. So the Word of God, through the Spirit, is of a diffusive nature, but in respect to every soul that receiveth it, and also in respect of people to whom it comes; for though at first but a few at Jerusalem and thereabouts received the gospel, yet how did it spread.

2. Leaven diffuses itself gradually. So the gospel spread and operated by degrees; as it diffuseth itself into every faculty of the soul at first, so it never ceaseth until the life and whole man is leavened therewith.

3. Leaven is of assimilating nature; makes all the meal that is leavened to be of one and the same lump. So the Word of God and the grace of God makes the whole soul like itself, or a whole family or nation where it is once in truth received, the very same people, both in doctrine and conversation.

4. Leaven is of a quickening and powerful nature; so the Word of God (Heb_4:12).

5. Leaven is hid in the meal which leaveneth; so the Word of God must be hid in the heart, both in the understanding, will, and affection, if the person he spiritually leavened with it (Psa_119:11). It is not enough to receive it lute our mouths, or to have it in our Bibles, but we must receive it (in the love thereof) into our hearts, or else Satan will steal it away, or it will not, it cannot, work either upon our hearts or lives.

6. Leaven, it is observed, is of a softening nature; though the meal be crushed down hard, yet if the leaven be hid in it, it will make it soft and mellow. So the Word of God makes the hard heart soft and tender.

7. Leaven secretly and invisibly worketh and altereth the meal, and maketh a change of it, turning it into dough. So the workings and operations of the Word of God are secret and invisible.

8. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump; so a small quantity, or but a dram of grace, or one word set home upon the heart of three thousand souls, it will leaven them all (Act_2:4).

9. Leaven answers a great design. It is to prepare the meal to be moulded into a loaf and so become the bread for the family. So this spiritual leaven, the Word, is by Jesus Christ appointed for a great design, viz., even to mould and fashion poor sinners for Himself, and so fit them for His own use, and that they may be meet and fit matter for His Church on earth, and for the Church triumphant in Heaven (1Co_10:17). (W. Keach.)

The leaven

I. Our Lord teaches that the change He meant to effect in the world was a change, not so much of the outward form, as of the spirit and character of all things.

II. The method by which the kingdom of heaven is to grow, or by which the world is to he Christianized. Religion spreads by contagion. There must be a mixing; contact between those that are Christians and those who are not. This mixing is provided for in various ways.

(1) By nature, which sets us in families;

(2) By commerce;

(3) Casual acquaintance. There is a culpable refusal to mix, as well as an inconsiderate eagerness to do so. (M. Dods, D. D.)

Leavened by character rather than by speech

It is rather the all-pervading and subtle extension of Christian principles than their declared and aggressive advocacy that is brought before the mind by the figure of leaven. It reminds us that men are most susceptible to the influence that flows from character. This influence sheds itself off in a thousand ways too subtle to be resisted, and in forms so fine as to insinuate themselves where words would find no entrance. A man is in many circumstances more likely to do good by acting in a Christian manner, than by drawing attention to the faults of others and exposing their iniquity. The less ostentatious, the less conscious the influence exercised upon us is, the more likely are we to admit it. (M. Dods, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 13:33. Another parable spake he unto them — With a view still further to illustrate the progress of the gospel in the world, and of true religion in the soul. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman hid — That is, covered up; in three measures of meal — Which seems to have been the quantity that they usually baked at once; till the whole was leavened — For although the leaven seemed lost for a while in the mass of dough, it secretly wrought through it by a speedy though almost insensible fermentation. Thus shall the gospel spread in the world, and divine grace in the souls of men, influencing and assimilating their spirit and conduct.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

FOURTH PARABLE. — The Leaven in the Meal, Mat_13:33.

33. The kingdom of heaven — The divine dispensation of the Gospel. In this parable the woman is the symbol of the divine agency, the meal is the human heart, the leaven is the Gospel. As leaven diffuses itself through the meal until the whole lump is leavened, so the grace of God and the power of the Gospel are a diffusive power, which impregnates the whole heart and transforms its character. As the parable of the mustard tree describes the external, so this parable describes the internal prevalence of the Gospel power. It describes the internal influence not upon the individual alone, but upon the masses of humanity. Three measures of meal — A measure was the third part of an ephah, and these three were the usual quantity for a baking. Gen_18:6; Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_1:24. Whole was leavened — The grace of God in the heart, when properly received and cultivated, assimilates the whole character to its blessed nature.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew

LEAVEN

Mat 13:33.

How lovingly and meditatively Jesus looked upon homely life, knowing nothing of the differences, the vulgar differences, between the small and great! A poor woman, with her morsel of barm, kneading it up among three measures of meal, in some coarse earthenware pan, stands to Him as representing the whole process of His work in the world. Matthew brings together in this chapter a series of seven parables of the kingdom, possibly spoken at different times, and gathered here into a sequence and series, just as he has done with the great procession of miracles that follows the Sermon on the Mount, and just as, perhaps, he has done with that sermon itself. The two first of the seven deal with the progress of the Gospel in individual minds and the hindrances thereto. Then there follows a pair, of which my text is the second, which deal with the geographical expansion of the kingdom throughout the world, in the parable of the grain of mustard-seed growing into the great herb, and with the inward, penetrating, diffusive influence of the kingdom, working as an assimilating and transforming force in the midst of society.

I do not purpose to enter now upon the wide and difficult question of the relation of the kingdom to the Church. Suffice it to say that the two terms are by no means synonymous, but that, at the same time, inasmuch as a kingdom implies a community of subjects, the churches, in the proportion in which they have assimilated the leaven, and are holding fast by the powers which Christ has lodged within them, are approximate embodiments of the kingdom. The parable, then, suggests to us, in a very striking and impressive form, the function and the obligations of Christian people in the world.

Let me deal, in a purely expository fashion, with the emblem before us.

‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven.’ Now of course, leaven is generally in Scripture taken as a symbol of evil or corruption. For example, the preliminary to the Passover Feast was the purging of the houses of the Israelites of every scrap of evil ferment, and the bread which was eaten on that Feast was prescribed to be unleavened. But fermentation works ennobling as well as corruption, and our Lord lays hold upon the other possible use of the metaphor. The parable teaches that the effect of the Gospel, as ministered by, and residing in, the society of men, in whom the will of God is supreme, is to change the heavy lump of dough into light, nutritious bread. There are three or four points suggested by the parable which I could touch upon; and the first of them is that significant disproportion between the apparent magnitude of the dead mass that is to be leavened, and the tiny piece of active energy which is to diffuse itself throughout it.

We get there a glimpse into our Lord’s attitude, measuring Himself against the world and the forces that were in it. He knows that in Him, the sole Representative, at the moment, of the kingdom of heaven upon earth-because in Him, and in Him alone, the divine will was, absolutely and always, supreme-there lie, for the time confined to Him, but never dormant, powers which are adequate to the transformation of humanity from a dead, lumpish mass into an aggregate all-penetrated by a quickening influence, and, if I might so say, fermented with a new life that He will bring. A tremendous conception, and the strange thing about it is that it looks as if the Nazarene peasant’s dream was going to come true! But He was speaking to the men whom He was charging with a delegated task, and to them He says, ‘There are but twelve of you, and you are poor, ignorant men, and you have no resources at your back, but you have Me, and that is enough, and you may be sure that the tiny morsel of yeast will penetrate the whole mass.’ Small beginnings characterise the causes which are destined to great endings; the things that are ushered into the world large, generally grow very little further, and speedily collapse. ‘An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end shall not be blessed.’ The force which is destined to be worldwide, began with the one Man in Nazareth, and although the measures of meal are three, and the ferment is a scrap, it is sure to permeate and transform the mass.

Therefore, brethren, let us take the encouragement that our Lord here offers. If we are adherents of unpopular causes, if we have to ‘stand alone with two or three,’ do not let us count heads, but measure forces. ‘What everybody says must be true,’ is a cowardly proverb. It may be a correct statement that an absolutely universal opinion is a true opinion, but what most people say is usually false, and what the few say is most generally true. So if we have to front-and if we are true men we shall sometimes have to front-an embattled mass of antagonism, and we be in a miserable minority, never mind! We can say, ‘They that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ If we have anything of the leaven in us, we are mightier than the lump of dough.

But there is another point here, and that is the contact that is necessary between the leaven and the dough. We have passed from the old monastic idea of Religion being seclusion from life. But that mistake dies hard, and there are many very Evangelical and very Protestant-and in their own notions superlatively good-people, who hold a modern analogue of the old monastic idea; and who think that Christian men and women should be very tepidly interested in anything except what they call the preaching of the Gospel, and the saving of men’s souls. Now nobody that knows me, and the trend of my preaching, will charge me with undervaluing either of these things, but these do not exhaust the function of the Church in the world, nor the duty of the Church to society. We have to learn from the metaphor in the parable. The dough is not kept on one shelf and the leaven on another; the bit of leaven is plunged into the heart of the mass, and then the woman kneads the whole up in her pan, and so the influence is spread. We Christians are not doing our duty, nor are we using our capacities, unless we fling ourselves frankly and energetically into all the currents of the national life, commercial, political, municipal, intellectual, and make our influence felt in them all. The ‘salt of the earth’ is to be rubbed into the meat in order to keep it from putrefaction; the leaven is to be kneaded up into the dough in order to raise it. Christian people are to remember that they are here, not for the purpose of isolating themselves, but in order that they may touch life at all points, and at all points bring into contact with earthly life the better life and the principles of Christian morality.

But in this contact with all phases of life and forms of activity, Christian men are to be sure that they take the leaven with them. There are professing Christians that say: ‘Oh! I am not strait-laced and pharisaical. I do not keep myself apart from any movements of humanity. I count nothing that belongs to men alien to a Christian.’ All right! but when you go into these movements, when you go into Parliament, when you become a city Councillor, when you mingle with other men in commerce, when you meet other students in the walks of intellect, do you take your Christianity there, or do you leave it behind? The two things are equally necessary, that Christians should be in all these various spheres of activity, and that they should be there, distinctly, manifestly, and, when need be, avowedly, as Christian men.

Further, there is another thought here, on which I just say one word, and that is the effect of the leaven on the dough.

It is to assimilate, to set up a ferment. And that is what Christianity did when it came into the world, and

‘Cast the kingdoms old

Into another mould.’

And that is what it ought to do to-day, and will do, if Christian men are true to themselves and to their Lord. Do you not think that there would be a ferment if Christian principles were applied, say, for instance, to national politics? Do you not think there would be a ferment if Christian principles were brought to bear upon all the transactions on the Exchange? Is there any region of life into which the introduction of the plain precepts of Christianity as the supreme law would not revolutionise it? We talk about England as a Christian country. Is it? A Christian country is a country of Christians, and Christians are not people that only say ‘I have faith in Jesus Christ.’ but people that do His will. That is the leaven that is to change, and yet not to change, the whole mass; to change it by lightening it, by putting a new spirit into it, leaving the substance apparently unaffected except in so far as the substance has been corrupted by the evil spirit that rules. Brethren, if we as Christians were doing our duty, it would be true of us as it was of the early preachers of the Cross, that we are men who turn the world upside down.

But there is one more point on which I touch. I have already anticipated some of what I would say upon it, but I must dwell upon it for a little longer; and that is, the manner in which the leaven is to work.

Here is a morsel of barm in the middle of a lump of dough. It works by contact, touches the particles nearest it, and transforms them into vehicles for the further transmission of influence. Each particle touched by the ferment becomes itself a ferment, and so the process goes on, outwards and ever outwards, till it permeates the whole mass. That is to say, the individual is to become the transmitter of the influence to him who is next him. The individuality of the influence, and the track in which it is to work, viz. upon those in immediate contiguity to the transformed particle which is turned from dough into leaven, are taught us here in this wonderful simile.

Now that carries a very serious and solemn lesson for us all. If you have received, you are able, and you are bound, to transmit this quickening, assimilating, transforming, lightening influence, and you need never complain of a want of objects upon which to exercise it, for the man or woman that is next you is the person that you ought to affect.

Now I have already said, in an earlier portion of these remarks, that some good people, taking an erroneous view of the function and obligations of the Church in the world, would fain keep its work to purely evangelistic effort upon individual souls in presenting to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Saviour. But whilst I vehemently protest against the notion that that is the whole function of the Christian Church, I would as vehemently protest against the notion that the so-called social work of the Church can ever be efficiently done except upon the foundation laid of this evangelistic work. First and foremost amongst the ways in which this great obligation of leavening humanity is to be discharged, must ever stand, as I believe, the appeal to the individual conscience and heart, and the presentation to single souls of the great Name in which are stored all the regenerative and quickening impulses that can ever alleviate and bless humanity. So that, first and foremost, I put the preaching of the Gospel, the Gospel of our salvation, by the death and in the life of the Incarnate Son of God.

But then, besides that, let me remind you there are other ways, subsidiary but indispensable ways, in which the Church has to discharge its function; and I put foremost amongst these, what I have already touched upon, and therefore need not dilate on now, the duty of Christians as Christians to take their full share in all the various forms of national life. I need not dwell upon the evils rampant amongst us, which have to be dealt with, and, as I believe, may best if not only, be dealt with, upon Christian principles. Think of drink, lust, gambling, to name but three of them, the hydra-headed serpent that is poisoning the English nation. Now it seems to me to be a deplorable, but a certainly true thing, that not only are these evils not attacked by the Churches as they ought to be, but that to a very large extent the task of attacking them has fallen into the hands of people who have little sympathy with the Church and its doctrines. They are fighting the evils on principles drawn from Jesus Christ, but they are not fighting the evils to the extent that they ought to do, with the Churches alongside. I beseech you, in your various spheres, to see to it that, as far as you can make it so, Christian people take the place that Christ meant them to take in the conflict with the miseries, the sorrows, the sins that honeycomb England to-day, and not to let it be said that the Churches shut themselves up and preach to people, but do not lift a finger to deal with the social evils of the nation.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another parable

That interpretation of the parable of the Leaven (Mat 13:33) which makes (with variation as to details) the leaven to be the Gospel, introduced into the world ("three measures of meal") by the church, and working subtly until the world is converted ("till the whole was leavened") is open to fatal objection:

(1) it does violence to the unvarying symbolical meaning of leaven, and especially to the meaning fixed by our Lord Himself. Mat 16:6-12; Mar 8:15 See "Leaven," Gen 19:3. (See Scofield "Mat 13:33").

(2) The implication of a converted world in this age ("till the whole was leavened"), is explicitly contradicted by our Lord’s interpretation of the parables of the Wheat and Tares, and of the Net. Our Lord presents a picture of a partly converted kingdom in an unconverted world; of good fish and bad in the very kingdom-net itself.

(3) The method of the extension of the kingdom is given in the first parable. It is by sowing seed, not by mingling leaven. The symbols have, in Scripture, a meaning fixed by inspired usage. Leaven is the principle of corruption working subtly; is invariably used in a bad sense (see "Leaven," (See Scofield "Gen 19:3"), and is defined by our Lord as evil doctrine. Mat 16:11; Mat 16:12; Mar 8:15. Meal, on the contrary, was used in one of the sweet- savour offerings Lev 2:1-3. and was food for the priests Lev 6:15-17. A woman, in the bad ethical sense, always symbolizes something out of place, religiously, See Scofield "Zec 5:6". In Thyatira it was a woman teaching (cf).; Rev 2:20; Rev 17:1-6. Interpreting the parable by these familiar symbols, it constitutes a warning that the true doctrine, given for nourishment of the children of the kingdom; Mat 4:4; 1Ti 4:6; 1Pe 2:2 would be mingled with corrupt and corrupting false doctrine, and that officially, by the apostate church itself; 1Ti 4:1-3; 2Ti 2:17; 2Ti 2:18; 2Ti 4:3; 2Ti 4:4; 2Pe 2:1-3.

4 Leaven

Summary:

(1) Leaven, as a symbolic or typical substance, is always mentioned in the O.T. in an evil sense Gen 19:3, (See Scofield "Gen 19:3").

(2) The use of the word in the N.T. explains its symbolic meaning. It is "malice and wickedness," as contrasted with "sincerity and truth" 1Co 5:6-8, it is evil doctrine Mat 16:12 in its three-fold form of Pharisasism, Sadduceeism, Herodianism; Mat 16:6; Mar 8:15. The leaven of the Pharisees was externalism in religion. Mat 23:14; Mat 23:16; Mat 23:23-28 of the Sadducees, scepticism as to the supernatural and as to the Scriptures Mat 22:23; Mat 22:29 of the Herodians, worldliness--a Herod party amongst the Jews; Mat 22:16-21; Mar 3:6.

(3) The use of the word in Mat 13:33 is congruous with its universal meaning.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 27

THE LEAVEN

Mat 13:33. “He spake another parable to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like unto leaven, which a woman having taken, hid in three measures of meal, until all were leavened.” Leaven is zume, which has no meaning but fermentation, corruption. . . .We have no right to depart from the lexical meaning and the uniform Biblical signification of a word. The point of illustration is its progressive and general dissemination throughout the entire lump in which it is deposited. You must not think that the parables all symbolize the kingdom in all its phases. This is not true.

Hence the number of them, some illustrating one phase, and some another. Of course our fallen Mother Eve is the woman here alluded to, in her common maternity of the whole human race. You must remember humanity took on three distinct varieties in the house of Noah-Shem, the red man, who inherited and populated Asia; Ham, the black man, who received Africa in the distribution of Father Noah’s universal patrimony; and Japheth, the white man, Europe, which has spread out and taken in America. How do you know that the tri-color distinction there originated?

Shem is a Hebrew word, which means red; Ham, black; and Japheth, white. You see how the leaven — i.e., depravity — by the mother of humanity, was deposited in these three measures of antediluvian meal, which, in Noah’s ark, survived the flood, and O, how it has spread to the ends of the earth! The gospel kingdom is like this leaven in the sense in which God is like the “unjust judge” (Luke 18), where the similitude is simply at the point of independency; this leaven of heavenly grace, being more contagious than small-pox, going to the ends of the earth, beautifying the elect and revealing the non-elect, and thus preparing the world for the coming of the Lord. “Jesus spoke all of these things to the multitudes in parables, and without a parable He was not accustomed to speak to them; in order that the word, having been spoken by the prophet, may be fulfilled, I will open my mouth in parables; I will reveal things which have been hidden from the foundation of the world.” (Psa 78:2.) The Old Testament is the gospel in symbolism — i.e., blackboard exercises, spread out extensively and elucidated minutely, accommodatory to an uncultured, semibarbaric people, such as Israel, degraded by two hundred and fifteen years in Egyptian slavery. The Gospels of our Lord are in parables, occupying a much higher grade than the Mosaic typology, an intermediate between the rudimentary teaching of the Old Testament and the clear, straight, positive, and unequivocal, doctrinal, experimental, and practical deliverances of the Holy Ghost in the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation.

“Then leaving the multitudes, Jesus came into the house.” It is highly probable this was Peter’s house in Capernaum, headquarters of the Great Prophet and his apostles. “His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. Responding, He said to them, The one sowing the good seed is the Son of man, and the field is the world, and these children of the kingdom are the good seed.” “He is the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (Joh 1:9.)

The omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient Excarnate Christ has been in this world from the beginning, sowing the good seed of the kingdom; His children, the elect, always having been here from the days of Abel. “The tares are the sons of the wicked one; the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so it shall be in the end of this age. The Son of man will send forth His angels, and he will gather out from His kingdom all things which offend and cause iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Here you see that these tares — i.e., the hypocrites — are the devil’s sort of Christians. They are everywhere in the Churches. We are just to let them alone till the end of the age, when the great tribulation will come upon the world, God hackling out of all nations the unsavable material (Dan 7:9), when the world will be divested of hypocrites, and infidels, and all others who have grieved away the Holy Spirit and sealed their doom in endless woe. On the resurrection morn, O how brightly will the risen and transfigured saints shine in the kingdom of God! When Satan shall be bound and cast into the bottomless pit (Revelation 20), and the reprobates all taken out of the world, thus Satan and his armies retreating before the King of kings and Lord of lords, descending in His glory, accompanied by the mighty host of His bridehood, to girdle the globe with the splendors of the Millennial Theocracy.

THE HIDDEN TREASURE

“Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a treasure which has been hidden in the field, which a man, having found, concealed, and from his joy goes and sells all things, so many as he has, and purchases that field.” The field here is the Church, which God has made the depository of redeeming grace. I was a member of the visible Church before I was converted, and during my regenerated life an enthusiastic amateur of it. It is the province of the Church to get souls converted to God. The man in this parable is a Church member, perhaps born and reared in it, ignorant of experimental salvation. Somehow he gets an inkling that there is something wonderful and glorious in the Church. Then he turns over all of his resources, soul, mind, body, and estate, and buys this field; i.e., he takes the Church for his portion, becoming truly devoted and exceedingly zealous. Very soon he is enabled to appreciate this treasure, which had been hidden in the field until he recently found out that it was there. O how grateful to the Church, and how enthusiastic and enterprising in her behalf!

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

“Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a mercantile man, seeking goodly pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, having gone, sold all things which he had, and purchased it.” Here is another selling out and new embarkation in mercantile enterprise. You must remember that these two are mercantile parables, the salient facts consisting in buying and selling. In the former parable the man had no treasure — i.e., he was destitute of a heavenly investment of any kind; so he sold out his carnal chattels and bought the field — i.e., the Church — for the sake of the treasure hidden in it, only discernible by spiritually-illuminated eyes. Hence they could live and die all around it, and walk over it, and not know it was there. Now we see the man is a merchant — i.e., a Christian — in the phraseology of the parables. By some means he ascertains that there is on hand a pearl of great price — i.e., of infinite value — its beauty and brilliancy eclipsing all others. Now he goes and sells out all he has; and you must remember that now be has an infinitely better stock in trade than he had before he bought the field, and found in it the first blessing; but he makes a complete invoice of all, not only his earthly possessions, but the Church, the membership, the choir, the big pipe-organ, the Official Board, the pastor, presiding elder, bishop, and all the Conferences; the Creed, rites, and ceremonies, — putting all on the altar, without any reservation, for time and eternity:

“Here I give my all to Thee — Friends, and time, and earthly store; Soul and body, Thine to be;

Wholly Thine, for evermore.”

The final issue is, that he purchases the pearl of great price, entire sanctification, which a man does not get through the normal administration of the Church, but, forsaking all, must go to God alone, and sink away into Him.

THE DRAG-NET

“Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto the net, having been cast into the sea, and gathering from every kind.” This illustrates the kingdom after the similitude of the visible Church. “Which, when it may be filled, drawing it up on the shore, and sitting down, they gathered the good into baskets, but threw the bad away.” We are on the constant outlook for our Lord to appear, and take His saints with Him to glory, and turning over to Satan his due, and leaving them for the great tribulation, exposed to the doom of the ungodly. “So it will be in the end of the age;” i.e., the end of the gospel age, in which we live. “The angels will come forth and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The gathering of the good into baskets is the rapture. (Mat 24:31.) Now we see the angels, girdling the globe with the splendor of their pinions.

“A fiery stream issued, and came from before Him; thousands and thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.” (Dan 7:10.)

This is the pre-millennial judgment by the Ancient of Days, dethroning all the kings of the earth, preparatory to the glorious coronation of His Son King of kings and Lord of lords. Here you see the Ancient of Days is attended by this innumerable host of angels, who are evidently His subordinates in the administration of the retributive judgments against the wicked, thus hackling them out of the world preparatory to the glorious millennial reign.

DISCIPLESHIP

“Jesus says to them, Do you understand all these things? They say to Him, Yea, Lord. And He said to them, Therefore, every scribe, having been discipled into the kingdom of the heavens, is like unto a man who is a landlord, who bringeth out of his treasure things new and old.”

“Instructed into the kingdom,” E.V., is not a literal translation of matheteutheis, which is the passive aorist participle from nathetes, “a disciple.” Hence it simply means “being discipled;” i.e., being made a disciple. The Commission reads, “Go, disciple all nations.” Hence the only way to become a member of the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God, which are precisely synonymous, is to become a disciple of Christ, which requires a genuine regeneration, wrought by the Holy Spirit, leading on to entire sanctification, which is indispensable to the successful perpetuity of that discipleship. This is true of the scribe — i.e., the preacher — and every other human being. Now what is the characteristic of every one who has become a member of the Lord’s kingdom? He has a treasure in his heart which a world of gold can not purchase. “Out of his treasure he bringeth forth things both new and old.” Now what of the new? Do you not know that the work of the Holy Ghost is always new? Instead of getting old, stale, and dingy, a genuine experience “shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.” So his experience, regeneration and sanctification, is always new. What is old? Why the blessed truth of God. While a spiritual experience is always new, kept bright and sweet by the indwelling Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Bible is always old, every new doctrine being false. Hence Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” “And it came to pass, when Jesus finished these parables, He departed thence;” i.e., He went away out of Capernaum to embark on the sea.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:33 Normally yeast refers to the influence of evil (e.g., 16:6; 1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9); here, however, it is positive, speaking of the all-pervasive influence of the Kingdom.

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

Mat 13:33. Ἐνέκρυψεν, concealed) The LXX. in Eze 4:12, render the Hebrew עוג[630] (to bake) by ἐγκρύπτω (to conceal[631]), whence is derived ἐγκρυφίας, a cake.—ΣΆΤΑ[632] τρία, three measures) As much as was generally carried by a man, or taken for baking, at once; see Gen 18:6.—ἐζυμώθη, was leavened) I would rather refer this to the propagation, than the corruption of the Church. The leaven is the kingdom of heaven itself, including both the gospel and the apostles.[633]—ὅλον, the whole) sc. flour.[634] A strong expression. This appears to refer to the whole human race, which consists of three measures, having spread over the earth from the three sons of Noah.[635]

[630] “עוג, (1.) prop, to go in a circle.… Hence עֻגָה and מָעו̇ג a round cake.…

[631] i.e., in the passage from Ezekiel, to cover with, sc. hot embers; E. V., bake.—(I. B.)

[632] ἐγκρυφίας, ου, ὁ, ἄρτος εγκ, a loaf baked in the ashes, Hipp. Luc. Dial. Mort. 20, 4, etc. LIDDELL and SCOTT.—(I. B.)

[633] “Cujus rationes et evangelium et apostolos complectuntur.”—(I. B.)

[634] A little leaven, as in evil, Gal 5:9, so in good, leavens the whole mass.—V. g.

[635] This conjecture will not be thought ridiculous by him who remembers that there may be not merely one reason for a particular circumstance or expression (as the reason already given in the note above on σάτα τρία, which see), but several reasons.—E. B.

No necessity, in fact, compels us to take the leaven in a bad sense: hence, as the word does not necessarily imply censure, bad leaven is termed the old leaven in 1Co 5:7.—V. g

(2.) denom. from עגְה to bake bread or cake, Ezr 4:12.”

“עֻגָה and עֻגָה (1Ki 19:6; Eze 4:12), fem, a cake baked under hot cinders,” etc., GESENIUS.—(I. B.)

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

Mat_13:33. Σάτον] מְאָה, one-third of an ephah, a dry measure, and, according to Josephus, Antt. ix. 4. 5, and Jerome on this passage, equivalent to one and a half Roman bushels. It befits the pictorial style of the passage that it should mention a definite quantity of flour; without any special object for doing so, it mentions what appears to be the usual quantity (Gen_18:6; Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_1:24). So much the more arbitrary is Langes remark, that three is the number of the spirit. A great deal in the way of allegorizing the three σάτα is to be found in the Fathers. According to Theodore of Mopsuestia, they denote the Greeks, Jews, and Samaritans; Augustine, Melanchthon suppose them to signify the heart, the soul, and the spirit.

The parable of the mustard seed is designed to show that the great community, consisting of those who are to participate in the Messianic kingdom, i.e. the true people of God as constituting the body politic of the future kingdom, is destined to develope from a small beginning into a vast multitude, and therefore to grow extensively; ποίμνιον ὄντες ὀλίγον, εἰς ἄπειρον ηὐξήθησαν, Euth. Zigabenus; Act_1:15; Act_2:41; Act_2:47; Act_4:4; Act_5:14; Act_6:7; Act_21:20; Rom_15:19; Rom_11:25 f. The parable of the leaven, on the other hand, is intended to show how the specific influences of the Messiahs kingdom (Eph_4:4 ff.) gradually penetrate the whole of its future subjects, till by this means the entire mass is brought intensively into that spiritual condition which qualifies it for being admitted into the kingdom.

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.

Mat 13:33 . ὁμοία … ζύμῃ , like in respect of pervasive influence. In Rabbinical theology leaven was used as an emblem of evil desire (Weber, p. 221). Jesus had the courage to use it as an emblem of the best thing in the world, the Kingdom of God coming into the heart of the individual and the community. ἐνέκρυψεν , hid by the process of kneading. ἔως οὒ ἐζυμώθη : ἔως with the indicative, referring to an actual past occurrence.

Both these parables show how thoroughly Jesus was aware that great things grow from minute beginnings. How different His idea of the coming of the kingdom, from the current one of a glorious, mighty empire coming suddenly, full grown! Instead of that a mustard seed, a little leaven!

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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--This parable, while it teaches the same general truth as the foregoing one, holds forth, perhaps, rather the inward growth of the kingdom, while "the Mustard Seed" seems to point chiefly to the outward. It being a woman's work to knead, it seems a refinement to say that "the woman" here represents the Church, as the instrument of depositing the leaven. Nor does it yield much satisfaction to understand the "three measures of meal" of that threefold division of our nature into "spirit, soul, and body," alluded to in Th1 5:23, or of the threefold partition of the world among the three sons of Noah (Gen 10:32), as some do. It yields more real satisfaction to see in this brief parable just the all-penetrating and assimilating quality of the Gospel, by virtue of which it will yet mould all institutions and tribes of men, and exhibit over the whole earth one "kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven] On the nature and effects of leaven, see the note on Ex 12:8. As the property of leaven is to change, or assimulate to its own nature, the meal or dough with which it is mixed, so the property of the grace of Christ is to change the whole soul into its own likeness; and God intends that this principle should continue in the soul till all is leavened - till the whole bear the image of the heavenly, as it before bore the image of the earthly. Both these parables are prophetic, and were intended to show, principally, how, from very small beginnings, the Gospel of Christ should pervade all the nations of the world, and fill them with righteousness and true holiness.

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

(33) The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven.—The parable sets forth the working of the Church of Christ on the world, but not in the same way as that of the Mustard Seed. There the growth was outward, measured by the extension of the Church, dependent on its missionary efforts. Here the working is from within. The “leaven”—commonly, as in the Passover ritual, the symbol of malice and wickedness (1Co_5:8)—causing an action in the flour with which it is mingled that is of the nature of decay and tends to actual putrescence, here becomes, in the mode of teaching which does not confine itself within the limits of a traditional and conventional symbolism, the type of influence for good as well as evil. It can turn the flour into human food—this symbolism is traceable in the leavened loaves that were offered on the day of Pentecost (Lev_23:17)—can permeate the manners, feelings, and opinions of non-Christian societies until they become blessings and not curses to mankind. In the new feelings, gradually diffused, of Christendom as to slavery, prostitution, gladiatorial games—in the new reverence for childhood and womanhood, for poverty and sickness—we may trace the working of the leaven.

Descending to the details of the parable, it is at least open to us (as an application of it, if not as an interpretation) to see in the woman, as in the parable of the Lost Piece of Money (Luk_15:8), the representative of the divine Wisdom as working in the history of the world, or of the Church of Christ as embodying that wisdom. The three measures of meal admit, in like manner, of many references, of which we cannot say with certainty that one is more likely to have been intended than another. The descendants of the three sons of Noah, or the Jew, the Greek, the Barbarian, as representing the whole race of mankind, or body, soul, and spirit, as the three parts of man’s nature, which the new truth is to permeate and purify, are all in this sense equally legitimate applications.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. leaven] Except in this one parable, leaven is used of the working of evil; cp. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” Gal_5:9; 1Co_5:6; and “purge out therefore the old leaven,” 1Co_5:7. So, too, in the Rabbinical writings. This thought probably arose from the prohibition of leaven during the paschal season. But the secrecy and the all-pervading character of leaven aptly symbolize the growth of Christianity, (1) as a society penetrating everywhere by a subtle and mysterious operation until in this light—as a secret brotherhood—it appeared dangerous to the Roman empire; (2) as an influence unfelt at first growing up within the human soul.

Compare Sir Bartle Frere on Indian Missions, p. 9; speaking of the gradual change wrought by Christianity in India, he says, in regard to religious innovations in general: “They are always subtle in operation, and generally little noticeable at the outset in comparison with the power of their ultimate operation.”

three measures] Literally, three seahs. In Gen_18:6, Abraham bids Sarah “make ready three ‘seahs’ of fine meal, knead it and make cakes upon the hearth.”

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.

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,.... Not Isaiah, as some copies in the times of Jerom read, but Asaph, who is called Asaph the seer, Ch2 29:30 which is all one as a prophet; vision is one sort of prophecy (d); and there was such a thing as prophesying with harps, psalteries and cymbals, as well as in other ways, and with which Asaph and his sons are said to prophesy, Ch1 25:1 so that he is very rightly called a prophet by the evangelist, who is cited, saying, Psa 78:2.

I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world: which Psalm, though a history of the dealings of God with the people of Israel, and of the many deliverances wrought for them, yet as the (e) Jewish writers observe, contain many things in it, expressed in a parabolical and enigmatical way; such as God's furnishing a table in the wilderness, kindling a fire against Jacob, opening the doors of heaven, giving the corn of heaven, and angels' food, and delivering his strength into captivity; and besides, the very historical facts recorded of the people of Israel, were types of things future under the Gospel dispensation: now as Asaph, by divine inspiration, delivered these parables and dark sayings, so Christ expressed the Gospel, and the mysteries of it, in a parabolical way, which were hid in God, and under the shadows of the law; and so were kept secret from the beginning of the world, and from the multitude, though now made known to the apostles, and by them to others, according to the will of God,

(d) R. David Kimchi, Shorash. rad. (e) Aben Ezra & Kirachi in loc.

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

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.

Ver. 33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven] Which soon diffuseth itself into the whole lump. The word of God is not bound, though the preacher, haply, be in bonds, 2Ti 2:9, but runs, and is glorified, 2Th 2:14. In the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, almost all the prisons in England, saith Mr Fox, "were become right Christian schools and churches." During the time of Mr Bradford’s imprisonment in the King’s Bench and Counter in the Poultry, he preached twice a day continually, unless sickness hindered him: where also the sacrament was administered. And through his means (the keeper so well did bear with him) such resort of good people was daily at his lecture and ministration of the sacrament, that commonly his chamber was well nigh filled therewith. Concerning the Christian congregation, saith the same author, "in Queen Mary’s time, there were sometimes 40, sometimes 100, sometimes 200 met together. I have heard of one, who being sent to them to take their names, and to spy out their doing, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy."

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 kingdom of heaven - The meaning here is the same as in the last parable; perhaps, however, intending to denote more properly the secret and hidden nature of piety in the soul. The other parable declared the “fact” that the gospel would greatly spread, and that piety in the heart would greatly increase. This states the “way” or “mode” in which it would be done. It is secret, silent, steady; pervading all the faculties of the soul and all the kingdoms of the world, as leaven, or yeast, though hidden in the flour, and though deposited only in one place, works silently until all the mass is brought under its influence.

Three measures - These were small measures (see the margin); but the particular amount is of no consequence to the story; nor is anything to be inferred from the fact that three are mentioned. That number is mentioned as a circumstance giving interest to the parable, but designed to convey no spiritual instruction. The measure mentioned here probably contained about a peck and a half.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In three measures. Sata, the word here used, was a particular Hebrew measure, which corresponds not to any particular measure that we make use of, and therefore I have put measures, as it is in other English translations. See Walton de Ponderibus & mensuris, before his first tome. p. 42. (Witham) --- It was the Seah of the Jews, the third part of the Epha, and contained about ten pints, and appears to be the ordinary quantity they baked at a time. (Bible de Vence) --- By the woman here mentioned, St. Jerome understands the Church gathered from all nations; or the power and wisdom of God, according to St. Augustine.

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).

The parable of the leaven. Parallel passage: Luk_13:20, Luk_13:21. The growth of the kingdom regarded in its quiet and secret influence. This is to be ultimately complete and universal. The prophecy is partially fulfilled with every fresh recognition of Christian principles in public opinion, or customs, or laws. For "every thought" shall be brought "captive unto the obedience of Christ". (2Co_10:5) Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. This is the only passage where leaven is spoken of with reference to its permeating qualities alone, without any trace of the notion of defilement, which the Paschal and other regulations (Exo_12:15, 18 23:15, 18 Lev_2:11) so readily suggested. Even in 1Co_5:6 and Gal_5:9 this connotation of evil is not altogether absent. In Talm. Bab., "Berach.," 17 a, it is used as a figure of the "evil impulse" within us. Hence some have interpreted it in a similar sense here, and have understood our Lord to be referring to the spread of worldliness in the Church (especially after the conversion of Constantine); but

(1) this is opposed to the prima facie meaning;

(2) it is unreasonable to insist that a symbol must always have the same connotation;

(3) it is opposed to the idea of deliberate purpose underlying the action of the woman;

(4) the closing words would cast too awful a shadow they would mean that Christianity fails. Which a woman took (ver. 31, note), and hid. The woman probably belongs entirely to the framework of the parable. (cf. Luk_15:4, Luk_15:8) For the work described is always, in normal societies, performed by women. Of other interpretations that which sees in her the Church as the agent by whom the kingdom of God is wrought into the world is the best. In three measures of meal; i.e. an ephah. This appears to have been a convenient quantity (about a peck) for kneading at one time. (Gen_18:6 Jud_1:6:19) Until the whole was leavened; literally, until it was leavened, even the whole of it (ewv ou ezumwyh olon). While our Lord thus promises that the permeating influence of the kingdom of heaven shall at last be entirely successful, it is unfair to so press the parable as to deduce from it that the world as such will continue to be gradually and continuously improved up to the Lord"s return. It may be so, (contrast, however, Luk_18:8) but even direct prophecy, and still more parable, frequently regards the ultimate result, and passes over the intermediate stages.

Vers. 33-36. (see also Luk_13:20, Luk_13:21) The foretold now become the told.

In introduction, note that perhaps no parable more postulates that the student of it insist on observing the essential canon in the interpretation of every parable, viz. that its one main object be kept steadily in view, and that it was kept in view by the Author of it. So much may be made, even by warrant of Scripture, in respect of the ill associations of leaven, that if this be dwelt upon without a steady memory of the quality and the one use of leaven, whether in good association or in bad, the student vision will be a double one, and his judgment warped and distorted. So, though in risk far inferior, and of far less moment, the incidents of this very brief parable, e.g. of the mention of the "woman" who took the leaven, and of the "three measures" of meal in which she is represented as hiding it, may easily be turned, for they have been so turned, to what tends to mar, instead of to complete our distinct apprehension and appropriation of the matter of the parable. These may, indeed, heighten effect, and, if possible, may beautify effect. They may be, perhaps, not illegitimately used to these very ends. They may so chime in with history, with fact, with reverent associations of faith, as not to be unjustified, for the very helpfulness and devoutness of them. But they must be subordinated to their right place and sphere with a stern resolution. Of this simplest parable illustration of the kingdom of heaven on earth many difficulties have been made, and not a little distortion and perversion even; but in its brief simplicity it says

I THAT A CERTAIN PRESENCE OF SELF-ACTING INTRINSIC QUALITY AND TRANSMUTING FORCE IS INTRODUCED INTO WHAT MAY BE CALLED THE SOCIETY OF THIS WORLD, OR, MORE FORMALLY, THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD.

II THAT THIS IS BROUGHT DISTINCTLY FROM WITHOUT, IN NO SENSE BEING ONE WITH THAT INTO WHICH IT IS INTRODUCED.

III THAT SO SOON AS INTRODUCED, HOWEVER SILENTLY, HOWEVER SUDDENLY, IT BEGINS TO INCORPORATE ITSELF, AND TO BE ASSIMILATED, WORKING. UNCEASINGLY AND IN EVERY DIRECTION UPON THE MASS OF MATERIAL IN WHICH IT IS HIDDEN, AND IN WHICH IT SEEMS SMOTHERED.

IV THAT ITS OPERATION DOES NOT CEASE UNTIL IT HAS TRANSMUTED THAT WHOLE MASS. All this was fore told; and all this was divinely called parable. But history has told it, and it has ceased by any possibility to be able to be called mere parable. In every respect it has been witnessed to, illustrated by most evident facts, and proved with not a shadow of doubt or uncertainty. The amazing mission of Christ to this world, his sojourn in it, his replacement by the Holy Spirit, the suddenness of this new and most wonderful and most gracious "departure," the silence and obscurity of the subduing and transforming work, and its unceasingness to the present hour, have all been fact, and are all forming an overwhelming presage of the further development and growth of their conquering power and grace. It means that the process, so wonderful, so potent, so beneficent, shall know no pause till the whole lump is leavened. B.

Parable of the leaven.

This parable directs our attention to two points connected with the extension of Christianity. It illustrates

(1) first, the kind of change which Christianity works in the world;

(2) second, the method by which this change is wrought.

I THE CHANGE OUR LORD MEANT TO EFFECT IN THE WORLD was to be a change not so much of outward forms as of the spirit and character of all things. The propagation of his influence is set forth and illustrated, not by a woman taking a mass of dough and making it into new shapes, but by a woman putting that into the dough which alters the character of the whole mass. There are two ways in which you may revolutionize a country or society. You may pull down the old forms of government, or you may fill them with men of a different spirit, revise the constitution, or, leaving it untouched, fill official positions with the right men. A machine refuses to work, and people tell you the construction is wrong; but the skilled mechanic pushes aside the ignorant crowd, and puts all to rights with a few drops of oil. Few distinctions are of wider application. What is pointed at is rather the regenerative than the creative power of Christ"s Spirit; not so much the new facts and habits to which Christian feeling gives birth, as the new feelings and views it has about existing customs, institutions, relationships, occupations. His Spirit, he says, does not require new channels; a man does not require new arteries, but to have them filled with health-giving blood. In establishing the kingdom of heaven our Lord did not intend to erect a vast organization over against the world, but he meant to introduce into the world itself a leaven which should subdue all things to his own Spirit. It was to be without observation, hidden as leaven among meal.

II THE METHOD BY WHICH THE KINGDOM IS TO GROW. Kingdoms have been extended in various ways, but chiefly by force, by the strong band. And the idea that men can be compelled to accept the truth seems never to be wholly eradicated from the human mind. But our Lord teaches that the extension of his Spirit throughout the world is to be by the secret unnoticed influence of man upon man. No doubt there is a direct agency of God in each case, but God works through natural means, and the natural means here pointed to is personal influence. Than this there is no mightier power. Take even the influence of those who least intend to influence you, and seem least capable of it. Think of the influence in many ways of the little child who cannot stand alone; or of those who seem wholly pushed aside from the busy world by ill health or misfortune. How we have been brought to a chastened, sober habit by their suffering; and to the recognition of what is essential and what accidental, what good and what evil in the world! For the operation of this influence there must be:

1. A mixing; that is to say, there must be contact of the closest kind between the regenerate and the unregenerate. The leaven is manifestly useless while it lies by itself. If our Lord had secluded himself in the household of Bethany, and never eaten with publicans and sinners, little of his Spirit could have passed into other men. The closeness of the intimacy, the depth of the love, is the measure of the effect produced. And in a country like ours, where what belonged yesterday to one person is today possessed by a thousand, good or evil propagates itself with the speed and certainty of contagion, the more effectually because insensibly. There is no banishment for the moral leper; no man can be evil for himself alone. This mixing is provided for in various ways by nature, which sets us in families; by society, which compels contact of various kinds with others. Beyond these are the casual meetings we are unawares thrown into, and the voluntary friendships and associations we form. Of the first we may say, that if we cannot always choose our company we can always choose how we shall conduct ourselves in it; we can make our meeting a means of spreading the Spirit of Christ. The additions to his kingdom must be chiefly from among those who do not at present respond to Christian sentiments. For the regulation of connections which we form of our own choice the parable suffices. Can they be leavened, and by us? It is folly to argue that because some one else can go into certain company, or engage in certain pursuits and not be the worse for it, that therefore you can do so. But there is a culpable refusal to mix as well as a too great eagerness to do so. Two very opposite feelings lead to this.

(1) One is the Pharisaic contempt for, or hopelessness about, other people. A converted person often seems to forget the hole of the rock whence he was digged what he was yesterday, and what the unbeliever on whom he scowls may be tomorrow. Or

(2) there is the opposite feeling, that our influence can only do harm. But this feeling should prompt us not to separate ourselves from the world, but to renew our connection with the leaven. If we fear to touch another lest we communicate disease, let us first touch him out of whom flows healing for all diseases.

2. But, the mixing being accomplished, how does the process succeed? The parable says Be leaven, and you will leaven. Be a Christian, and you must make Christians or help to make them. No doubt direct address forms one great part of the means of leavening those around you, but the figure here points rather to the all-pervading and subtle extension of Christian principles than to their declared and aggressive advocacy. What is the influence of your example? If you are not leavening others, it is because you are yourself unleavened. There is no such thing as leaven that does not work. You cannot confine the perfume to the flower, or restrict the light of the sun to its own globe. It is a glorious consummation here spoken of till the whole" is leavened. In Christ"s kingdom is to be gathered all that has ever served or gladdened humanity. His Spirit is to take possession of all national characteristics and all individual gifts. And all is to be achieved through personal influence. Can you know the earnestness of Christ in this behalf, and lift no finger to help him? Is there nothing you ought to do in leavening some little bit of the great mass? D.

The force there may be in quiet things.

"Like leaven." The word "leaven" means "something that raises," from the mode of its operation. In one way it corrupts; in another way it makes edible and wholesome. Leaven consists of myriads of the cells of the common green mould in an undeveloped state. It is at once a principle of destruction and construction, of decay and of growth, of death and of life.

In this parable our Lord seems to fix attention on the very silent, quiet, hidden, yet persistent way in which leaven works its great results. The parable teaches the self-developing power of truth. The mode of its operation; ever from within outwards. And the fact which can be verified in human experience, that the greatest results may follow the most insignificant beginnings.

I HOW SILENT ARE THE BEGINNINGS OF THE NEW LIFE IN SOULS! The devotion of the disciples to Christ was a power they did not estimate. It was a small beginning, but it grew in power to make them martyrs. The first faith and love of Christ"s disciples was so weak that an evening breeze could have blown it away; by and by it stood the raging wintry storms of persecution. It was life, and, spreading, it gained power. The beginning of the new life in us is the time when mind and heart waken to personal interest in Christ. But this beginning is often hidden from others, and even from the man himself. If we recognized this fact

(1) we should make more of God"s part, and less of our own, in the work of redemption;

(2) we should be more quick to discern signs of God"s working;

(3) we should much oftener be encouraged by noticing the results of our Christian labour.

II HOW CONSTANT ARE THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NEW LIFE IN SOULS! Like the leaven, that is always going on leavening. Think of it as the spirit of faith, of trust in God, put into our carnal, corrupt, self-seeking nature, even as leaven is put in meal; and as Christianity is put into an evil world. The spirit of trust is active, like the leaven. Christian life and relations provide the spheres in which the active principle of faith is spreading.

III HOW GLORIOUS IS THE ISSUE TOWARD WHICH THE NEW LIFE IN SOULS IS WORKING!

It will "leaven the whole lump." True of humanity; but now we see that it is especially true of our humanity, ourselves. It is working to win

(1) the body, with all its passions and relations;

(2) the mind, with all its endowments and interests;

(3) the soul, with all its capacities and possibilities. When the whole lump is leavened, then holiness, and therefore heaven, is gained. R.T.

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

Three measures - This was the quantity which they usually baked at once: till the whole was leavened - Thus will the Gospel leaven the world and grace the Christian. Luke xiii, 20.

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

Parable of the leaven:

v. 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.

A very small piece of leaven, or yeast, if set to flour or meal, under the proper conditions, will quickly impart its properties to the entire mass. Jesus purposely takes a large quantity, three satons or seahs being equal to about sixty pints. The yeast may be hidden by the process of kneading, but it will not be long before its strength will become apparent, and the whole mass be leavened. Thus the Word of God, which builds the Kingdom, also exerts its leavening power in case of individuals as well as in that of whole communities and nations. It has the inherent strength to change and to renew the heart and the life of men and to fit them ever more thoroughly to be true members of the kingdom of God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. In those days a piece of the leavened dough from an unbaked loaf was put among the new dough to cause fermentation. Three measures of meal. The usual amount for one baking, an ephah (see Gen. 18:6; Judges 6:19; 1 Sam. 1:24). The leaven is taken from without and “hid” in the meal, or flour. The hidden leaven, though only a small quantity, imparts its qualities to the large mass, till all was leavened. The Parable teaches that the Gospel is the leavening influence of the world.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven by telling a parable about the effect that yeast has on flour. (See: Parables)

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

The kingdom is not like the yeast, but the spread of the kingdom is like the spreading of the yeast. (See: Simile)

The kingdom of heaven is like

Here "kingdom of heaven" refers to God's rule as king. The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is used only in Matthew. If possible, use "heaven" in your translation. See how you translated this in Matthew 13:24. AT: "When our God in heaven shows himself to be king, it will be like" (See: Metonymy)

three measures of flour

Say "a large amount of flour" or use a term that your culture uses for measuring large amounts of flour. (See: Biblical Volume)

until all the dough had risen

The implied information is that the yeast and the three measures of flour were made into dough for baking. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Jesus

parable

kingdom of God

yeast

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

33. ζύμῃ. Except in this one parable, leaven is used of the working of evil; cp. μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ, Gal 5:9; 1Co 5:6; and ἐκκαθάρατε οὖν τὴν παλαίαν ζύμην, 1Co 5:7. So, too, in the Rabbinical writings. This thought probably arose from the prohibition of leaven during the paschal season. But the secrecy and the all-pervading character of leaven aptly symbolize the growth of Christianity, (1) as a society penetrating everywhere by a subtle and mysterious operation until in this light—as a secret brotherhood—it appeared dangerous to the Roman empire; (2) as an influence unfelt at first growing up within the human soul.

Sir Bartle Frere on Indian Missions, p. 9; speaking of the gradual change wrought by Christianity in India, says, in regard to religious innovations in general: ‘They are always subtle in operation, and generally little noticeable at the outset in comparison with the power of their ultimate operation.’

σάτα τρία, ‘three seahs.’ In Gen 18:6, Abraham bids Sarah ‘make ready three “seahs” of fine meal, knead it and make cakes upon the hearth.’

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.

33.] Fourth parable. The leaven. Luk 13:20, Luk 13:21. Difficulties have been raised as to the interpretation of this parable which do not seem to belong to it. It has been questioned whether ζύμη must not be taken in the sense in which it so often occurs in Scripture, as symbolic of pollution and corruption. See Exo 12:15, and other enactments of the kind, passim in the law; and ch. 16:6: 1Co 5:6, 1Co 5:7. And some few have taken it thus, and explained the parable of the progress of corruption and deterioration in the outward visible Church. But then, how is it said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this leaven? For the construction is not the same as in ver. 24, where the similitude is to the whole course of things related, but answers to κόκκῳ σινάπεως, ὃν λαβὼν ἄνθ.: so ζύμῃ, ἣν λαβοῦσα γυνή. Again, if the progress of the Kingdom of Heaven be towards corruption, till the whole is corrupted, surely there is an end of all the blessings and healing influence of the Gospel on the world. It will be seen that such an interpretation cannot for a moment stand, on its own ground; but much less when we connect it with the parable preceding. The two are intimately related. That was of the inherent self-developing power of the Kingdom of Heaven as a seed containing in itself the principle of expansion; this, of the power which it possesses of penetrating and assimilating a foreign mass, till all be taken up into it. And the comparison is not only to the power but to the effect of leaven also, which has its good as well as its bad side, and for that good is used: viz. to make wholesome and fit for use that which would otherwise be heavy and insalubrious. Another striking point of comparison is in the fact that leaven, as used ordinarily, is a piece of the leavened loaf put amongst the new dough—(τὸ ζυμωθὲν ἅπαξ ζύμη γίνεται τῷ λοιπῷ πάλιν. Chrys. Hom. xlvi. 2, p. 484)—just as the Kingdom of Heaven is the renewal of humanity by the righteous Man Christ Jesus.

The Parable, like the last, has its general and its individual application: (1) in the penetrating of the whole mass of humanity, by degrees, by the influence of the Spirit of God, so strikingly witnessed in the earlier ages by the dropping of heathen customs and worship:—in modern times more gradually and secretly advancing, but still to be plainly seen in the various abandonments of criminal and unholy practices (as e.g. in our own time of slavery and duelling, and the increasing abhorrence of war among Christian men), and without doubt in the end to be signally and universally manifested. But this effect again is not to be traced in the establishment or history of so-called Churches, but in the hidden advancement, without observation, of that deep leavening power which works irrespective of human forms and systems. (2) In the transforming power of the ‘new leaven’ on the whole being of individuals. “In fact the Parable does nothing less than set forth to us the mystery of regeneration, both in its first act, which can be but once, as the leaven is but once hidden; and also in the consequent (subsequent?) renewal by the Holy Spirit, which, as the ulterior working of the leaven, is continual and progressive.” (Trench, p. 97.) Some have contended for this as the sole application of the parable; but not, I think, rightly.

As to whether the γυνή has any especial meaning, (though I am more and more convinced that such considerations are not always to be passed by as nugatory,) it will hardly be of much consequence here to enquire, seeing that γυναῖκες σιτοποιοί would be every where a matter of course.

ἐγκρύπτω has given rise to a technical word ἐγκρυφίας, signifying a leavened cake (which however, Passow, Lex. explains to be a cake baked under hot ashes, thus applying the ἐγκρύπτω differently: cf. ref. Ezek.). See reff.

σάτον, סְאָה (Aram. סָאתָא), = the third part of an ephah = μόδιον καὶ ἥμισυ Ἰταλικόν, Jos. Antt. ix. 4. 5. Three of these, an ephah, appears to have been the usual quantity prepared for a baking: see Gen 18:6: Jdg 6:19: 1Sa 1:24. This being the case, we need not perhaps seek for any symbolical interpretation: though Olsh.’s hint that the body, soul, and spirit may perhaps be here intended can hardly but occur to us, and Stier’s, that “of the three sons of Noah was the whole earth overspread,” is worth recording.

34,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. Cf. Luk 13:20, Luk 13:21.

(L) Another parable He spake to them; The kingdom of the heavens is like to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.] Lk. has: “And again He said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like to leaven,” etc.—ὁμοία ἐστίν] for this and for Lk.’s τίνι ὁμοιώσω—ὁμοία ἐστίν, see on v. 24. The parable, like that of the Mustard Seed, describes the propagation of the doctrine of “the kingdom.” Like leaven, this will spread rapidly until it has accomplished the purpose for which it was taught.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Leaven [ζυμη] . Wyc., sour dough, as German Sauerteig. From zew, to boil or seethe, as in fermentation. The English leaven is from the Latin levare, to raise, and appears in the French levain.

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