The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

[mike]

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.”

What does this allegorical description of the kingdom of heaven mean? What does the flour in the allegory represent, and in what way has the kingdom of heaven spread through all of it, or in what way will it spread through it? What does it look like for the yeast to be fully spread through the flour?

[HondurasKeiser]

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.”

What does this allegorical description of the kingdom of heaven mean? What does the flour in the allegory represent, and in what way has the kingdom of heaven spread through all of it, or in what way will it spread through it? What does it look like for the yeast to be fully spread through the flour?

Humanity? Society?

[barnhart]

Your interpretation may hinge on your view on theology like dispensationalism and relationship of the old covenants to the new. Types and shadows people often see yeast as a negative thing representing sin. That gives this parable some extra spin.

[mike]

Your interpretation may hinge on your view on theology like dispensationalism and relationship of the old covenants to the new. Types and shadows people often see yeast as a negative thing representing sin. That gives this parable some extra spin.

This little parable has some potentially amazing implications depending what it means. Maybe no matter what it means.

[mike]

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.”

What does this allegorical description of the kingdom of heaven mean? What does the flour in the allegory represent, and in what way has the kingdom of heaven spread through all of it, or in what way will it spread through it? What does it look like for the yeast to be fully spread through the flour?

Humanity? Society?

The earth geographically?

[Neto]

This is a very interesting one, because it is the only Scripture passage in which yeast is viewed in a positive way. Generally, probably due to the fact that yeast is basically a "foreign element" that causes the dough to "spoil", it is usually symbolic of sin. In this single case it represents the good results of Godly influence. The Kingdom of God is like yeast in that it has a greatly out-sized effect in comparison to its actual percentage of the lump of dough. It is effective (forgive the use of the same root word), and it permeates the entire world, if it gains exposure to it. At least that's how I understand it. The Gospel of Christ, even when represented by a small group of people, in the original sense just 11, and maybe 500 or so, it works its way all though the whole, like a contagion. 500 is a fair sized group, but look at how quickly it spread through out the then know world. May we also have that kind of effect in the world around us.

[Bootstrap]

This is a very interesting one, because it is the only Scripture passage in which yeast is viewed in a positive way. Generally, probably due to the fact that yeast is basically a "foreign element" that causes the dough to "spoil", it is usually symbolic of sin. In this single case it represents the good results of Godly influence.

I think that leavened bread is often viewed in a positive way in Scripture, and leaven is positive at least here and in one place in Leviticus that I mention below. I think this article is helpful:

https://academic.oup.com/book/44022/chapter/371878777

In the following paragraph, "bread" means bread made with yeast:

Outside of its descriptions of the Last Supper the New Testament speaks a great deal about bread—for example, “our daily bread” in Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:13 (τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον), “bread from heaven” in John 6:32 (ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ), “the bread of life” in John 3:35 (ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς), and “living bread” in John 6:51 (ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν). In Greek “bread” (in Hebrew, lechem) is usually described as ἄρτος, which means “cake” or “loaf [of bread],” as distinguished from ἄζυμος, or ἄρτος ἄζυμος (“unleavened bread”), which is the standard Septuagint translation for the Hebrew maṣṣôt, matstsah, or matzoh.

Unleavened bread had a special significance for Passover:

Deuteronomy 16:3 famously called unleavened bread “the bread of affliction” (lechem oni), while the Passover Haggadah says that matzo is eaten during the meal “because the dough of our fathers had not the time to leaven when the King of all kings revealed himself to them and redeemed them.”8 Others have described unleavened bread not only as the “bread of haste” but also as the “bread of redemption” used “to celebrate redemption from Egypt, the victory of the true God over the false gods of the Egyptians, and the nation forming event of the Exodus.”

Unleavened bread was used in one kind of sacrifice in the Jewish temple, it's described in Leviticus 2:1-11 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=NIV).

But bread "baked with yeast" was also used in a temple offering, as described in Leviticus 23:17-21 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=NIV).

17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Some commentaries say that a little bad yeast can have bad consequences. Quoting from the Oxford link above:

The problem, also noted by Fitzmyer, is that the old dough put aside to use as leaven “could easily be contaminated and could dangerously infect the whole batch of new dough into which it was introduced; hence the yearly Jewish practice of destroying old leaven before the celebration of Passover.” Old leaven, or leaven that had become contaminated by other organisms, raised “the real danger of sickness,” so that even a small portion hidden in a much larger loaf threatened all who consumed it. In this context leaven, especially old leaven, was a negative, “the symbol of that which is unclean and indeed actively polluting,” especially as only a small amount has the power to destroy something far greater.

The Anchor Bible is skeptical about this explanation:

According to Joel Markus, “This explanation of the festival’s origin is doubtful … since most harmful organisms would be killed in baking.”
Joel Markus, Mark 1–8, Anchor Bible 27 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 507

[Bootstrap]

The Kingdom of God is like yeast in that it has a greatly out-sized effect in comparison to its actual percentage of the lump of dough. It is effective (forgive the use of the same root word), and it permeates the entire world, if it gains exposure to it. At least that's how I understand it. The Gospel of Christ, even when represented by a small group of people, in the original sense just 11, and maybe 500 or so, it works its way all though the whole, like a contagion. 500 is a fair sized group, but look at how quickly it spread through out the then know world. May we also have that kind of effect in the world around us.

Yes, exactly. The Kingdom of God is meant to "go viral", to change the world around us just like yeast changes dough so that it can be good bread.

I think this parable tells us that the Kingdom of God is small and hidden, but it can have great effect. And it's part of a pair of parables that say the same thing. Many Bibles give one heading for both:

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Instead of hiding from the world, we should seek to build the Kingdom of God that draws people from the world, a tree that the birds can come and perch in, a yeast that changes the whole loaf.