LEAVEN (rk¥, ζύμη, fermentum).—The Hebrew word δον (ἽΝ), which probably expresses the idea of fermentation, is found only five times in the OT (Ex 12%: 137, Ly 2", Dt 16); more commonly we find a word from another root, denoting to be sour, and hence to be leavened (y2n hdméz). Bread, kneaded in a baking trough (mxvp Ex 88 12%), and leavened, probably by means of a lump of fermented dough, must have been a common article of food among the Israelites; but as time was required to allow the leaven to work (Hos 7), bread of another kind was used when food was required at short notice. This took the form of unleavened cakes (Gn 19%, Jg 6", 1S 28%), called mazzoth (nisp), either as being sweet, unsoured (ysp=‘to suck,’ so Ges.), or on account of their dry, insipid character (Fleischer in Levy, VHWB lili. 315; Nowack, Heb. Arch. ii. 145). It was, according to Ex 1229). 89. (JE), unleavened cakes of this kind that the Israelites baked for themselves on their hurried departure from Egypt, since they had not time to leaven their dough.
In early times leavened bread, as a common article of food, probably formed a part of a sacri- ficial meal, aad of the gifts offered to the Deity by the worshipper (cf. 1S 10%). In the Northern kingdom leaven was an accompaniment of the thank-offering, though Amos seems to refer to the custom in terms of disapproval (Am 4°). Traces of a similar usage are to be found even in P; for the shewbread (Ly 24° [P]) was probably leavened, while leavened cakes, as bread of the first-fruits, formed part of the sacred gifts presented at the Feast of Weeks (Lv 23", cf. 39 [H]), and also accompanied the peace-offering, when offered as a thanksgiving (Lv 7 [P]). In none of these cases, however, was the leavened bread actually placed upon the altar. On the other hand, to eat anything leavened, or even to keep it in the house, was strictly forbidden during the seven days of mazzoth (sx 1357 23'5 3418 (JE), Dt 16% *5, Ex 1914:0. Ly 235-8, Nu 28!7[P]), a festival which was originally distinet from the Passover, though Dt shows a tendency to combine the two (Dt 16%, and ef. Driver, ad loc.). A historical explanation of the prohibition is given in JE, where, as we saw, the use of unleavened cakes is connected with the events of the exodus (Ex 12%-8*), and a connexion between the exodus and mazzéth is suggested else- where (Ex 138% 234 3415), Similarly, in Dt 16% the unleavened cakes of this season are termed ‘the bread of affliction,’ from their association with the Egyptian bondage of the Israelites, and their hurried departure. Probably, however, the feast of mazzdth was originally the opening festival of the harvest season (ef. Dt 16°, Ly 23”); in this case the use of leavened cakes may be explained from the use of new corn, hastily prepared for food in the busy time at the beginning ot harvest, and from the desire not to mix the first-fruits with the last year’s dough (see Wellhausen, Proleq., Eng. tr. pp. 85-87 ; Nowak Heb. Arch. ii. 145 fy The more general prohibition of leaven in sacri- fices was doubtless due to the association of the processes of fermentation and putrefaction. Leaven was regarded as a source of corruption; and ac- cordingly P excludes it from any meal-offering (Lv 2" 6, and ef. Dillm. ad doc.), and lays down the principle that nothing leavened, nor even
LEBANON
honey, which might produce fermentation (cf. Pliny, 11, 15), was to be burnt as an offering to J”, The laws in JE (Ex 9318 34”) also forbid the use of leaven in a sacrifice, but in both passages a special reference is made to the Passover, and it is possible that the prohibition was originally confined to this feast (cf. RS p. 203 f.).
The association of leaven and corruption is not confined to the OT. Plutarch explains on this ground why the Flamen Dialis was not permitted to eat bread prepared with leaven (Ques. Rom. 109); and fermentum is used in Persius for ‘cor- ruption’ (Sat. i. 24). In the NT there is, indeed, the parable of the leaven, where its unseen influ- ence and penetrating power is taken as a symbol of the ἕπονται of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 13%, Lk 13%); but elsewhere our Lord warns His disciples against the ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees and of Herod (Mt 162, Mk 815", Lk 121); and St. Paul, emphasizing its secret and expansive work- ing, quotes the proverb, ‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump’ (Gal 5°, 1 Co 5°), to warn his converts against the contagious example of evil- doers, and exhorts them to purge out the old leaven of malice and wickedness (1 Co 5%). Similarly, in Rabbinical writers leaven is used as a symbol of evil: thus R. Alexander prays against ‘the leaven in the dough,’ i.e. the evil insingtian in the heart, which prevents man from doing the will of God (Talm. Berachoth, lia; and ct. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Mt 16°). H. A. WHITE.
LEBANA (x35), Neh 78, or LEBANAH (735), Ezr 2,—The head of a family of returning exiles, called in 1 Es 5* Labana.
LEBANON (in prose with art. }\2357, except 2 Ch 28° [Η 6.70]; in poetry 18 times with art., 20 times without. LXX Λίβανος, generally with art. ; Vulg. Libanus).*—Derived from root []29] ‘to be white,’ either from the snow which covers the summits seven months in the year, or from the light colour of the limestone in its upper ranges.