Dict: easton - Leaven

easton:

Leaven @

(1.) Heb. seor kjv@Exodus:12:15 kjv@Exodus:12:19 kjv@Exodus:13:7; kjv@Leviticus:2:11), the remnant of dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acid.

(2.) Heb. hamets, properly "ferment." In kjv@Numbers:6:3, "vinegar of wine" is more correctly "fermented wine." In kjv@Exodus:13:7, the proper rendering would be, "Unfermented things [Heb. matstsoth] shall be consumed during the seven days; and there shall not be seen with thee fermented things hamets, and there shall not be seen with thee leavened mass seor in all thy borders." The chemical definition of ferment or yeast is "a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in a continual motion." The use of leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by fire kjv@Leviticus:2:11 kjv@Leviticus:7:12 kjv@Leviticus:8:2 ; kjv@Numbers:6:15). Its secretly penetrating and diffusive power is referred to in kjv@1Corinthians:5:6. In this respect it is used to illustrate the growth of the kingdom of heaven both in the individual heart and in the world kjv@Matthew:13:33). It is a figure also of corruptness and of perverseness of heart and life kjv@Matthew:16:6 kjv@Matthew:16:11 kjv@Mark:8:15; kjv@1Corinthians:5:7-8).