From the moment that the Jews were escorted out of Egypt, leaven has always been depicted as something negative. “Beware of the leaven of the pharisees,” Jesus says in Matthew 16:6. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:6.
What’s with all the hate towards leaven? The most obvious answer is in the fact that it’s a slow-moving, artificially-inflating component. There’s no legitimate depth to leaven—it only makes things appear bigger and tastier. And, because it doesn’t happen automatically, you can’t detect it until it’s too late.
Leaven is excluded in the overwhelming majority of sacrifices. Grain offerings have no leaven (Leviticus 2:11). The “blood of God’s sacrifice” doesn’t use leaven (Exodus 23:18). Most well known is the feast of the Passover that doesn’t even allow leaven in the house (Exodus 12:15).
Along with the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-20), the other notable time where leaven is intentionally included in the sacrifice or feast is the Thanksgiving Offering. According to Leviticus 7, the thanksgiving offering is a voluntary sacrifice that included both leavened and unleavened cakes.
As part of the peace offerings (Leviticus 7:11-21), the thankfulness offering (Leviticus 7:11-15) reflects gratitude from the worshipper towards God. This could be for deliverance, healing, or some other type of blessing. Interestingly enough, the Feast of Weeks (which is the other time leaven is used) also consists of recognizing God’s blessings.
This may give us some clue as to why leaven was used. The wave offering in Leviticus 23 and the thankfulness offering in Leviticus 7 were both given to the priests, whereas all of the feasts/sacrifices mentioned before were devoted solely to God.
In other words, sacrifices to God were leaven-less, whereas those eaten by men could include leaven.
I’ll let your own mind wander as to the significance of this delineation, but I think the contrast here is striking. Why do you think leaven was included in the sacrifices eaten by men, but left out when the sacrifice as a whole was burnt up? Let me know at brady@coffeeandaBible.com!
