Thus the small seed grew into a tree, and became a lodging place of Satan and his angels. No wonder then,

that the preaching of the kingdom gospel was resisted and ended as it did. The Lord knew that the times of the

Gentiles must run their course before the seed would be sown in good ground. Viewed in this light the parable

was full of meaning to those anxious hearts who gathered around the Lord in the days of His rejection.

Understanding this parable as a revelation of one of the `secrets of the kingdom', they would be upheld in their,

apparently, fruitless ministry.

In the next parable the Lord reveals the last factor in this sad history.

Matthew 13:33,44

The parable of the Leaven is the last of the four spoken by the Lord outside the house. It reaches a climax

and tells us what the end of the external history of the kingdom of the heavens will be, `the whole was

The parable occurs in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20,21. Matthew 13:33 says, `Another parable spake He

unto them; The kingdom of the heavens is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of

meal, till the whole was leavened'. Luke 13:20,21 says, `And again He said, Whereunto shall I liken the

kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was

leavened'. The wording of the two passages is very similar. Luke adds the question, `Whereunto shall I liken

the kingdom?' and uses the expression, `The kingdom of God', for `The kingdom of the heavens'. The reader

will remember that Luke and Mark prefix this question to the parable of the Mustard Tree, and its recurrence is

suggestive of something parallel.

Before going further in our investigations we must consider the Scriptural meaning of the word `leaven'.

The word in Greek is zume, and occurs thirteen times in Scripture. The significance of thirteen is that of

rebellion and the work of Satan. Practically all the titles of Satan are multiples of 13, and the suggestion that

leaven is a type of evil is strengthened by this fact.

Let us notice how the word is used in other New Testament passages. In Matthew's Gospel the Lord uses it

as a type of corrupt and corrupting doctrine. `Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the

Sadducees ... Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the

doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees' (Matt. 16:6-12). In Mark 8:15 we read, `Beware of the leaven

of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod'.

A further explanation is given of the meaning of the leaven of the Pharisees in Luke 12:1, `Beware ye of the

leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy'. Scripture affords us therefore the plain statement that the Lord

Jesus used the figure of leaven as a type of evil doctrine and hypocrisy. This of itself should be sufficient to

dispose of the idea that the leaven in Matthew 13 is typical of the truth. Every occurrence of the word,

moreover, whether in the New Testament or the Old Testament, bears out the fixed meaning of the symbol. The

apostle Paul uses leaven as a figure in 1 Corinthians 5:6,7,8, and Galatians 5:9. He speaks of the `leaven of

baseness and wickedness', and contrasts it with `the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' (1 Cor. 5:8). The

passage opens with the words, `Know ye not that a little leaven doth leaven the whole lump? Purge ye out the

old leaven', and ends with the words, `Remove ye the wicked man from among yourselves' (1 Cor. 5:6-13).

In Exodus 12:15 we read in connection with the Passover, `Ye shall put away leaven out of your houses'.

Exodus 34:25 and Leviticus 2:11 declare, `Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven', and `No

meal offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven'. Here we see that both the

sacrifice with blood, and the wonderful bloodless meal offering, must alike be free from leaven. Amos,

speaking of Israel's sins, says, `Come to Beth-el, and transgress ... and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with

leaven ... for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD' (Amos 4:4,5). Leaven is undoubtedly a

type of evil as used by the Holy Spirit in the inspired Word.

What of the three measures of meal? They certainly cannot typify the corrupt human heart any more than

the corrupting leaven can represent the blessed truth of God. Neither can the three measures of pure meal

represent the `Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Greek sections of Christendom'. If they do, then the Protestant

expositors who are largely the supporters of this interpretation must confess that Rome is looked upon by the

Lord in the same light as their own community, and will finally be `leavened with the gospel' (to use their own