Unleavened Bread in Leviticus
July 10th, 2022 by G.
The Leviticus temple rites are quite clear. No unleavened bread.
I have a few thoughts about that. Not comprehensive.
- It could just be history. The Israelites took unleavened bread with them because they had to bake with haste and take traveling food that would keep. No universal principle, just history. That would be a good reason.
- Leavening is miraculous. It is something like the gift of life. So perhaps banning leavened bread is a way of saying that God doesn’t need his own miracles performed for him. “God does not need his own gifts.”
- Against this is the blood. It is basically the leavening of the body, the quickening element that magically makes the body live. But instead of it being banned at the offerings, it is required. It is holy enough that it is reserved for God alone, essentially. There is a sense in which leavening and blood are both forms of corruption: leavened bread and wet meat both decay faster. But that doesn’t explain why the one is offered and forbidden to be eaten (blood) while the other is routinely eaten and forbidden to be offered (leaven).
Bookslinger
July 10, 2022
The burnt offerings can’t have leaven, Lev 2:11.
But in Lev 7:12-13, the “sacrifice of thanksgiving” for a peace offering, which the priests get to keep, has both unleavened and leavened elements.
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Here’s a video on 6,000 years of bread history by Eric Pallant. 40+ minutes long. Includes Egyptians, Romans, etc. At time mark 17:55, he talks about bread in the Bible, and makes interesting parallels. Here’s the link with a time-mark to go to the Bible connection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYqjBxQhe8o&t=17m55s
The Bible portion does seem partly misinterpreted because Passover bread (the Last Supper was a Passover meal) is unleavened, not sourdough.