07/14/2008
Leviticus 2:11 (HCSB) 11“No grain offering that you present to the LORD is to be made with yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey as a fire offering to the LORD.
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When you make bread, you buy one of those little packages of yeast that you mix in with the flour and then let the dough set. It will rise making the bread softer and bigger. The yeast is actually a live culture that feeds on the carbohydrates (natural sugar) of the wheat. As it consumes the sugars, it releases carbon-dioxide gas. This gas creates bubbles in the dough which cause the rising that we observe.
If the yeast is too old or for any other reason is inactive, the dough will not rise. This results in a flat, hard loaf of bread, similar to a pita.
The Israelites were instructed to prepare and eat unleavened bread – that is, bread made without yeast. The bread was flat and harder than yeast bread. The unleavened bread had several symbolic meanings. One was that when they left Egypt, they did not have time to prepare bread with yeast and wait for it to rise before cooking and eating. So, at the Passover, they always had unleavened bread to remind them of this event in which God delivered them.
A second symbol of the leaven is corruption. This is not to suggest that the bread is corrupt, but symbolically, the pure grain is no longer pure because of the action of the yeast.
Grain offerings that were cooked or baked in any way were forbidden to have any yeast. And they had olive oil poured out on them. The oil represents the Spirit of God. The wheat represents the Jewish nation.
God had chosen and separated the Israelites for himself. His Spirit was with them. Thus the symbolism. Any leaven in the grain would mean that the grain had been partially consumed by the yeast. Take a look at another passage:
Matthew 16:5 - 12 (HCSB) 5The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread.
6Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7And they discussed among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”
8Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? 9Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected? 10Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many large baskets you collected? 11Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?”
12Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the yeast in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
In this passage, Jesus used an object lesson to demonstrate how false teachings can corrupt the Gospel.
So we see why leavened bread (that is, any bread made with yeast) was forbidden on the altar. Just like the grain offerings, we need to keep ourselves free of corruption. In bread, it only takes a little yeast to permeate the entire loaf. Allowing any corruption into our lives is the same way. If we tolerate just a little, then we are soon fully corrupted.
Search your heart for any corruption or un-repented sin. Remove it and strive for a pure heart before God.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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