06/16/2026
Purge Out The Old Leaven
The law [of Moses] defined several Sabbaths or ‘high days’ that were celebrated as feasts (festivals), such as 'feast of weeks': Shavuoth (Hb. שָׁבֻעֹת֙ - šā·ḇu·‘ōṯ) as “weeks”, 'feast of tabernacles': Sukkoth (Hb. הַסֻּכּ֛וֹת - has·suk·kō·wṯ : tents, booths) as “tabernacles'', and the Pesach (Passover) (Hb. פֶּ֥סַח - pe·saḥ) for which there was no suitable English word. The Pesach (Passover) day occurs every year on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month (Nisan), and is immediately followed by a weeklong 'feast of unleavened bread': Massoth (Hb. מַצּוֹת֙ - maṣ·ṣō·wṯ) as 'unleavened bread', and commemorates the Israelite escape from the slavery and oppression of Egypt (sin), and being spared from the plague of the death of the firstborn. The fact that the Passover day is immediately followed by the sabbath day beginning of the week-long festival of unleavened bread, shows the close relationship between these two festivals and principles. Even during the exodus from Egypt the Jews were given instruction to eat the Passover along with ‘unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs’.[Exodus 12:8]
The Pesach or Passover referred to the lamb (goat) that was slain and blood used to splatter over the house’s doorposts [Exodus 12:21], as well as the meal of eating the lamb(goat) [Luke 22:15], as well as the process of skipping over the house and sparing the inhabitants from the plague of the death of firstborn[Exodus 12:13], as well as the ceremonial festivities celebrating the Passover. Israel started as a nation, as did their calendars, when they were about to leave Egypt. For as YAHWEH declared “this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.“[Exodus 12:2]
The principle present in the Passover is that YAHWEH does not distinguish between Hebrews and Egyptians by appearance or even actions, as they are all sinners and ‘all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;’[Romans 3:23], so it was only the presence of the blood of the lamb that He used to distinguish between those designated to die, and those to be ‘skipped over’ and spared from death; as He said “when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”[Exodus 12:13] This principle is also true for all believers, as it is our faith in Jesus and his presence over the doorposts of our heart and life of Christ that sanctifies and justifies us before the Father; and what separates us from the world, not our appearance nor even our own ‘works of righteousness which we have done‘[Titus 3:5].
However, in order to be eligible to keep and partake of the Passover, the person needed to be circumcised, as illegal partakers were 'strangers' and thus forbidden. This principle is confirmed when YAHWEH “said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.”[Exodus 12:43-44] This is because the Passover was only for the covenant people of God, which equates to the salvation of Jesus being only available to those in covenant relationship with him through baptism, as random arbitrary people will not benefit from Jesus' sacrifice. At the last supper, Jesus said to his disciples that “with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:”[Luke 22:15], indicating that his heart felt desire to share his life and victory with them (and us), and his eager desire to eat it a new in the Father’s kingdom[Luke 22:16,18].
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.” - Exodus 12:11
In addition, YAHWEH commanded that on the night of the Passover, as they were about to Exodus from the Egyptian captivity, in order to emphasize the urgency of escaping and the need for preparation, He commanded them to be dressed and ready, and to prepare unleavened dough in their kneading troughs, because they were going to be hastily running away from Egypt [Exodus 12:11]; and they were not going to have time prepare bread while on the run, and the bread they would have with them needed to be ready and long lasting, and since leavened bread corrupts significantly quicker and becomes inedible due to the mold that forms from leaven. As we know, the blood sprinkled over the doorpost teaches of Jesus’ blood that covers sin and grants salvation from death, and since Jesus is the (unleavened) bread of life or bread that gives life [John 6:51], it is fitting that the bread the Israelites carried with them as they escaped Egyptian slavery (sin) is Jesus, the bread that sustained them on their journey.
BREAD
Manna got its name from the question [Hb. מן הוא : mān hū :- "What is it?"], which the Israelites asked when they first saw it [Exodus 16:15]. It was later called (Hb. הוא : mān :- "What?"). It was the "bread of heaven" and “angels food” [Psalm 78:24, 25] that God provided for the Israelites, while He led them through the harsh conditions of the Wilderness of Sin [Exodus 16], where they made their eighth stop of the forty-two stops (viz ‘station’) [Exodus 16:1, 17:1; Numbers 33:11-12], which was “between Elim and Sinai". Manna appearance “was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey”[Exodus 16:31], and it’s appearance was like “bdellium” or “resin.”[Numbers 11:7] Manna came each morning, except on the Sabbath day. It was to be collected each day for that day alone, and only as much as could be eaten in one day; except the day before the Sabbath where they were to collect twice their daily amounts. If a person tried to hoard it for selfish reasons, then it would grow wormy and foul. This made it impossible for the Israelites to evade total dependence on God’s provision. The miracle of manna ceased shortly after the Israelites entered the Promised Land [Joshua 5:12].
Like everything else in the Torah (“Teachings”, “Instructions”), manna was a type or foreshadow of Jesus. After Jesus had miraculously fed the 5,000, they wanted him to “give us this bread always” [John 6:34]. Jesus then brought their attention to the fact that the ancient manna which came down from heaven foreshadowed himself, and how Moses gave the people manna in the wilderness but they are dead, and that he is the ‘true bread’ [manna] that came from heaven in the same way, but this time the true bread that came down gives eternal life. [John 6:32-35]
There was no food in the wilderness, and because they were nomadic they could grow their own food. The only way they could survive was from being totally dependent on YAHWEH God’s provisions and providence, as otherwise they would physically starve to death. In the same way we are totally dependent on God’s providence and provision, and without Jesus we would spiritually starve to death. The manna bread in the wilderness only filled their belly, but Jesus the true bread fills our spirit.
“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." - John 6:33
While teaching that he was “the living bread which came down from heaven:”, Jesus explains his true origins and purpose by comparing and contrasting himself as being better and the full manifestation of the intention of the manna YAH provided in the ancient Israelites. Jesus asserted to the Jews that “your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” [John 6:49-50] Just as the ancient Israelites ate the manna that saved them, we as believers must likewise also (symbolically) eat Jesus. In the context of Jesus being ‘the bread that I will give is my flesh’, he goes on to command that eternal life can only be obtained by those “that eateth my flesh”, which was a spiritual instruction that was not only misunderstood by his critics the Pharisees, who “strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”, but also was misunderstood by many of Jesus’ own followers. Upon hearing Jesus' words, “many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?”[John 6:60]
LEAVEN
The Israelites were commanded to make the dough for bread but leave it in the troughs without baking nor adding leaven. This is because they would be leaving Egypt in haste and not have time to prepare bread, and also that they would be able to have bread to sustain them when they are on the run from the Egyptians who would try to kill or re-enslave them. To commemorate their deliverance from Egypt, God instructed the Israelites to celebrate the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.”, which was a week of feasting following the Passover Day (the 14th day of the 1st month on the Jewish calendar), during which the Israelites were to remove all leaven from their houses, and eat no bread that contained leaven [Exodus 12:15; 13:6–7]
Scripture uses defining characteristics of selected plants, animals or things to teach important spiritual lessons. Scripture uses the defining property of leaven (viz yeast), and how it starts small at first but then gradually grows and spreads in order to teach spiritual principles and lessons. When leaven is put into dough it causes it to rise and 'swell up'. The leavened dough or bread eventually becomes corrupted, and deteriorates significantly quicker than unleavened dough or bread. Scripture often uses this eventual corrupting effect of leaven to teach of growth, spread and effects; and depending on the context, leaven typically represents sin, corruption, and false teachings, because it only takes a tiny amount to silently spread through and alter an entire batch of dough. The exception to the theme of leaven being associated with sin and evil is where Jesus said in a "another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."[Matthew 13:33], where the principle of “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” is used in a good way to teach how the gospel of the kingdom of God will start off small, but will gradually and secretly grow and permeate the earth.
Leaven is often used in scripture as a metaphor for how sin, bad knowledge or doctrinal errors spreads and corrupts that which is produced(viz bread). This principle holds true for the children of Israel [Exodus 12:20], as well as Jesus’ disciples [Galatians 5:9], and we are counseled to put a difference between good and evil, good and bad behavior and lifestyle, good and bad knowledge, in order to purge out and eliminate their corrupting effect, so that we can be free from their destructive influence as advised by the apostle who who urges sincerity and truth , and that we “purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”[I Corinthians 5:7-8] The context was that Paul's admonishing believers at the church at Corinth, where there was a member who was engaged in open sexual immorality, and the apostle Paul warned the church against tolerating this sin in their midst, and the need to rebuke or remove the member by 'purging'. He used leaven as a metaphor [1 Corinthians 5:1–8] to warn of the spreading and corrupting effect of the man's sin.
Unleavened bread teaches of moral purity and holiness, and of being free and separate from sin, as scripture treats leaven as a permeating agent that symbolizes corruption (Exodus 12:15; Leviticus 2:11), and the removing of leaven dramatizes purity and a call to moral cleansing. The unleavened bread was a type and prefigure of Jesus Anointed, who by his sinless life fulfilled the requirement of a life that was not corrupted by sin wrong doctrine nor moral failure. Jesus was crucified during Passover and buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which personified the bread without leaven. At the Lord’s Supper, believers in a figure partake of unleavened bread (Matthew 26:26) as a memorial of Jesus' holy life and body offered for the sins of the people in covenant relationship with him.
EXTENDED MEANING OF LEAVEN
“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.” - Exodus 12:11
YAHWEH commanded that on the night of the Passover, as they were about to Exodus from the Egyptian captivity, in order to emphasize the urgency of escaping and the need for preparation, He commanded them to be dressed and ready, and to prepare unleavened dough in their kneading troughs, because they were going to be hastily running away from Egypt [Exodus 12:11]; and they were not going to have time prepare bread while on the run, and the bread they would have with them needed to be ready and long lasting, and since leavened bread corrupts significantly quicker and becomes inedible due to the mold that forms from leaven. As we know, the blood sprinkled over the doorpost teaches of Jesus’ blood that covers sin and grants salvation from death, and since Jesus is the (unleavened) bread of life or bread that gives life [John 6:51], it is fitting that the bread the Israelites carried with them as they escaped Egyptian slavery (sin) is Jesus, the bread that sustained them on their journey.
They way yeast/leaven is obtained by the ancients reveals further spiritual lessons worth considering. Nowadays, leaven is obtained from the food store or supermarket, and is sourced from commercial baker's yeast (*Saccharomyces cerevisiae*) which is mass-produced in large, sterile industrial facilities rather than being sourced from breweries. Manufacturers isolate a pure, highly active strain of yeast and feed it a mixture of sugars (like molasses) and nutrients in giant, oxygen-rich fermentation tanks. Once the cells multiply, they are filtered, dried, and packaged for the market. However, in ancient times, the Israelites obtained leaven (yeast) by capturing wild yeasts and bacteria from the air. They achieved this by saving a piece of unbaked dough from a previous batch—a method called "backslopping". This fermented "starter" was mixed into new flour and water to create leavened bread, functioning much like modern sourdough.
The lesson is that leavened bread is made by adding an old piece of bread to the new batch of bread that is to be made. Bread symbolizes something that is made by a process that begins with ingredients that are processed into a finished product. Egypt is often used in scripture as a metaphor for a life of sin[Ezekiel 16:26; Revelation 11:8], and the life of the Israelites was the result of a process that had bad ingredients and influence in Egypt, such as their cultural practices, their false religions, and their norms and customs. These things of Egypt could be summarized as corrupted bread. So when the Israelites were commanded to not add leaven to their dough, and that they should leave Egypt without adding leaven, it teaches the principle of leaving their corrupted (bread) life of sin behind, and not bringing with them the corrupting knowledge, ideas and behaviors they had acquired in Egypt. The new bread of the new life, the new knowledge and ideas, and the new attitudes and behaviors they would now be acquiring from God would be free from the old thinking, ways and behaviors that they left in Egypt. This understanding adds flavor to Paul's advice to "purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:"[I Corinthians 5:7], where we are urged to remove the corrupting things from our life, so that we can be morally pure and free from the damaging effects.
Jesus compared the teaching of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Herodians to leaven [Matthew 16:6–12], and warned his disciples about how a small amount of the “leaven” of false doctrine, pride hypocrisy can permeate a person’s heart and mind, and poison and corrupt a person whole life and character [Luke 12:1]. The extended meaning of Jesus' words was that not only was the teachings of the Pharisees often false and misleading, but also that the disciples of Jesus needed to leave the law of Moses behind when they embark on a life of Christ, regardless of being a Jew or gentile. The stubborn adherence to seeking salvation by the ritual observation of the law of Moses turned out to be a major problem that Christian converts have struggled with from the beginning, and continues even to this day. The Jews could not let go of the law of Moses and tried several times to Judaize and convert believers into keeping the law. Even gentiles misunderstand the scripture and think that salvation requires legal observation of the law of Moses. The problem for both the Jew and the gentile is that the law of Moses as an institution requires the presence of the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple, both of which are no longer available; for “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”[Acts 4:12]
