An essential part of observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread was Israel’s removal of leaven from their dwellings before the festival, so that no leaven could be found or eaten for seven days (Exo. 12:15, 19). To remember the day Israel went out of Egypt by the strength of YHWH’s hand, Moses commanded, “No leavened bread shall be eaten, seen among you, nor be seen in your quarters” (Exo. 13:3, 7). Later, through Moses, YHWH ordered that Israel never offer leaven in the grain portion of the burnt offering. Why is there serious emphasis on the type of bread eaten or offered? 

Beyond its well-known corrupting or souring effect on bread dough, which spreads quietly and subtly until the whole lump is leavened, Scripture portrays leavening as a metaphor for evil. Hosea saw the wickedness of Israel’s adultery against God as insidiously leavening the entire community (Hos. 7:1-4). When Israel refused to respond to God’s corrective measures, He likened their boastful religiosity to offering thanksgiving sacrifices with leavening (Amo. 4:5). Luke defined the leaven of the Pharisees as hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  While making bread more palatable, the entrapment of air within a lump of bread dough compares to the arrogance of pride. Cancerous corruption was always associated with chaos, the decay of death, the cutting off from order and life.

In Yeshua’s day, He instructed the Israelites in four parables to illustrate how deeply the enemy’s thinking had infiltrated their entire society (Mat. 13:1-43). On this same day, after He sent the multitudes away, He spoke three additional parables to His disciples in a markedly different tone, expressing His chesed dedication to their salvation and assignment (Mat. 13:44-51). Yeshua charged His scribes (disciples) to use His instruction concerning the kingdom of heaven like good householders bringing out of their storehouses things new and old (verse 52). In the Israelite community, the scribe was skilled in the Law of Moses and assisted the people in understanding the readings. Yeshua implied feeding the people with that which came from Him, a new understanding of the old. They would soon feed the multitudes of four and five thousand with the bread that He gave them. His trained scribes, instructed in His doctrine, were to bring forth provision out of His treasury. He modeled this by taking what was old—the physical types in the stage of Israel’s history that were familiar to them in the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets—and by explaining their mystery or interpretation, thus opening new spiritual insight. Yeshua brought both new and old from His treasury of knowledge and understanding to deliver them from the way of leaven.

Then in Magdala, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Him to test Him, asking for a sign from heaven that He was the Christ (Matt.16). Yeshua rebuked them for not perceiving His work’s significance—that the power of His outstretched arm in His miracles delivered them from bondage in the same way that YHWH’s arm had delivered Israel out of Egypt, revealing His name. He warned His disciples of the evil of unbelief (blindness) in Judah’s leaders, to be careful and beware that their leaven did not spread to them (Matt. 16:5–12). “Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (vs. 12). Having their own doctrine or interpretation of the Law, Isaiah said of them, “They teach as doctrine the commandments of men” (Isa. 29:13). With authority, Yeshua taught the Law’s intended aim, the doctrine of Christ, the way of the exodos.

To shield His chosen from the pervasive unbelief found in the Scribes and Pharisees’ doctrine, the Teacher took His disciples twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee to build upon His statement, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6, 11–12; Mark 8:15 “leaven of the Pharisees and Herod”). Near Caesarea Philippi, at the base of Mount Hermon, the northern primary source of the Jordan River gushed from under a massive rock. In dedication to the gods of the underworld, the cliffs lining the ravine were carved with niches housing their images, forming a sanctuary of caverns that resembled a burial place. It was obvious that the worship of these gods locked their victims in graves of not hearing or knowing the Most High God.

Yeshua started the conversation with His disciples by asking, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matt. 16:13). The “Son of Man” was given all power, dominion, and glory in an everlasting kingdom (Dan. 7:13–14), the promised Seed sent by God to deliver us from exile. Then He asked, “But who do you say that I am?” An impetuous Peter replied quickly, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Yeshua responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock (with its gushing fountainhead), I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Two crucial truths emerge from Yeshua’s revelation. The source of His followers’ knowledge and wisdom had to come from the Father in heaven. Since their belief in Him made them members of His household, they were like firstborn living stones. Yeshua would build His family by conquering the underworld, opening humanity’s graves, and freeing them from the chains of death by His blood sacrifice. From the rock at Caesarea Philippi flowed living water, just as in Israel’s wilderness journey, and from Yeshua’s broken body would flow the spirit of the living God, healing and opening knowledge of God.

“Gates of Hades” refers to the grave’s strength. Hades is the negation of seeing, eido (Strong’s NT 1492). Eido is often used to describe a person’s spiritual eyes being opened, enabling understanding of the correct interpretation of the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets. Yeshua told Israel’s rulers they did err, not knowing (eido) the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29), and because of it, they were like whitewashed tombs, full of death and uncleanness. Not knowing God is death, Hades. Its opposite, knowing (eido) God, is life eternal (John 17:3). Death, like the ignorant, powerless idols of the gods, disconnected from life, could not prevail over the only God and Source of life and knowledge.

Takeaway:

Yeshua did everything according to God’s will. The Father taught Yeshua and worked in Him, and He taught His disciples to be mindful of the things of God and not of men. Everything they did and said was to have its source in the living Most High God. By Yeshua’s death and resurrection, He opened the graves of those locked in living death and breathed the spirit of life into them. From people filled with His Holy Spirit, He builds His family, His church, and His body. The lesson Yeshua taught-“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”-warns His followers that feeding on and teaching any doctrine other than the heavenly source can only result in death, not knowing God, and being cut off from life. Leaven is hypocrisy and false doctrine.  Truth is unleavened and the genuine doctrine (bread) of Christ.

Fun Factors:
Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15b; Luke 12:1b
Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” (Mat. 16:6) has 74 letters, 15 words, and a letter sum of 9697, the 1197^th prime and 595^th Pythagorean prime, the sum of two squares 81² + 56². The number 81, or 3 × 27, represents a transition from physical to spiritual on the 8-1 day of the week, the day of circumcision, the day of the wavesheaf offering, the day of the priesthood’s work, the day of Pentecost, and the number value of Bethany, the place of Yeshua’s return. The number 56, which is 8 × 7, is the sum of the light God called “Day.” When 9697’s reverse is subtracted from it, it yields 1728 or 12³, the reality of the foundation.

“Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mar. 8:15) has 11 words with a sum of 7625, 5³ × 61, 61 is the 18^th prime and 8^th Pythagorean prime; 7625 is the sum of two squares 5² + 6² times 5³, the Sabbath reality of new creation man (25 + 36) in His holy temple (5³).

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luk. 12:1) has 10 words with a sum of 8660, 2² × 5 × 433; 433 is the 84^th prime and 41^st Pythagorean prime; 8660 is the sum of two squares, 17² + 12² times 20, three numbers stamped with the firstfruits victory.

All three warnings shine light on the true God and His unleavened word of life, the upright sum of two squares. The word total from these three scriptures is 36, the sum of ohel, a word used for the tabernacle tent, the place of Israel’s (12 unleavened loaves) basking in the light of YHWH’s Presence.