IN the eighth chapter of Mark's gospel we read that the Master charged the disciples to "take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." Bible students are generally familiar with Jesus' caution to beware of the doctrines of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and have a more or less accurate knowledge of the mental and moral characteristics of these sects against which he warned them, but many may not be so conversant with this single reference to the leaven of Herod. The meaning of the word leaven, according to the dictionary, is, "to affect in character; anything that by a pervading influence works a general change; fermentation." Hence the leaven of Herod was an unseen evil influence which, if taken into thought, would change or adulterate Jesus' spiritual teaching; and the student of today, if he is to eliminate this leaven from his own character-building, must guard his thought against the influence which made Herod the notable example of his time.
The penetrating and diffusive nature of leaven was used symbolically for good in Jesus' parable wherein he likened the kingdom of God to the leaven "which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal;" whereas the leaven of Herod was obviously fermentative and destructive in nature, and the dictionary meaning of fermentation is given as "a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in continual motion." The significance of the term is further enhanced by considering Jesus' use of the word salt. Salt prevents corruption and decay, and is the antithesis of fermentation and putrefaction. Therefore the meaning of the text, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?" infers an exact coincidence with the Mosaic law which bade the children of Israel use unleavened bread in the religious rites of the temple, thereby rejecting even the symbols of putrefaction and decay.
The first Bible account of Herod, called "the Great," portrays fear as his state of mind when he heard that the "King of the Jews" was born. We read that he immediately called together the chief priests and the scribes and asked them where, according to prophecy, the Christ should be born. They answered, "In Bethlehem of Judæa." With assumed helpfulness, which in reality only cloaked deceit and cunning, he then summoned the wise men, sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." But the wise men were awake to the evil purpose to destroy the Christ-idea, and being warned of God and obedient, they did not return to Herod. Joseph likewise, when entrusted with the protection of the infant idea of good, obeyed Truth's command, "Take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt,... for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." Then Herod's murderous and revengeful intention was externalized in the order to slay "all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under." Has there ever been, in all history, an example of more barbarous cruelty than this?
