Leaven
LEAVEN
Sourdough which is kept over from one baking to another, in order to raise the new dough. Leaven was forbidden in the Hebrews during the seven days of the Passover, in memory of what their ancestors did when they went out of Egypt, they being then obliged to carry unleavened meal with them, and to make bread in haste, the Egyptians pressing them to be gone, Exo 12:15,19 . They were very careful in cleansing their houses from it before this feast began, 1Co 5:6 . God forbade either leaven or honey to be offered to him in his temple, Lev 2:11 . The pervading and transforming effect of leaven is used in illustration of the like influence on society, exerted by the purifying principles of the gospel, or by false doctrines and corrupt men, Mat 12:23 16:6-12 1Co 5:6-8 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Leaven
(from levare, to raise; , ; fermentum)
Leaven is a substance which produces fermentation, especially in the making of bread. It is properly a piece or already fermented dough, which is mixed with other dough in order to repeat the process. In the warm climate of Syria the fermentation is completed in 24 hours. The commandment against the use of raised bread during the Passover week (Exo 12:17; Exo 13:7, etc.) was no doubt a survival from Israels nomadic period, when (as among the nomads of to-day) all bread was unleavened. Fermentation was supposed to represent the process of corruption in the mass of the bread-an idea found in Plutarch, who says: Now leaven is itself the offspring of corruption, and corrupts the mass ( ) with which it is mixed (Quaes. Rom. 109). Bread with the taint of putrefaction was regarded as unfit for use in religious ceremonies (see W. R. Smith, RS [Note: S Religion of the Semites (W. Robertson Smith).] 2, 1894, p. 220). On the eve of the first day of the Passover-the 14th Nisan-the Jews, in accordance with their immemorial custom, still carefully remove every trace of leaven which can be found in their houses. Fresh dough kneaded with pure water is used in the preparation of the cakes of unleavened bread which are to be eaten during the holy week.
As a figure of speech, leaven is applied to any element, influence, or agency which effects a subtle and secret change either for the better or for the worse. On the one hand, the Kingdom of Heaven is a leaven which is destined to penetrate, and assimilate to itself, the whole of humanity (Mat 13:23, Luk 13:20 f.). On the other, even an apparently insignificant sin, if tolerated and unchecked in a community, has great power of corruption, and St. Paul twice quotes the popular saying, A little leaven leavens the whole lump ( , 1Co 5:6, Gal 5:9). The followers of Christ are already unleavened (); virtually and ideally-in the purpose of God and in their own passionate desire-they are completely purged from the leaven of iniquity; but the ideal has still to be realized. They are therefore exhorted to set about and carry through their Passover cleansing of the soul-to rid themselves of all infected and infections remains of their pre-Christian state-that they may keep not a seven-days but a life-long feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1Co 5:6-8).
James Strahan.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
leaven
(Latin: levare, to raise)
Any substance acting or used to produce fermentation as in dough or liquids; anything which makes a general assimilating change in a mass or aggregate, or which modifies or tempers the whole. In the great solemnity of the Passover the Jews were bidden to eat unleavened bread (Exodus 12, 13, 34; Numbers 12; Deuteronomy 16). This was a symbol of sinlessness. Saint Paul applies this symbolism to the state of righteousness in the Christian code (1 Corinthians 5); Our Lord employs leaven as a symbol of sin (Matthew 16; Mark 8); and the imperceptible penetrating efficacy of the Gospel of Christ is compared to leaven (Matthew 13; Luke 13).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Leaven
(1.) Heb. seor (Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:7; Lev. 2:11), the remnant of dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acid.
(2.) Heb. hamets, properly “ferment.” In Num. 6:3, “vinegar of wine” is more correctly “fermented wine.” In Ex. 13:7, the proper rendering would be, “Unfermented things [Heb. matstsoth] shall be consumed during the seven days; and there shall not be See n with thee fermented things [hamets], and there shall not be See n with thee leavened mass [seor] in all thy borders.” The chemical definition of ferment or yeast is “a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in a continual motion.”
The use of leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by fire (Lev. 2:11; 7:12; 8:2; Num. 6:15). Its secretly penetrating and diffusive power is referred to in 1 Cor. 5:6. In this respect it is used to illustrate the growth of the kingdom of heaven both in the individual heart and in the world (Matt. 13:33). It is a figure also of corruptness and of perverseness of heart and life (Matt. 16:6, 11; Mark 8:15; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Leaven
seor. A lump of old dough in high fermentation. As making it and leavening bread with it took time, unleavened bread was used in sudden emergencies (Gen 18:6; Gen 19:3). It was forbidden in all offerings to the Lord by fire (Lev 2:11; Lev 7:12). The Israelites on pain of death were to have none in their houses or in the land during Passover for seven days, from 14th Nisan (Exo 12:15; Exo 12:19; Exo 12:39; Exo 13:7; Exo 23:18; Deu 16:3-4). Salt was its opposite, and was never to be absent from the altar burnt offering, representing the incorruptible imperishableness of Jehovah’s covenant. Honey as liable to ferment also was excluded from the altar burnt offerings. Leaven reminded Israel of the haste with which they fled from Egypt, and of their sufferings, which answer to the insipidity of unleavened bread, “the bread of affliction.”
Its prominent symbolical meaning was, it is bred of corruption and corrupts the mass with which it is mixed. Hence it represents “malice” (the evil habit) and “wickedness” (evil coming out in word and deed) as opposed to “sincerity” and “truth” (1Co 5:7). The Jews searched with extreme care their houses, to purge out every particle of leaven. So Christians ought to search their hearts and purge out every corruption (Psa 139:23-24). It also symbolizes corrupt doctrine (Mat 16:6). Another quality is its secretly penetrating and diffusive influence: 1Co 5:6, “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” the influence of one sinner corrupts many (Ecc 9:18); but in Gal 5:9 a little legalism mixed with the gospel corrupts its purity. Though elsewhere used in a bad sense, leaven in Mat 13:33 represents the gospel principle working silently “without observation” from within, until the whole is leavened, just as the mustard tree represents its diffusion externally; so “flesh,” though usually in a bad sense, in Eze 11:19 is in a good sense.
The decomposition of social elements, accompanying and providentially preparing the way for the gospel, makes the image appropriate. Leaven was allowed to be offered in the firstfruits and tithes (Deu 26:2; Deu 26:12; 2Ch 31:5), the Pentecostal loaves (Lev 23:15; Lev 23:17), and the peace offering (Lev 7:13). See Lev 2:11 “as an oblation of firstfruits ye shall offer them (leaven and honey) unto the Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.” In Amo 4:5 the leavened bread was “with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of the peace offerings,” not with burnt offerings of animals on the altar. Perhaps however the command is ironical, “offer by burning (margin) a sacrifice … with leaven” (which was forbidden), your very offerings being open insults to God.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
LEAVEN
Among the Hebrews, leaven (or yeast) was very important. It had a practical use in making bread and a symbolic significance in religious rituals.
People made leaven by mixing the flour of certain cereals with water, and allowing the mixture to stand till it fermented. When making leavened bread, they mixed this fermented portion with dough, so that when the dough was baked in the oven the bread would rise (Mat 13:33; 1Co 5:6). Leavened bread was light and rounded, unleavened bread heavy and flat. An easier way of making leaven for future batches of bread was to remove a small piece of leavened dough before baking and leaving it stand till it too fermented.
The first mention of any ritual significance of leaven was at the time of the Passover when Israel escaped from Egypt. During the week after the Passover escape, the people had no time to bake their bread leavened. They had to carry their dough and baking pans with them, baking as they went (Exo 12:11; Exo 12:18; Exo 12:34; Exo 12:39). Each year from that time on, the people were to hold a symbolic re-enactment of the Passover along with a week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was to remind them of Israels hurried and unceremonious departure from Egypt. They were to leave no leaven in their houses during the week of the feast (Exo 12:14-20; Exo 23:15; Mar 14:1; see PASSOVER).
Nothing containing leaven was to be offered on the altar of sacrifice. This was probably because leaven spoiled easily, and there was to be no trace of corruption in the sacrifices (Exo 23:18; Exo 34:25; Lev 2:11; Lev 7:12; Lev 10:12). However, leavened bread, representing the ordinary food of the people, was presented to God at the Feast of Harvest, as an expression of gratitude to him for their daily food (Lev 23:15-20). Leavened bread offered with the peace offering was not burnt on the altar, but eaten in the meal that followed (Lev 7:11-14).
Because it tended to corrupt and because it affected everything it touched, leaven developed a deeper symbolic meaning. Jesus saw the Pharisees, the Sadducees and Herod as evil influences that spread through Israel as leaven spreads through a lump of dough. He warned his disciples to beware of the leaven-like effect of such people. Their hypocrisy, teaching and ungodliness could quickly have a corrupting effect on others (Mat 16:5-12; Mar 8:15; Luk 12:1-3).
Just as Israelites cleaned all leaven out of their houses at the time of the Passover, so Christians should clean the leaven of sin and wrong teaching out of their church. If left unchecked, sin will spread yeast-like through the church (1Co 5:6-8; Gal 5:7-9).
In one of Jesus parables, by contrast, leaven is used figuratively in a good sense. Just as leaven spreads through the dough into which it is put, so will Christs kingdom spread throughout the world (Mat 13:33).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Leaven
LEAVEN.The effect of leaven upon dough to which it is added is due to minute living organisms disseminated through it in great numbers. These organisms are one or more species of yeast-fungi. They are the most important agents of the alcoholic fermentation, which they produce in dough as well as in solutions of sugar. Whether lodged in sour dough (leaven) or collected free out of fermenting vats (compressed yeast), they cause the same effect when introduced into bread sponge. At the present time leaven is not so much used for the lightening of bread as yeast, because it is apt to impart to bread a sour taste and a disagreeable odour.
Yeast-fungi were first recognized (1680) by the Dutch naturalist Leuwenhck in the scum floating on the surface of fermenting beer. With his imperfect lenses he was able to observe little of their structure beyond the fact that they were very small globules. They are now known to be single-celled plants, having for the most part an oval or ellipsoidal shape. The individual yeast-cell consists of a mass of protoplasm enclosed in a delicate wall of cellulose. The protoplasm, as in the case of all the fungi, contains no chlorophyll, and is, accordingly, dependent upon organic matter for its nourishment. It is granular, and usually shows one large non-contractile vacuole or several small vacuoles containing water. It has also a nucleus, which, however, can be brought into view only after special treatment. The size of the yeast-cell varies from 1.5 microns to 15 microns in diameter. (The micron equals 1/25000 inch). During the inactive stage the cells are isolated, but in an actively fermenting medium they occur in groups or families, organically united and consisting of from two to six or eight members in varying stages of development. When the members reach maturity, they separate from one another, each one having the capacity to produce a new group. This is the method by which the plant propagates itself. An isolated cell sends out a little pimple or bud on the surface. The bud is destined to become an independent cell of the same size as the cell which produced it; but, before it is mature, it may itself form a bud which in turn may form another bud of its own, the mother-cell in the meantime forming a second bud at a different point. A sort of chain of sprouts, usually curved, is formed as the result of this process of budding or gemmation. The successive buds round up and finally separate themselves as independent individuals. Pasteur, to whose elaborate investigations we are deeply indebted for our knowledge of the agents and the process of fermentation, found that two cells produced eight in two hours at a temperature of 13 degrees C. The multiplication is more rapid at a higher temperature.
Yeast-fungi secure their food for the most part from weak solutions of grape-sugar. They convert grape-sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This conversion is known as the alcoholic fermentation. The same action takes place in moistened wheat-flour when yeast is mixed with it. The wheat grain contains a ferment, diastase, whose function is the conversion of the insoluble starch of the grain into soluble grape-sugar for the nourishment of the embryo when the grain germinates. Diastase is present, of course, in wheat-flour, and when the conditions of moisture and temperature are supplied, as in a gently heated bread sponge, it effects the same conversion as under natural conditions in the germinating grain. Some of the flour starch is changed into grape-sugar, in which the yeast-cells excite the alcoholic fermentation. The bubbles of the gas carbon dioxide produced in the fermentation are entangled in the glutinous sponge, and, expanded by heat, puff it up or lighten it. If, now, more flour is thoroughly mixed with this sponge so as to scatter the yeast-cells of the sponge throughout the mass, the whole will shortly be leavened by the gas which continues to be given off by the agency of the rapidly multiplying cells. A practically indefinite quantity of flour so treated can be leavened by a little leaven.
The week which began with the Passover is called the days of unleavened bread (Mat 26:17, Mar 14:1; Mar 14:12, Luk 22:1; Luk 22:7), from the practice enjoined in Exo 23:15, Lev 23:6, Deu 16:3-4; Deu 16:8.
The effect of leaven in raising a mass of dough (see above) is the basis of our Lords parable of the Leaven (Mat 13:33, Luk 13:20-21), which sets forth the gradual and pervasive influence of the Kingdom of God upon the whole of human society.
The fermentation produced by leaven was regarded as a species of putrefaction, and this, together with the tendency of leaven to spread, explains the figure in which the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees stands for their corrupt teaching (Mat 16:6; Mat 16:11, Mar 8:15), or, as St. Luke puts it more specifically in the case of the Pharisees, their hypocrisy (Luk 12:1). The leaven of Herod (Mar 8:15) similarly denotes the policy of the Herodian party.
Literature.Trench, Dods, Bruce, Orelli on the Parables; Winterbotham, Kingdom of Heaven, 70; Drummond, Stones Rolled Away, 144; Scott-Holland, Gods City, 143; Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours, 153; R. Flint, Christs Kingdom, 170.
W. L. Poteat and James Patrick.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Leaven
LEAVEN.The leaven both of OT and of NT may be assumed to have always consisted of a piece of fermented dough from a previous baking. There is no clear trace, even in the Mishna, of other sorts of leaven, such as the lees of wine or those enumerated by Pliny (Hist. Nat. xviii. 26). In ordinary cases, in the preparation of the household bread, the lump of dough, above referred to, was either broken down into the water in the kneading trough (see Bread) before the fresh flour was added, or it might be hid in the latter and kneaded along with it, as in the parable, Mat 13:33. The bread made from dough thus prepared was leavened bread (Exo 12:16 and oft.); cakes made from flour without the addition of leaven received the special name mazzoth, unleavened cakes, which gave their name to the feast of unleavened cakes (Exo 23:15 = etc, EV [Note: English Version.] unleavened bread).
The prohibition of leavened bread during the continuance of this Feast, including the Passover, is probably another illustration of conservatism in ritual, the nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews, like the Bedouin of the present day, having made their bread without leaven. The further exclusion of leaven from the offerings placed upon the altar of J [Note: Jahweh.] although admitted when the bread was to be eaten by the priests (Lev 7:13; Lev 23:17)is to be explained, like the similar exclusion of honey, from the standpoint that fermentation implied a process of corruption in the dough. The antiquity of this prohibition is attested by its occurrence in the earliest legislation (Exo 34:35; Exo 23:18). It does not seem to have been observed, however, in Amos day in the Northern Kingdom (see the Comm. on Amo 4:5).
This antique view of leaven as (in Plutarchs words) itself the offspring of corruption, and corrupting the mass of dough with which it has been mixed, is reflected in the figurative use of leaven in such passages as Mat 16:6 ||, and especially in the proverbial saying twice quoted by St. Paul, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (1Co 5:8, Gal 5:9; cf. 1Co 5:7 f.). In Mat 13:33, however, it is the silent but all-pervading action of leaven in the mass of the dough that is the point of comparison.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Leaven
The leaven among the Jews, became an object of much religious concern. They were cautious that no leaven should be found in their houses. (See Exo 12:15-19) No doubt this had a gospel signification, and was intended to teach, that nothing would be permitted to leaven or mingle with the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, for acceptance before God.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Leaven
lev-n (, se’or, , hamec; , zume; Latin fermentum): The nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews, like the Bedouin of today, probably made their bread without leaven; but leaven came to play a great part in their bread-making, their law and ritual, and their religious teaching (see Exo 12:15, Exo 12:19; Exo 13:7; Lev 2:11; Deu 16:4; Mat 13:33; Mat 16:6-12; Mar 8:15 f; Luk 12:1; Luk 13:21).
(1) In Bread-Making.
The form of leaven used in bread-making and the method of using it were simple and definite. The leaven consisted always, so far as the evidence goes, of a piece of fermented dough kept over from a former baking. There is no trace of the use of other sorts of leaven, such as the lees of wine or those mentioned by Pliny (NH, xviii. 26). The lump of dough thus preserved was either dissolved in water in the kneading-trough before the flour was added, or was hid in the flour (the King James Version meal) and kneaded along with it, as was the case mentioned in the parable (Mat 13:33). The bread thus made was known as leavened, as distinguished from unleavened bread (Exo 12:15, etc.). See BREAD.
(2) In Law and Ritual.
The ritual prohibition of leaven during the feast of unleavened bread including the Passover (Exo 23:15, etc.) is a matter inviting restudy. For the historical explanation given in the Scriptures, see especially Exo 12:34-39; Exo 13:3 ff; Deu 16:3. The antiquity of the prohibition is witnessed by its occurrence in the earliest legislation (Exo 23:18; Exo 34:25). A natural reason for the prohibition, like that of the similar exclusion of honey, is sought on the ground that fermentation implied a process of corruption. Plutarch voices this ancient view of the matter when he speaks of it as itself the offspring of corruption, and corrupting the mass of dough with which it is mixed. Fermentatum is used in Persius (Sat., i. 24) for corruption. For this reason doubtless it was excluded also from the offerings placed upon the altar of Yahweh, cakes made from flour without leaven, and these only, being allowed. The regulation name for these unleavened cakes was maccoth (Lev 10:12). Two exceptions to this rule should be noted (Lev 7:13; compare Amo 4:5): leavened bread was an accompaniment of the thank offering as leavened loaves were used also in the wave offering of Lev 23:17. Rabbinical writers regularly use leaven as a symbol of evil (Lightfoot).
(3) In Teaching.
The figurative uses of leaven in the New Testament, no less than with the rabbins, reflect the ancient view of it as corrupt and corrupting, in parts at least, e.g. Mat 16:6 parallel, and especially the proverbial saying twice quoted by Paul, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (1Co 5:6 f; Gal 5:9). But as Jesus used it in Mat 13:33, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, it is clearly the hidden, silent, mysterious but all-pervading and transforming action of the leaven in the measures of flour that is the point of the comparison.
Literature.
Nowack, Hebrew Arch., II, 145 f; Talmud, Berakhoth, 17a; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebrew. on Mat 16:6.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Leaven
This was early used in the fermentation of bread. As a symbol it is always used in scripture for the working of the human element, whether mind or flesh, in the things of God, and hence evil. It was strictly forbidden to be burnt in any offering made by fire (Lev 2:11); but in the peace offering, besides the unleavened cakes and wafers, the offerer was to present leavened bread, which was to be eaten. Lev 7:12-13; Lev 23:17-18. Its presence here might seem to suggest an exception to the statement that leaven always signifies that form of evil; but it is not, for the peace offering typifies worship, and there, alas, the worshipper is not entirely free from indwelling sin. In the parable of ‘the leaven hid in the meal,’ it also represents the same evil, which in an insidious way permeates the mass with which it is mixed. The solemn words are added, “till the whole was leavened.” Luk 13:20-21. It is only a too true similitude of the kingdom of God, for everywhere evil is spreading therein. In Mat 16:6-12 leaven is applied to the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In the church, leaven when discovered must be purged out, for “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” 1Co 5:6-8 but in the kingdom it is represented as working until all is leavened. Mat 13:33. It is then that the King will purge out from His kingdom all that offend and commit iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Leaven
For bread
Exo 12:34; Exo 12:39; Hos 7:4; Mat 13:33
Leavened bread used:
– With peace offering
Lev 7:13; Amo 4:5
– With wave offering
Lev 23:15-17
Leavened bread forbidden:
– With meat offerings
Lev 2:11; Lev 6:17; Lev 10:12; Exo 23:18; Exo 34:25
– At the Passover
Exo 12:19-20; Exo 13:3-4; Exo 13:7; Exo 23:18
– With blood
Exo 23:18; Exo 34:25
A type of sin
1Co 5:6-8
Figurative:
– Figurative:
Mat 16:6-12; Mar 8:15; Luk 12:1
– Of other evils
1Co 5:6-8; Gal 5:9
– Parable of
Mat 13:33; Luk 13:21
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Leaven
Leaven. Any substance that promotes fermentation. Sour dough is generally used in the East for this purpose; lees of wine are also employed. The fermentation produced is a kind of putrefaction; indeed it is distributed into three kinds, the vinous, the acetous, the putrefactive. All leaven was prohibited in meat-offerings, Lev 2:11; Lev 7:12; Lev 8:2; Num 6:15, and specially in the paschal feast of the Hebrews, Exo 12:3; Exo 12:19-20; whence this was often called “the feast of unleavened bread.” Mat 26:17. The nature of leaven, affecting the whole lump of the substance to which it is added, furnishes some striking illustrations in Scripture, Mat 13:33; Mat 16:6; 1Co 6:6; as also does the corruption it had undergone; thus we have warnings in Luk 12:1; 1Co 5:7-8, where the word is symbolically used for corruptness of life, or doctrine.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Leaven
Leaven. Various substances were known to have fermenting qualities; but the ordinary leaven consisted of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which was mixed into the mass of dough prepared for baking. The use of leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by fire. During the Passover, the Jews were commanded to put every particle of leaven from the house.
The most prominent idea associated with leaven in connection with the corruption which it had undergone, and which it communicated to bread in the process of fermentation. It is to this property of leaven that our Saviour points when he speaks of the “leaven (that is, the corrupt doctrine) of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees,” Mat 16:6 and St. Paul, when he speaks of the “old leaven.” 1Co 5:7.
(Another quality in leaven is noticed in the Bible, namely, its secretly penetrating and diffusive power. In this respect it was emblematic of moral influence generally, whether good or bad; and hence our Saviour adopts it as illustrating the growth of the kingdom of heaven in the individual heart and in the world at large: because
(1) its source is from without;
(2) it is secret in its operation;
(3) it spreads by contact of particle with particle;
(4) it is widely diffusive, one particle of leaven being able to change any number of particles of flour; and because
(5) it does not act like water, moistening a certain amount of flour, but is like a plant, changing the particles it comes in contact with into its own nature, with like propagating power. — Editor).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
LEAVEN
general references to
Exo 12:15; Exo 12:19; Lev 2:11; Deu 16:4; Mat 13:33; Mat 16:6
Luk 13:21; Gal 5:9
–SEE Unleavened Bread, BREAD
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Leaven
The Hebrews were forbidden by the law to eat leavened bread, or a food with leaven in it, during the seven days of the passover, Exo 12:15-19; Lev 2:11. They were very careful in purifying their houses from all leaven before this feast began. God forbad either leaven or honey to be offered to him in his temple; that is, in cakes or in any baked meats. But on other occasions they might offer leavened bread or honey. St. Paul, 1Co 5:7-8, expresses his desire that the faithful should celebrate the Christian passover with unleavened bread; which, figuratively, signifies sincerity and truth. In this he teaches us two things; first, that the law which obliged the Jews to a literal observance of the passover is no longer in force; and, secondly, that by unleavened bread, truth and purity of heart were denoted. The same Apostle alludes to the ceremony used at the passover, when he says, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; that is, a small portion of leaven, in a quantity of bread or paste, corrupts the whole, and renders it unclean. Our Saviour, in the Gospel, Mat 16:11, warns his Apostles to beware of the leaven of the Herodians and Pharisees; meaning their doctrines.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Leaven
(b) In every place where leaven is mentioned, it is a type of evil teachings, evil doctrines and evil practices. It is always to be put away and cast out as an unclean thing. The Gospel is never called leaven. Nothing good is ever compared to leaven. Nothing good is ever said about leaven. In every place it is mentioned, leaven is defiling and is to be put away. (See Exo 12:15; Lev 2:11; 1Co 5:6).
Mat 13:33 (a) The leaven in this case is a type of evil doctrines, taught by the apostate church. The woman is the apostate church, the meal is the Word of GOD, the leaven is wrong and evil teachings concerning the Word of GOD. Every false religion mixes false teachings in with the Scriptures and thereby poisons those who eat it. The leaven is never the Gospel. There is no place in the Bible where leaven is spoken of in an approving way, nor is it ever related to anything good.