So during my reading, I came across the word 'leaven'. This was the second time I'd come across it in recent days, and I didn't really know what 'leavened bread' was. So I decided to do a 'thematic study' on leaven. FYI for you guys' information!

For the scientific, a caveat - I have not done a full literature review, and so there may be a little more to add to the leaven story. But I decided to leave it at this!!

(Ah HA HA HA.)

What is leaven?

Any of 5 ‘biblical’ grains which have been exposed to moisture, followed by a lapse of time before baking, during which an agent of change e.g. yeast, may be added.

What are the biblical grains?

Choose 5 from the following 8 (answer is at the bottom of the post)

wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, corn, spelt, maize.

So here are some examples of leavened food:

· Bread with yeast added

· Bread with no yeast added, but for whatever reason, the cook waited time before baking

· Beer and whisky, created through grain fermentation. Wine… the accounts vary, but considering it is still created through yeast fermentation, I would think it should be considered ‘unleavened’

FYI - Leavened foods forbidden at Passover are also known as ‘chametz’.

Why was leaven initially prohibited at Passover (Pesach)?

Exodus 12:14-15 "This day shall be for you a memorial day (of Passover), and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”

Leavened bread is bread that has had the opportunity for an outside agent to work upon it, to change the grain. If there is a fermenting agent added (remembering that bread just left for a while prior to baking is still considered leavened), fermentation may occur and change the grain. This does not necessarily ‘spoil’ the grain, but it does change it. So having a time each year when one eats only unleavened bread symbolises coming back annually to the ‘ beginning’ of God’s teaching before man added and changed things i.e. going back to the Torah.

New Testament references to leaven:

Matt 16:11-12 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 Saducees. 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.

Luke 13:20-21 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?” it is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened

Galatians5:9/ 1 Corinthians 5:6 Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

1 Cor 5:8. Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

(same event as Matt 16:11-12) Mark 8:13-21

Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
¹³ And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. ¹⁴ Now the disciples^[a] 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^[b] 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?”

So does leaven = sin/evil stuff, unleavened = purity?

Although in many contexts, leaven is used negatively (e.g. Matt 16:11-12), it is also used to describe the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 13:20-21). So not sure that one would say leaven always = bad. My understanding is that leaven is symbolic of an agent of change; you must use the context to work out if it is good or bad!

Unleavened bread (literally) in Our World

So a few trivial things first:

· I was curious as to whether flat breads e.g. pita bread were unleavened. N.B. Unleavened bread is called matzah. But I discovered that they contain yeast, and thus are definitely not!

· Unleavened Bread is a 1900 novel by Mr Robert Grant – “A businessman's selfish wife forces her way into upper society.” [Wikipedia]

Does unleavened bread play a role in Christians’ lives? Well, we should technically use unleavened bread for communion, as a sign of repenting of our sins and taking up our new righteous life (where our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus). But I think water crackers are more convenient =)

Answer:

Leavened grains: wheat, barley, spelt, rye, oats

References (apologies, not properly referenced)

The Bible =)

http://www.minuteswithmessiah.com/minutes/leaven.html

Wikipedia – for unleavened bread, the novel, flatbreads