The week which began with the Passover is called 'the days of unleavened bread' (Mt 26", Mk 141- ^^, Lk 22^- ''), from the practice enjoined in Ex 2^^ Lv 238, Dt 16»- ^- ».
The effect of leaven in raising a mass of dough (see above) is the basis of our Lord's parable of the Leaven (Mt IS^", Lk 13-«- -'), which sets forth the gradual and pervasive influence of the Kingdom of God upon the whole of human society.
The fermentation produced by leaven was re- garded as a species of putrefaction, and this, together with the tendency of leaven to spread, explains the figure in which ' the leaven of the IMiarisees and Sadducees ' stands for their corrupt teaching (Mt 16«- ", Mk 8'^^), or, as St. Luke puts it more specifically in the case of the Pharisees, their hypocrisy (Lk 12'). ' The leaven of Herod ' (Mk S^^) similarly denotes the policy of the Herodian party.
Literature. — Trench, Dods, Bruce, Orelli on the Parables ; Winterbothani, Kingdom of Heaven, 70 ; Drummond, Stones lidlled Away, 144 ; Scott-Holland, God's City, 143 ; MacmUlan, Two Worlds are Ours, 153 ; R. Flint, Christ's Kingdom, 170.
W. L. PoTEAT and James Patrick.
LEAVES.— The tree is often used in NT as a symbol of the life of a man. Leaves are the in- dication of the existence of life in the tree. The barren fig-tree was cursed by our Lord because it had leaves only (Mt 21", Mk ll^^) and no fruit. See Fig-tree. We have here a type of religious profession unaccompanied by practice, a spiritual condition which always drew from our Lord the strongest condemnation.
The putting forth of leaves by the fig-tree is referred to by our Lord as one of the indications that summer is nigh (Mt 24^2, Mk IS^S). See Robertson Nicoll, Ten Minute Sermons, 59.
C. H. Prichard.
LEBBJEUS. — The name ' Lebbseus ' has com- pletely disappeared from the RV ; in the AV it occurs (Mt 10^) in the list of the Apostles : ' Leb- beus, whose surname was Thaddeus.' [On this spelling see Scrivener's Paragraph Bible, p. Ixxxi, note 3]. This is the reading of the Received Text, which is still maintained in the Patriarchal Edition of the Greek Testament (Constantinople, 1904), and supported by most of the Greek MSS, to which was added lately the Palimpsest of Cairo. The modern critical editions are unanimous in the omission of ' whose surname was,' but are divided about the name itself, reading either ' Thaddseus,' as Lachmann, Tregelles, WH, RV, or ' Lebbseus,' as Alford, Tischendorf, and WH in the margin. The question of reading is here of singular importance ; for the name is one of the test passages of textual criticism in the NT. WH (§ 304) adduce the read- ing ' Thaddaeus ' found only in i^Ji as proof of the
unique excellence of these MSS, and are inclined to attribute the name ' Lebbseus ' to an attempt to bring Levi (Mk 2'*) within the number of the Twelve. But if so, why was this attempt not made in Mk 3^^ ? There ' Lebbajus ' is attested only by D and the Old Latin MSS a b dff i q r, whereas in Mt. D has the support of at least one Greek minuscule (122), of k — the oldest Latin witness, spelt iebbceus [the otliers, a b g h gat, read in Mt. ' Judas Zelotes '] — and of all witnesses for the TR. The reading of the latter is apparently a conflation of the name Lebbceus (Mt.) with the name Thad- daeus (Mk.) ; while D, as is its custom, assimilated Mk. to Mt. Allen [EBi 5032) sees in ' Lebbajus ' the ' Western ' gloss of a copyist, who connected tlie name Thaddseus with thcdd = 'mamma, and wished to substitute a not dissimilar name, which should be more appropriate to an Apostle and less undignified.
A trace of the name ' Lebbseus ' is also found in the list of the Apostles as given in Tatian's Dia- tessaron according to Ishodad; but here 'Lebbajus' is inserted between ' James ' and ' son of Alphai,' and Judas Jacobi is added afterwards (see Zahn's Com. on Mt., and Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mephar- reshe, ii. 270). The Syriac lexicographer Bar Bahlul explained that Judas Thomas was called Lebb(Mus and Thaddmus on account of his wisdom. Very curious is the testimony of the MSS of the Evangeliarium Hierosolymitanum. The MSS AB give 'p po'D nxn npriNi jnn Dvn'Si
C has 'p p'D npm [nn mv'^i
Here oiv"?! seems to be a combination of ' Leb- bseus ' and ' Judas,' and npn a confusion of ' Thad- dseus ' Avith 'was surnamed.' In the Ap. Const. vi. 14, cod. h spells Aeuatos, viii. 25, cod. d AejBaLos ; it is a pity that the new edition of Funk does not contain the lists of the Apostles given by de Lagarde, p. 282 f. In Ap. Const, vii. 46, Judas Jacobi is mentioned as third bishop of Jerusalem. The list of Lag. p. 283, distinguishes Judas Jacobi as the tenth Apostle from GaSSatos 6 Ae/3atos /cai 'lovSas as the eleventh. In the Synaxaries of the Greek Church (1) Judas (in Lk.), 'who is called by Mt. and Mk. Thaddseus and Lebbseus,' the brother of Jesus after the flesh, is celebrated on the 19th June, and, together with the other Apostles, on 30th June, as the last of them. From him is dis- tinguished (2) the Apostle Thaddseus, who is also Lebbseus, one of the Seventy, celebrated on the 2Lst August ; and (3) Judas Zelotes on the 22nd May.