Deleavening: What and How

“Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.” This command in Exodus 12:19 is one aspect of keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, a spring festival ordained by God.

In verse 17, God also said, “You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.” God wants us to keep this spring festival and its associated customs permanently—it was not just for ancient Israel. This means people today must put out leaven.

Leaven is a substance that makes bread rise and gives other foods taste and texture. Baker’s yeast, sourdough starter, baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents that give bread, cookies, cakes and crackers an airy, puffed-up quality. Strong’s defines the Hebrew word for leaven as “yeast-cake (as swelling by fermentation).”

So we are to remove leaven from our homes before the seven-day festival. What does that mean exactly?

Anyone who has read or heard this command over the past 4,000 years had to apply it based on their own life circumstances. We in the 21st century live differently from the ancient Israelites. They baked their own fresh bread with only a few ingredients and lived in simple homes. We dwell in more elaborate modern apartments and houses that have many nooks and crannies where leavened crumbs can collect, and our cupboards may contain products with long paragraphs of ingredients.

Given this, those learning about deleavening today will have questions: How thorough do I need to be? Are there any leavened products I do not need to discard? What if I live with people who are not members of the Church? When do I need to have all my deleavening completed? Why am I doing this?

God’s Word contains the guiding principles that answer all these questions.

What Does Leaven Picture?

In Exodus 12 and 13 alone, God says three times that leaven must be put out. Clearly, deleavening is very important to Him. Why?

God often uses physical symbols to teach spiritual lessons. Physical leaven represents a spiritual substance that must also be put out: sin.

In I Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul was addressing problems among God’s people in the ancient city of Corinth. He said in verse 2 that those who were condoning wrong behavior were “puffed up.” Like how baking soda and yeast puff up a hot loaf of bread in the oven, tolerating sin leads to a person being puffed up spiritually. This often involves feelings of pride and vanity.

Leaven is an excellent analogy for sin. Puffed-up items like angel food cake or dinner rolls appear bigger or more filling than they really are. Likewise, our human nature can deceive us into thinking we are greater or more important than we really are (Jer. 17:9; Gal. 6:3).

Besides puffing up, leaven and sin also tend to spread (I Cor. 15:33). Compromising with sin, even just a little, can quickly lead to more sin (Gal. 5:9). Leavened products are filled with air—there is not much mass to them. Sin may feel good in the short term, but it is empty and temporary (Heb. 11:25).

Back in I Corinthians 5, Paul continued, “Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (vs. 6-8).

This passage proves the New Testament Church was still keeping the Holy Days God gave in the Old Testament. But more importantly, it reveals the “old leaven” God most wants us to focus on is spiritual leaven, represented here by malice and wickedness—not physical Saltines, English muffins or Kit Kat bars.

Jesus Christ taught, “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

Putting out physical leaven is important and must be done. But we should prioritize the spiritual morsels and crumbs lurking within us. This is what can defile us spiritually. We all have some (I John 1:8).

Never forget this overarching principle of deleavening: It should ingrain the importance of putting sin out of our lives.

Deleavening Basics

Each person is responsible for deleavening the areas that are under their control: home, car, office and any other areas that apply. The process involves using or discarding leavened products in advance of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and cleaning areas where leaven has been stored or consumed to eliminate remnants of leaven.

If you have children in your household, deleavening can be a family activity. Parents, review Deuteronomy 6:5-7 for a reminder of how crucial it is to teach your kids at all times.

Address the obvious areas—kitchen, dining room, etc.—but also think of less apparent places that still need to be taken care of. Did you eat cookies with your nephew in the attic last summer, even though you usually never eat in that space? Some people never take food to certain areas of their home, while others eat food everywhere—stairs, garage, foyer, etc. You know your own habits best.

As with sin, leaven is pervasive and finds its way into places we might not expect. Check your briefcase or Sabbath bag, jacket pockets, purse, car glove compartment and other areas that could fall under the radar.

Since the command to remove leaven specifically applies to keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, that is your target for having everything done. Complete your deleavening before sunset leading into the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

Plan ahead what areas to deleaven when. Be balanced—you do not need to start so early that a room you commonly eat in becomes off-limits a month before the festival. But you should also avoid leaving the entire process for the last minute. Read Philippians 4:5 and I Corinthians 14:40.

If you live with roommates or family who are not in the Church, you are not responsible for their areas of the house or anything they may purchase or consume. For shared spaces, use wisdom. You do not want to take over an area against a person’s will.

The inset to this article offers guidance on what substances must be eliminated and others you do not need to worry about. It is good to have a basic knowledge of leaven and leavening agents, but you do not need a Ph.D. in food science.

Keep in mind that deleavening is not spring cleaning. God does not care about the dust on top of your kitchen cabinets—the leaven is what you should focus on. While we all certainly want to keep our homes tidy, it is best to not to dilute your deleavening time by trying to sort, organize or clean things that do not need to be addressed. This could distract you from where God wants your mind to be.

In the time leading up to Unleavened Bread, we should apply our reasonable best effort to eliminating leaven. Just as we must not be lazy or half-hearted about putting out sin, we should also be zealous toward deleavening.

Yet do not go overboard. There is no need to spend hours cleaning areas that have never seen leaven. Yes, you should remove leaven from your car. No, you do not need to strip it down like it is in a chop shop. Yes, certain kitchen appliances need to be cleaned. No, you do not need to disassemble them to the point that you cannot put them back together and now need to buy replacements.

It is important to practice balance and wise judgment in all aspects of life, including the process of deleavening.

Also, remember to dispose of your leaven completely. You do not want to realize during Holy Day services that you forgot to empty the vacuum cleaner or drag your trash container to the curb.

As you approach sunset leading into the First Day of Unleavened Bread, relax. Do not worry about what you could have done better or where leaven could still be lurking that you missed. Applying these basics allows you to enter the festival feeling happy and confident that your deleavening was successful.

Keep the Right Perspective

As you go about your deleavening process, make time to think about what you are doing and why. Colossians 3:2 instructs, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Indeed, it takes time to properly deleaven your home. It may involve things like contorting your body into uncomfortable positions to vacuum a certain pesky spot in your car, or needing to ask someone for help to move a very heavy couch to see what is underneath. But the effort is worth it.

God wants each person to use the deleavening process for spiritual growth. He did not intend us to sleepwalk through it or try to get done as fast as possible to move on to other things. If you look at deleavening the right way, it is a great time for meditation and self-examination.

As you work, ponder the parallel of leaven and sin. Just as leaven can be hard to spot and get out, our sin can be much the same (Heb. 3:13). Try to see the big picture of your personal growth and overcoming and how you can improve. Think about what ancient Israel went through and what you can learn from them (I Cor. 10:11). Reflect on sermons, sermonettes and special music you have listened to during the Days of Unleavened Bread in the past and how they impacted you. Consider what the world will be like when God’s Kingdom is ruling and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is being observed globally. As you wipe, vacuum and wash, your mind can be at work, pondering the “deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:10).

Be diligent to fulfill the Bible’s command to deleaven. But recognize that what is even more important is how we apply the spiritual lesson deleavening teaches us. What is most important is putting out sin—deleavening our lives. Whether this is your first or 51st time deleavening and keeping these days, make this Holy Day season meaningful.

To learn more, read our Pillar article “Deleaven Your Life.”