Bible Study: Parable of the Leaven

UESI West Bengal
Apr 3
3 min read

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Matthew 13:33

Observation:

What is leaven compared to in the parable?

Leaven is compared to the kingdom of heaven

What is the woman doing with the leaven?

She took leaven and hid in three measures of flour.

Interpretation:

What is the kingdom of heaven?

The Kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God is interchangeably used in the Bible which means the same. It may not necessarily mean a physical world although it can be. In John 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” In simple word we can say ‘the kingdom of God is where God reigns, where God is the king.’

Luke 17:21 …nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

What is leaven?

Leaven is a substance used to produce fermentation in dough or a liquid. It is also called yeast.

How much is three measures of flour?

[1]“Three measures of meal/flour would be about 40 litres, which would make enough bread for a meal for 100 people, a remarkable baking for an ordinary woman.” (France)

What is the function of leaven?

[2]Leaven is a general term that refers to any substance that is used to make dough rise. Yeast is a type of fungus that is used as a leavening agent in bread and other baked goods. Biological leavening agents, such as yeast, work by fermenting the sugars in the food to create carbon dioxide, which causes the dough to rise. This fermentation process also produces additional flavor, such as the sour flavor in sourdough bread.

What does leaven and flour represent in the parable?

Jesus used yeast/leaven in negative sense in other parts of the Bible. In Matthew 16:11 “How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” However here He seems to use in a positive sense- in comparison to the extending of God’s kingdom. Some theologians also believe that the spreading of yeast in the dough signifies the spreading of the gospel in the world.

[3]the kingdom of God may have small beginnings, but it will increase. Yeast is microscopic in size, and only a little is kneaded into the dough. Yet, given time, the yeast will spread through all the dough. In the same way, Jesus’ domain started with twelve men in an obscure corner of Galilee, but it has spread throughout the world. The gospel makes progress.

However, others are in the opinion that it means the corruption in the church.

[4]G. Campbell Morgan wrote that the leaven represents “paganizing influences” brought into the church.

The most important thing here is that the small and invisible yeast spread throughout the entire measures of flour and leavened them all. The power of small yeast (word) in a large amount of dough/flour (world).

Application:

Like the yeast or leaven in the flour the gospel, though may not seem big and prominent, has the power to change a person, and through the person the world. Am I a leaven of good or a leaven of bad in my world?