Mat 16:6, Mar 8:15 | Barnes | STEP | Verses 6-8. Take heed , etc. That is, be cautious, be on your guard. The leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees . Leaven is used in making bread. Its use is to pass through the flour, and cause it to ferment or to swell, and become light. It passes secretly, silently, but certainly. None can see its progress. So it was with the doctrines of the Pharisees. They were insinuating, artful, plausible. They concealed the real tendency of their doctrines, they instilled them secretly into the mind, and they pervaded all the faculties, like leaven. They reasoned , etc. The disciples did not understand him as referring to their doctrine, because the word leaven was not often used among the Jews to denote doctrines --no other instance of the use of the word occurring in the Scriptures. Besides, the Jews had many particular rules about the leaven which might be used in making bread. Many held that it was not lawful to eat bread made by the Gentiles; and the disciples, perhaps, supposed that he was cautioning them not to procure a supply from the Pharisees and Sadducees. O ye of little faith . Jesus, in reply, said that they should not be so anxious about the supply of their wants. They should not have supposed, after the miracles that he had wrought in feeding so many , that HE would caution them to be anxious about procuring bread for their necessities. It was improper, then, for them to reason about a thing like that, but they should have supposed he referred to something more important. The miracles had been full proof that he could supply all their wants without such anxiety. (e) "take them" (f) "???"

Matthew 16:6

Verses 6-8. Take heed, etc. That is, be cautious, be on your guard.

The leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Leaven is used in making bread. Its use is to pass through the flour, and cause it to ferment or to swell, and become light. It passes secretly, silently, but certainly. None can see its progress. So it was with the doctrines of the Pharisees. They were insinuating, artful, plausible. They concealed the real tendency of their doctrines, they instilled them secretly into the mind, and they pervaded all the faculties, like leaven.

They reasoned, etc. The disciples did not understand him as referring to their doctrine, because the word leaven was not often used among the Jews to denote doctrines--no other instance of the use of the word occurring in the Scriptures. Besides, the Jews had many particular rules about the leaven which might be used in making bread. Many held that it was not lawful to eat bread made by the Gentiles; and the disciples, perhaps, supposed that he was cautioning them not to procure a supply from the Pharisees and Sadducees.

O ye of little faith. Jesus, in reply, said that they should not be so anxious about the supply of their wants. They should not have supposed, after the miracles that he had wrought in feeding so many, that HE would caution them to be anxious about procuring bread for their necessities. It was improper, then, for them to reason about a thing like that, but they should have supposed he referred to something more important. The miracles had been full proof that he could supply all their wants without such anxiety.

(e) "take them" Lk 12:1 (f) "???" 1Cor 5:6-8, Gal 5:9, 2Ti 2:16,17

Mark 8:15

Verse 15. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. See Mt 16:6. Of the Herodians--of Herod and his followers. Matthew, instead of "Herod," has "the Sadducees." It is not improbable that he cautioned them against them all. The Pharisees sought his life, and were exceedingly corrupt in their doctrine and practice; the Sadducees denied some of the essential doctrines of religion; and the Herodians, it is supposed, maintained the opinion that it was lawful for the Jews to acknowledge a foreign prince, and join equally with the Pharisees and Sadducees in opposing the claims of Jesus. Matthew has recorded his caution to avoid the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Mark has added, what Matthew had omitted, the caution likewise to beware of the Herodians. Thus the evangelists speak the same thing.

(u) "beware of the" Prov 19:27, Lk 12:1 (v) "leaven of the" Ex 12:20, Lev 2:11, 1Cor 5:6-8