This is a study that was inspired by a conversation with my wife about a scripture she saw something new in. So I “stole” her revelation and studied it out.
There are several places in the scripture where Jesus used leaven to illustrate spiritual truths. It is also used in the Old Testament.
Characteristics of Leaven
First, for the non bakers, what is leaven, or leavening?
Wikipedia: In cooking, a leaven, often called a leavening agent, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action that lightens and softens the mixture.
Typical leavening agents are baking powder, baking soda, or yeast.
One of the effects of leavening, especially yeast, is that it causes gases to be formed inside the dough as a sort of fermentation takes place. When you bake bread, those wonderful smells come from those gases escaping, leaving little air pockets behind.
Another use of the word leaven or leavening, comes from its ability for a small amount of something to permeate the whole to modify and transform it.
Leaven in the Old Testament
Leaven of course was used in the baking of bread, adding it to the dough, and allowing it to rise, then baking it.
During the Exodus, and the night of the Passover, the Israelites were told that they would not have time to let their bread rise because they would be leaving in haste. Therefore they made unleavened bread. If you’ve ever eaten Matzoh crackers, that is an example. It was made into a commandment as part of celebrating the Passover.
Exodus 12:12-15 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
From that point on, a yearly feast was made, called the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 13:6-8 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.
7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.
8 And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’
There was also instruction given that no offering to the Lord should be given that was mixed with leaven. This included the portion that was given to the Levitical priests.
Leviticus 6:16-17 And the remainder of it Aaron and his sons shall eat; with unleavened bread it shall be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of meeting they shall eat it.
17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Leaven was not totally forbidden to the Israelites, just in the occasion of the Passover feast, and in sin offerings to the Lord. In fact, there was one feast where it was commanded that the bread offering should be baked with leaven – that was the Feast of Pentecost (Pentecost means 50, and it was to take place 50 days after the Passover).
Leviticus 23:16-17 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.
Amos 4:5 Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!” Says the Lord God.
So what we see in the Old Testament is that sometimes leaven was forbidden in the offering, and sometimes is was commanded. It depended on the type of offering.
Offerings that had to do with atonement for sin, or the memorial of Passover where Israel was redeemed from slavery, were to be free from leaven. It was not to be found anywhere in the house. Israelites would sweep out their cupboards to prepare for the feast of Unleavened Bread, to ensure there were no crumbs left over that may have been made with leavening.
In this context, the leaven was a type for sin. It was to be removed from your midst to illustrate that you were a holy people to come before God.
On the other hand, offerings that had to do with thanksgiving, such as the first fruits of the harvest (Pentecost), were to include leaven.
Jesus’ use of Leaven
Just as in the Old Testaments there were applications of leaven were either a good or a bad thing, so it was in the teachings of Jesus.
Matthew 13:33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Luke 13:20-21 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Why is the kingdom of God like leaven? Notice how He said it was hid in the meal until it was all leavened.
This is in reference to how a small bit of leavening – yeast or the like – can be mixed into the dough and it will permeate the whole lump and have a transforming effect.
We as children of the kingdom are to be sown into all the areas of influence in society; what are called the Seven Mountains of influence: Family, Church, Education, Business, Entertainment, Media, and Government. There we can bring our influence and our values, to have a preserving effect on society.
But, the ability for a little to permeate and modify the whole can also have a negative connotation. For example, let’s say you have a bowl of fresh peaches. Take one rotten peach and put it in the midst. The rottenness will spread to the others, corrupting them.
Jesus had several warnings where He said to “Beware the leaven of…”
The Doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees
Matthew 16:6-12 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?–but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
First of all, a little background on Pharisees and Sadducees. Both were sects of Judaism. The Sadducees only accepted the first 5 books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, as the true word of God. And because they are not mentioned in those books, they did not believe in life after death, or angels, or spirits (Matt 22:23). They had a more liberal outlook of Judaism. There were quite a number of them in the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel.
The Pharisees were the “word people” of their day. They believed in the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, but also the prophets. As a group they started out as a revival to get back to the worship of God and strict adherence to the Law. Unfortunately like many revivals, as time went on they lost the real spirit of their founders and had the form but not the power.
But don’t think that all Pharisees were bad. There were a number of them that believed in Jesus, the most famous being Nicodemus. Another Pharisee in the Bible was Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul.
Jesus warned about the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Doctrine means teaching. What was it about the teaching of these two groups that Jesus would want us to avoid?
Seeking for a Sign
First of all the Sadducees. We already mentioned that they didn’t believe in the resurrection (life after death), angels or spirits. So although they were believes in God, they denied the supernatural in the present time.
One of the way this manifested was that they were always seeking a sign from Jesus. To them, the miracles of healing that Jesus did weren’t enough – because they were not like the miracles that Moses performed. Prophets, specifically Elijah and Elisha, performed healings and multiplication of food like Jesus, but remember the Sadducees only accepted the first five books (Genesis through Joshua) as the unerring word of God.
In fact, we see in Matthew 16:1-4, right before Jesus warned the disciples about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, that they were seeking a sign from Him. And this was right after He had multiplied the loaves and fishes!
Judgmental and Self Righteous
The Pharisees prided themselves for being sticklers for the Law. In fact, they interpreted the actual commandments that are in the Bible and expanded them with hundreds of nit picky rules, which they also kept. They looked at themselves as the elite.
They had an adherence to outward observances, but they neglected inward matters of character.
Luke 11:39-43 Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.
40 Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.
42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
Note verse 42: they tithed down to herbs, but neglected justice and the love of God. In a parallel passage, it says they neglected the weightier matters of justice and mercy and faith.
Matthew 23:23-24 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
The Pharisees had little mercy. If you disobeyed their rules, they criticized you. If you violated their interpretation of the commandment of God, you were a sinner and deserving of judgement.
This came into play with frequent conflicts with Jesus when He healed on the Sabbath. The commandment was that no work should be done on the Sabbath day. However, there were exceptions. If you had animals, you still needed to care for them on the Sabbath. The priests did much work on the Sabbath but were held guiltless.
Jesus used these arguments several times.
Matthew 12:9-14 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”–that they might accuse Him.
11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Note that they asked Jesus whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath – in order that they might accuse Him. They already had their minds made up. They had zero compassion for the man with the withered hand. When Jesus performed a miracle in front of their eyes on the Sabbath, they saw it as evil and it angered them. They went out and plotted how they could destroy Him.
There is a modern day equivalent of the Pharisaical judgmental attitude that has been in the news – the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. They are vocal about their opposition to sin, and God’s judgment against it. They are especially against homosexuals. They show up to events with signs saying that God hates gays and that they are going to hell. Believe it or not, the url for their website is “godhatesfags.com”. They have absolutely no concept of the verse that says it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Their pastor and founder recently died. Given what Jesus spoke about judge not lest you be judged, I would not want to be in his shoes.
Another characteristic associated with the Pharisees is a “holier than thou” attitude, and self righteousness. Jesus speaks a parable about it.
Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Hypocrisy
Luke 12:1-3 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.
3 Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
The word pharisaical has become a synonym for hypocrisy. That is saying one thing, and doing another. Not practicing what you preach. And especially, when you condemn others for what you yourselves are doing.
There are two passages where Jesus lights into the Pharisees, and another related group – the scribes, or doctors of the Law.
A scribe was actually a profession. They maintained copies of the scripture, and strove to keep them accurate.
The lawyers, or doctors of the Law, were the academics.
Luke 11:45-46 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”
46 And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
Luke 11:52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
Matthew 23:1-6 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,
2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
Matthew 23:13-15 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23:27-28 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
The Political and Religious Spirit
So what does this talk of leaven have to do with us today?
Mark 8:14-21 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.
15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.“
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”
17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”
20 “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.”
21 So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
In this passage we see the familiar warning against the leaven of the Pharisees, but Jesus adds another – …and of Herod.
These are the two groups, the religious and the political, and the spirits behind them, that are very much active today. There are some great similarities between the two, even more so in recent times, where the political has taken on many aspects of a religion.
Commonalities
Kris Vallotton posted 12 things that the religious and political spirits have in common recently.
- 1- it makes people fear those they can’t control.
- 2- it causes people to assign motives to people they don’t know.
- 3- it leads people to demonize those with whom they disagree.
- 4- it causes people to create an “us” and “them” mentality.
- 5- it persuades people to spiritualize the demeaning of people of different persuasions.
- 6- it convinces people that they are justified in applying a different standard of behavior towards those who they deem wrong.
- 7- it causes people to refuse to acknowledge the positive accomplishments of those they vilify.
- 8- it convinces people to assign the blame for all the problems of society to one people group.
- 9- it’s blinds people to its own prejudices.
- 10- it motivates people to judge themselves by their intentions and others by their actions.
- 11- it causes people to redefine dishonoring attitudes as virtuous attributes.
- 12- people under it’s influence hunt in packs so they can feed off of the self righteousness of others.
I am saddened by how much of this I see in myself.
Lord help me to give no place in my heart to this spirit. Give me love for people with whom I strongly disagree. Teach me how to hear their concerns and listen from the heart to their cries. Show me how to be a father to all the people in a nation. Give me insights on how to be noble and virtuous; holding to righteous convictions; while being patient with those who are living by a different standard.
—Kris Vallotton
The religious and political spirit want to impart the gift of suspicion because that reinterprets circumstances and causes a spirit of offense to rise up.
The righteous indignation that is stirred up may be a correct response, but it was based on false information.
–Bill Johnson
Some parallels with today
Jesus had to deal with these same spirits. And you can see many parallels between what He dealt with, and what is going on today, especially in the political realm.
Hanging onto Power
One of the characteristics of the political spirit is the willingness to do anything to hang unto power.
Herod “the Great” ordered the male children of Bethlehem killed because he saw the newborn Messiah-king as a threat to his legacy. Think of it – Jesus was a new born infant, He wouldn’t be able to challenge anyone politically for decades.
In John11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This rocked the nation. The reports came back to the Sanhedrin.
John 11:47-48 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.
48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
Notice what they were afraid of? That the Romans would come and take away their place. They were afraid of losing their rule. But why would they think the danger was from the Romans?
The common belief in that day was that the Messiah would come and kick out the Romans. Even the disciples believed that. The Jewish rulers didn’t believe Jesus was the real Messiah, but they figured if He had enough followers who tried to make Him king, the Romans would suppress that – and install stricter rule that would give the Jewish leaders less autonomy.
Actually what the leaders feared – the Romans taking away their place and nation – did happen, but not until 70 AD.
So what was their conclusion to the threat of Jesus?
John 11:49-50 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”
They wanted to suppress the message – to the point of committing murder. That’s what Herod did, that’s what they planned to do.
Nowadays, although they have not planned on committing murder (and excuse me while I get political), the Democrats are pushing policies that are not necessarily good for the American people, but are for the sole purpose of retaining political power. Open borders, because illegal immigrants have children that can become legal and are likely to vote Democrat. Or the push to allow even “undocumented” immigrants to vote in state elections.
The push to abolish the Electoral College, which would give all the power to elect to the most populated states – which also tend to vote Democrat.
The whole universal mail in voting thing – so many places where that can be abused. Being so dead set against voter id.
Destroying people’s lives to further their own purposes
John 8:3-6 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
The Pharisees were ready to destroy this woman to gain something they could accuse Jesus of. Actually, they did not expect that Jesus would be in favor of stoning the woman, and so they could accuse Him of being against the Law. Even if her life was not taken, her reputation was shattered.
Jesus of course, had the wisdom of God. There is a lot of speculation of what Jesus wrote in the dust. Personally, I don’t think it was anything of significance. I think He was waiting on the Father to tell Him what to do – because the Pharisees did have him in a sticky situation.
A parallel in recent times? Brett Kavanaugh.
Twisting of words and lying against the facts
We’re familiar with the story where the Pharisees came to Jesus asking if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Matt 22, Mk 12, Luke 20). And His brilliant answer, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”.
But what was the accusations against Jesus that they brought before Pilate?
Luke 23:1-2 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
That was a blatant lie. That’s what they had wanted Him to say, but He didn’t.
How many times have we seen the media twist words and say things that were false? It’s because it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not – the goal is to get someone to think unfavorably toward the one being accused.
Blinded to any good done
The Pharisees were completely blinded to any of the good that Jesus was doing. Doing miracles of healing? That was evil, because He did it on the Sabbath day.
Casting out demons? That was even a more rare thing than healing amongst the Jews. But no, they accuse Jesus of being able to cast out demons because He was in league with the devil.
How many people cannot bring themselves to acknowledge a single good thing that Trump has done? And then call him all kinds of names like dictator, fascist, traitor, racist, white supremist? And lest you think it’s all happening on one side, how many cannot name a single good thing that Obama did in his eight years of office?
I could go on and on. And both sides of the political aisle are guilty of yielding to the political spirit. Don’t be a partaker with them.
Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod!
