Leaven

(1.) Hebrew: seor (Exodus 12:15, 19; 13:7; Leviticus 2:11), the remnant of dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acid.

(2.) Hebrew: hamets, properly “ferment.” In Numbers 6:3, “vinegar of wine” is more correctly “fermented wine.” In Exodus 13:7, the proper rendering would be, “Unfermented things [Hebrew: matstsoth] shall be consumed during the seven days; and there shall not be seen with thee fermented things [hamets], and there shall not be seen with thee leavened mass [seor] in all thy borders.” The chemical definition of ferment or yeast is “a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in a continual motion.”

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Author: Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Keywords: Leaven

Source: Matthew G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary.