Category Archives: Bible Study

Bible and Science-Yeast, A Model of Church Growth

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Bible and Science-Yeast, A Model of Church Growth

Matthew 13:33 “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”(NIV)

To understand this passage we need to look at how yeast grows. Yeasts are eukaryotic and can divide by a process called budding. (Most cells divide into two even-sized cells.) In budding a small uneven sized pouch of cell material forms on the “mother cell.”yeastS_cerevisiae_under_DIC_microscopy In this pouch go all of the organelles and other chemicals that are needed for it to live; since it is eukaryotic DNA also goes into the bud. The mother cell has given the bud everything it needs to live on its own including the reproduction information – DNA. The bud may stay attached to the mother cell and actually start its own bud. (Under a microscope I have seen several of these all strung out from the mother cell.)

Churches may grow the same way. The church can send out a few people who are equipped with everything needed to start and grow a new church. (Personal Opinion: I see Hillsong Church growing in this method around the world.)

∞Jesus, let me be like Isaiah and say, “Lord, send me.” Isaiah 6:8

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bread.htm

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/get-know-nutritional-yeast?sf28652915=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast

pic from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast#mediaviewer/File:S_cerevisiae_under_DIC_microscopy.jpg

Bible and Science-Yeast, All Bad?

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Bible and Science-Yeast, All Bad?

Leviticus 23: 17 Bring two loaves of bread baked with yeast as a wave offering.

Mark 8:15 “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

Most of the time when yeast is mentioned in the Bible it is connected with sin. The references to the loaves of bread at Pentecost (see Happy Birthday Church of Jesus) and the kingdom of heaven (God) is said to be LIKE yeast (Matthew 13:33) are the only positive references. Scripture does not tell us why yeast has gotten this labeling. The Israelites could have it for baking their regular bread but it could not be used for bread connected with any offering or feast (except Pentecost).

yeastS_cerevisiae_under_DIC_microscopyYeast lives by breaking down sugars. Carbon dioxide, which causes bread to rise, is one product and the other is alcohol. Yeast may be found on all kinds of surfaces but they will live on the outside of fruit and grains; this is why they will naturally spoil and ferment. God knew/knows this He made them. But these facts should not have them be connected to sin (my reasoning here). Some yeast is considered “good” and some are termed “wild.” The wrong yeast in a batch of beer or wine and you do not get the specific taste you are wanting. So bread makers and brewers are particular about what they put in their wares.

After reading a lot of literature on the subject here are some ideas as to why yeast may be connected with “bad.”

  1. It works unseen and affects everything it is in.
  2. The smell could be associated with something dead.
  3. It may give a sour taste to the bread.
  4. Egypt had cult worship related to bread and beer.

I am leaning to #4 as the reason because Father God did not want anything Egyptian imported into His worship. The Israelites had enough problems with this so why add another thing like yeast in bread.

∞ Father, let me spread good in Your Kingdom.

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bread.htm

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/get-know-nutritional-yeast?sf28652915=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast

pic from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast#mediaviewer/File:S_cerevisiae_under_DIC_microscopy.jpg

What I Learned From Studying Yeast

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What I Learned From Studying Yeast

This study started with Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:21 and as usual, it spread from there.   The fact that it is paired with the Parable of the Mustard Seed in both of these passages is important. Jesus was showing the importance of small things done in and for His kingdom. Many times we overlook the little things we do as not important. Most of the literature I read about yeast in ancient cultures seemed to agree that they did not know about the yeast cell and that they were infusing something living into the bread dough. In our normal thinking that would be right because microscopes were not around but you have to wonder if Jesus knew!

Depending on the translation you will need to look for the words yeast, leavened, and unleavened if you want to study more on this topic. KJV does not have the word yeast but NIV does.

The amount of flour was interesting as the passages stress it was a large amount. In the NIV that amount is referenced three times: Genesis 18: 6, Judges 6:19, and in 1 Samuel 1:24.   In Genesis, Abraham tells Sarah to make that much bread for the visitors. In Judges, Gideon uses that much flour to make a meal for the angel and in the Book of Samuel Hannah took that much flour with her as an offering when she dedicated her son to God. The amount roughly translates to twenty quarts or forty cups. If you have ever made bread that is enough for at least eight to ten loaves of bread. The regular offering amount with a sacrifice would have been four quarts. I guess Abraham and Gideon were putting their “best foot forward” to impress their guests or to make sure they had extra to take with them.

In 1 Corinthians 5: 6- 8 Paul clearly says to get rid of the “old yeast” (NIV) because Jesus had gone through the Passover. But he names the yeast as “malice and wickedness,” which is also done in other places in the Gospels and the New Testament (the yeast were named Ex. yeast of the Pharisees and Herod). If you have ever used a sourdough starter you may understand the idea of old/bad yeast. If the starter goes bad you WANT to throw it away and start over, as it really smells bad.

At a small home fellowship, we once attended the pastor had an interesting revelation during communion one Sunday. (We used real wine and sometimes yeast bread. I know but that is what happened. We also used saltines if that is all we had.) Anyway for the wine and the bread to become what they were many grapes and grains of wheat were brought together but it required yeast to convert them into that usable form.

A final thought on wine and yeast. Wine/beer was/is made with the action of yeast. The wine was allowed/required to be presented as part of the offering at a sacrifice (Leviticus 23:13). The yeast in wine makes enough alcohol to kill itself and when the bread is baked that normally kills off the yeast. One was required and the other was forbidden! The Biology teacher in me still will wonder if it has something to do with the living organism? NOTE: From my reading, the Egyptians apparently made their beer from baked bread.

A Name Is Important

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I recently had a comment that said I was not calling the children of Abraham by the correct terms. Basically I was misusing the words Israelite, Hebrew, and Jew. The reference source was the 1980 Jewish Almanac and it said, “Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an Ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew.” The commenter, I feel, had another reason for informing me of my error (enough said).

In Sid Roth’s book They Thought For Themselves one testimony quoted a rabbis as saying, “You cannot understand the Bible without the Jewish Commentaries” (p 102). So staying in that line of thinking I found in http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_hebrews.htm that in the Book of Exodus they were called Israelites (1:1) and Hebrews (1:15). While in Jeremiah 32:12 they were referred to as Jews. Israelite comes from the words Bnei Yisroel or Children of Israel, Hebrew is from Ivri, and Jew is Yehudim because the kings of Israel were from the Tribe of Judah.

A Look at the Biblical Calendar

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A Look at the Biblical Calendar

In Mark 14: 5 some disciples were complaining about Jesus being anointed with a “bottle” of pure nard.  The complaint was it could be sold for a year’s wage or three hundred denarii.  According to Matthew 20, a denarius was a day’s wage.  The year in the Bible was twelve months or lunar cycles (29 ½ days). (Some years had thirteen months to make up the eleven-day difference and that would keep the season in line with the calendar.)  So why only 300 denarii?

They were to rest on the Sabbath, so there are forty-eight days (four weeks times 12 months).  For the missing days, we need to look to the feast days, I will use Leviticus 23.  These had a “no work” or “no regular work” day associated with them, which means they would not be paid on these days.

  • Unleavened Bread – one at the beginning and the end
  • Pentecost – one day
  • Feast of Trumpets – one day
  • Day of Atonement – one day
  • Feast of Tabernacles – one at the beginning and the end
  • This is seven no work days.

That totals to 299 days – I guess we can round off one day or it is more than a year’s worth of wages.