Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - MEANINGS

                                                                                                    

                                                                                              MEANINGS

One of the difficulties encountered when reading the Bible is the fact that different words may have the same meaning or the same word may have different meanings. This may cause difficulties in accepting what is being stated in Scripture.

For example, In Leviticus it states that:

On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight 

is the Lord’s Passover.

(Leviticus 23:5)    

It also says in the book of Esther that:

…the first month, which is the month of Nisan… 

(Ester 3:7)

Now, at the first Passover, the Hebrews were told to do quickly what had to be done for even…

…the Egyptians urged the people, 

that they might send them out of the land in haste.

(Exodus 12:33)

So apparently, the exodus began shortly after Passover in the month of Nissan. But in Deuteronomy it states:

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, 

for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt… 

(Deuteronomy 16:1)

It’s important to know the Abib refers to the month of newly ripened grain and is an older term in Judaism for the month of Nisan.

Similarly, in the Bible and in Mosaic Law, leaven is used to represent sin or corruption. And when the Hebrews were told to bake unleavened cakes it meant that they were to leave behind the sin and bondage of Egypt. Additionally, their cakes were not leavened because…

 

…they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait [for bread to rise]…

(Exodus 12:39)

In the New Testament, however, Jesus also spoke about leaven in a parable.

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, 

which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal 

until it was all leavened. 

(Matthew 13:33)

In the Old Testament, leaven represented sin and bondage and was to be left behind when the Hebrews fled from Egypt. Just as one rotten apple can ruin the whole bushel, a little sin can infect and corrupt a whole people. But in the New Testament, Jesus referred to leaven in a different way but again as a substance which can permeate the whole as it did with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

…beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

(Matthew 16:11)

But leaven may also refer to the symbolism of the church [a woman] mixing the message with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit [three measures of wheat] until the earth is permeated. Again, as it says in Matthew:

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, 

which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal 

until it was all leavened. 

(Matthew 13:33)

It’s always important to consider context and meaning when reading or studying Scripture and that in turn is something to always think about.