Beware of the leaven of the Pharisee and leaven of the Herod
And he warned them, saying, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod”.
Mark 8:15
As we all know leaven is a substance (such as yeast) used to produce fermentation in dough or liquid.
Choosing the right synonym according to text would be- infuse, suffuse ,imbue, ingrain, inoculate or Leaven means to introduce one thing into another so as to affect it throughout.
All these Pharisees, Sadducees and herodians – were educated, well positioned worldly officials at those times, when Jesus lived.Their duties were always to question Jesus & His disciples at all opportune time.
Mark 8:11 says: And the Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking a sign from heaven from him, testing him.
The reason behind their attitude or motives was unbelief puffed up with worldly knowledge lacking the divine spiritual knowledge of the things of God.
In verse 17 it says, And Jesus, knowing this, said to them, “Why are you reasoning because you have no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Is your heart still hardened?
Jesus knew it already so He was admonishing His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and leaven of the Herod.When His own disciples could not understand He urged them to understand the need of knowing the deeper things of divine spiritual knowledge.
He also made them understand that their thoughts were outwardly about shortages of bread and materialistic things And reminded them about the concerned spiritual things of God..
Jesus says: that unbelief is due to hardening of heart that makes the soul in understandable of the spiritual things of God.
Because of this unbelief they failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the living God and finally even the works of God Such as His miracles, healing and deliverance.
Everywhere Jesus knew how to answer those who questioned him in disbelief sometimes he answered, sometimes he rebuked.That was obstinate unbelief though ever was so unreasonable, Christ here reproves His disciples, How is it that we often Mistake His meaning, disregard His warnings and distrust His Providence.
The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy- Luke 12:1 In the meantime, when multiplied thousands of people had gathered together, so that they trampled on one another, he began speaking first of all to his disciples,
“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.The leaven of the Sadducees- Unbelief and of the Herodians – worldliness.All those three groups only regarded outward ceremonies, and neglected the inward sanctification of the Spirit.
Thank you Lord for teaching us the doctrinal truths in the scriptures, may all the saints of God understand the deeper spiritual aspects of men's inward lives and prioritize it in having a closer fellowship of knowing and living with God. In Jesus name.Amen.
Sol.Celin Portia