And again he said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.
The Lord has just compared God's kingdom to a mustard seed, and now to a woman hiding leaven in three measures of flour. Is the leaven the gospel winning the world, or something else spreading through it?
This parable covers the time while the King is away.
In verse 21 the kingdom is compared to leaven. And leaven is exactly what spreads through the whole mass that holds it. It also gives its character to the thing it is in. It is the profession of Christianity in name only, spread into a great mass — a great system. Looked at as a doctrine, it has leavened whole countries. Still, it is not what the Lord could own, since leaven in Scripture is never used in a good sense. The idea is the spreading of the doctrine while the king is away.
Darby also notes what this parable never mentions.
Notice that there is not a word here about the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with the spread of Christian doctrine. The Lord is simply describing the effect this produces in the world.
In the parable just before, a man plants; here a woman hides. The two figures stand for different things.
The man pictures the one who acts in public. The woman pictures the condition that results from what is done in secret... There is the spread of doctrine, of creed, of a mere spoken confession that does not imply faith. It is not only that something rises from the smallest beginning and becomes a great and towering power on earth. There is also a doctrinal system spread over a defined space — Christendom — and it affects people's minds and feelings.
The word "hid" carries weight, and so does what happens after it.
The Lord's word suggests secret dealing on the woman's part. She hid the small piece of leaven in the three measures of meal. And you know the effect of leaven is to spread itself throughout the whole mass in which it is present. The leaven spread through all three measures of meal. There was no further effort by the woman; the leavening process went on of itself.
Kelly points to Plutarch, an ancient biographer, and what he said about leaven:
"Leaven," says that old biographer, "both arises from corruption and itself corrupts the mass with which it is mixed."
Many have read this parable as the gospel gradually converting mankind. Commentators in this collection reject that reading outright.
Leaven, in Scripture, notice, is always a figure of evil. People have tried to make out that it means good, but that is twisting Scripture. In the parable in Matthew 13 the woman hides leaven in three measures of meal. That is not the gospel converting the world, as many teach. It is the solemn fact that professing Christianity, which God set up pure, has been completely corrupted. Leaven means what is evil there, as it does elsewhere in Scripture.
The measured quantity itself argues against a world-wide conversion:
It does not mean the whole world becoming Christian. That is a groundless conclusion, and many plain Scriptures that deal with this subject directly say the opposite. Only a very small part of the world is even Christian in name... We hear of "three measures." That is a certain definite space of the world which God has allowed doctrine that is Christian in name to influence — a witness even more than enough.
The writers say "meal" where the ESV says "flour". Either way, the detail is not neutral.
The "three measures of meal" refer to the fine flour of the meal offering, and no leaven was ever to go into it (Leviticus 2:11). The essential point is that the woman is doing the very thing that was forbidden... For the meal offering is Christ the bread of life, the food of God's priestly people. Mixing in the leaven means that the woman, the professing church, adulterates Christ in that very character.
Kelly draws the practical lesson from the rule the Jew lived by.
There might be new forms of evil besides those of old habits and associations. The Jew had to shut out all leaven. In the same way, the Christian has a solemn call to deal with evil in every shape, sparing none.
- Leaven corrupts. It comes from corruption, and it corrupts what it touches. Scripture never uses it as a picture of something good.
- Leaven hides. The woman conceals it, so the damage happens quietly, inside the mass, out of public view.
- Leaven spreads. The woman does nothing more. The leaven works through the whole measured quantity on its own.
- Leaven adulterates Christ. The three measures recall the offering that had to be free of leaven. So the pure food of God's priestly people is spoiled.
- Leaven must be judged. No one can purify the whole mass. Yet each Christian has a solemn call to deal with evil in every form, sparing none.