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T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S 2:1-3).—Scofield. If leaven signified the diffusive power of Christianity, the tares (v. 20) would be eradicated be fore the harvest.—K. B. Leaven is a piece of dough in a state of decomposi tion caused by the presence in it of tiny organisms which produce rapid corrup tion. During this process a gas is evolved. When a small piece is put into a mass of dough and exposed to gentle heat, two actions occur. De composition spreads in every direction; the gases produced by the fermentation cause the dough to swell to an unnat ural Size and shape.—Mauro. The Gos pel does not work like leaven. It must be propagated with great vigor in order to make progress. Evil left to itself works like leaven, quietly and subtly permeating.—Sel.. A woman took and hid. The woman, the apostate church, mixed the leaven of false doctrine (Matt. 16:6, 12) into the children’s bread and the life of the church was leavefned.—Torrey. A woman under Satanic influence corrupts the doctrine of Christ, a prophecy abundantly ful filled. See Rev. 2:20; 16, referring to the Romish apostasy. Rome speaks of “Mother Church” and she is the cor- ruptress of true Christianity. Note also other wicked corruptions originating with women. Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy; Seventh Day Adventism, Mrs. White; Spiritism, Fox Sisters; Theos ophy, Mrs. Blavatsky, etc.—Gaebelein. If good is being done, all the ethics of other Scripture are being reversed, for to Christ the Man, never to woman, sym bolically or actually, belongs the source and power of salvation.—Needham. Three measures of meal. There is a probable reference to the meal offering of which it was distinctly commanded that it should not be made with leaven (Lev. 2:11).—Habershon. The meal offering speaks of Christ as the food of His people of which they partake in communing with God. The woman is doing what the Word of God prohib its. She is putting leaven into the meal
ance has no trace whatever of the heav enly kingdom which the Lord brought into the world but has decked itself with all the trappings of earthly great- ness.—-Mauro. Birds of the air. Rep resent worldly powers of evil (Ezek. 17:20-24; Dan. 4:20-22), a picture of unconverted people allying themselves with' Christendom for the benefits con ferred by such association. — Wm. Evans. The birds are no part of the tree itself. They are foreign to it and ready to fly away at the least alarm. They cannot represent converts as some have assumed. Branches, not birds, more fitly stand for converts (Jno. 15: 5) .-^Needham. The birds snatch away from the hearts of men the seeds of truth, sometimes by denial, sometimes by subterfuge, sometimes by skilfully removing the kernel while leaving the verbal husk of sound doctrine.—Mauro. v. 33. Kingdom like leaven. The whole parable should be taken into con sideration. The kingdom is likened not merely to leaven but to a woman hiding leaven in meal. Thé woman’s action suggests the secret introduction of a foreign substance which affects that into which it is put, and in view of Lev. 2:11 which prohibits leaven with the meal offerings, it seems clear that the parable represents a woman as in troducing a substance which renders the offering unacceptable to God.—Thomas. Leaven was to the Jews the symbol of evil. There could be no two opinions amongst them as to its signifying evil. —»Habershon. 1 Cor. 5:6-8 is an in spired commentary on this word. Our Lord Himself fixed the' meaning of leayen. (Matt. 16:6-12; Mk. 8:15).— Sel. Leaven is the principle of corrup tion. Working subtly, it is invariably used in a bad sense. It constitutes a w'arning that the true doctrine given for the nourishment of the children of the kingdom would be mixed with corrupt ing false doctrine and that officially, by the apostate church itself (1 Tim. 4: 1-3; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 4:3, 4; 2 Pet.
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