More on Leaven

After quite a bit of digging around, I think I have found the answer to the unleavened bread thing. :)

"So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leaven from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." (Ex. 12:14-15)

"Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven e seen among you in all your quarters." (Ex. 13:7)

Those are just two passages, but there are multitudes in Exodus and Leviticus.

Here's what the New Testament says about leavean.

"Then Jesus sadi to them, 'take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees."' (Mat. 16:6).

"Then he charged them, saying 'take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'" (mark 8:15)

From those two verses, it sounds like leaven isn't such a good thing. But what does it represent?

"Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Saducees." (mat. 16:12)

So, the leaven that Jesus is warning against is the doctrine of the Pharisees/Saducees. This doctrine could be the Old Testament law of Moses, or it could be the fact that they were so religiously puffed up. But the reason they were religiously puffed up was because they were stuck in the OT law...

Galations 5:9 says "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."

So that makes me think that maybe leaven isn't such a bad thing, if it is in small quantity! So perhaps the "leaven of the Pharisees" is the OT law, because, though we have a new law of grace, the OT law is still good to know and understand.

"...do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrified 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." (1 Cor. 5:6-8)

There are a couple of verses that still confuse me; maybe one of you all will have some insight on them. :)

"Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven..." (Amos 4:5)

"Another parable he spoke to them: 'the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." (matt 13:33)