Another parable spoke he unto them;
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Quaest. Ev., i, 12: Or, The leaven signifies love, because it causes activity and fermentation; by the woman He means wisdom. By the three measures He intends either those three things in man, with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole mind; or the three degrees of fruitfulness, the hundred-fold, the sixty-fold, the thirty-fold; or those three kinds of men,Noe, Daniel, and Job.
In three measures. Sata, the word here used, was a particular Hebrew measure, which corresponds not to any particular measure that we make use of, and therefore I have put measures, as it is in other English translations. See Walton de Ponderibusmensuris, before his first tome, p. 42. (Witham)
It was the Seah of the Jews, the third part of the Epha, and contained about ten pints, and appears to be the ordinary quantity they baked at a time. (Bible de Vence)
By the woman here mentioned, St. Jerome understands the Church gathered from all nations; or the power and wisdom of God, according to St. Augustine.
Many seem to believe that the three measures of flour refer not only to the sign of faith—that is, the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—but also to the calling of the three nations out of Shem, Ham and Japheth. But I do not know whether reason will permit us to draw this conclusion, for, although the calling of all nations is equal, Christ is not buried in them but manifested to them, and the whole batch is not fermented in so great a multitude of unbelievers. However, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, without the need of yeast applied from without, all things are one in Christ.
Yeast comes from flour and returns the potency it received to the batch of its own kind. The Lord compared himself with this yeast. It was taken in hand by the woman, that is, the synagogue, and buried with the judgment of death, affirming that the law and the prophets are dissolved in the gospel. This yeast, covered with three measures of flour in equal parts— that is, the law, the prophets and the gospel—makes everything one, so that what the law established and the prophets proclaimed is completed by the added ingredient of the gospel. Everything, possessing the same contents and potency, is brought about through the Spirit of God, so that there is no disunity in what is fermented in equal parts.
The ‘saturn’ is a kind of measure in use in Palestine containing one modius anda half.
Or otherwise; The woman who takes the leaven and hides it, seems to me to bethe Apostolic preaching, or the Church gathered out of divers nations. Shetakes the leaven, that is, the understanding of the Scriptures, and hides it in three measures of meal, that the three, spirit, soul, and body, may be brought into one, and may not differ among themselves. Or otherwise; We read in Plato that there are three parts in the soul, reason, anger, and desire; so we also if we have received the evangelic leaven of Holy Scripture, may possess in our reason prudence, in our anger hatred against vice, in our desire love of the virtues, and this will all come to pass by the Evangelic teaching which our mother Church has held out to us. I will further mention an interpretation of some; that the woman is the Church, who has mingled the faith of man in three measures of meal, namely, belief in the Father, the Son, and...
The woman who took the yeast and mixed it with three measures of flour until the whole batch of dough was fermented signifies to me either the apostolic preaching or the church, which is made up of different nations. She takes the yeast—namely, the knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures—and mixes it with three measures of flour so that the spirit, soul and body blended into one might not differ from each other but intermingle, obtaining from the Father whatever they ask for. This point is examined also elsewhere. We read in Plato, and it is the teaching of famous philosophers, that there are three passions in the human soul: one, which we may interpret as rational; another, which we call full of anger or irascible; a third, which we call desire. This great philosopher believed that our rational part resides in the brain, anger in the gall bladder and desire in the liver. Therefore, if we accept the evangelical yeast of sacred Scripture that we spoke about, the three passions of ...
For as this converts the large quantity of meal into its own quality, even so shall you convert the whole world.
And see His wisdom, in that He brings in things natural, implying that as the one cannot fail to take place, so neither the other. For say not this to me: What shall we be able to do, twelve men, throwing ourselves upon so vast a multitude? Nay, for this very thing most of all makes your might conspicuous, that you mix with the multitude and are not put to flight. As therefore the leaven then leavens the lump when it comes close to the meal, and not simply close, but so as to be actually mixed with it (for He said not, put, simply, but hid); so also ye, when you cleave to your enemies, and are made one with them, then shall you get the better of them. And as the leaven, though it be buried, yet is not destroyed, but little by little transmutes all into its own condition; of like sort will the event be here also, with respect to the gospel. Fear ye not then, because I said...
For as leaven converts the large quantity of meal into its own quality, even so shall you convert the whole world. Note the wisdom by which Christ introduces natural things. He implies that as the leaven works, so does the flour. Do not say to me, “What shall we be able to do, twelve men, throwing ourselves upon so vast a multitude?” Rather, the most conspicuous thing about the apostles is that they were not put to flight when they mixed with the multitude. The leaven then leavens the lump when it comes close to the meal, and not simply close but so as to be actually mixed with it. He said it was not simply put in the flour but hid in it. So you also, when you come close to your enemies and are made one with them, then shall you get the better of them. The leaven, though it is buried, is not destroyed. Little by little it transmutes the whole lump into its own condition. This happens with the gospel. Do not fear, then, that there will be many dangerous circumstances. For even then you ...
He says, “Until the whole was leavened,” because that love implanted in our mind ought to grow until it changes the whole soul into its own perfection; which is begun here, but is completed hereafter.
. He calls the apostles leaven as well as a grain of mustard seed. For just as the leaven, although it is small, transforms to itself all the flour, so you will transform the whole world, though you are few. Some understand the leaven to be the preaching; the three measures are the three faculties of the soul — the abilities to reason, to be stirred into action, and to desire — and the woman is the soul which hides the preaching within all three of its faculties, so that it is all mixed together, leavened, and sanctified. So every part of us must be leavened and transformed into that which is more Godlike. For He says, "till it was all leavened."
