Psalm 45, verses 6 and 7 of which are applied to Christ Jesus by the apostle Paul (Heb. 1:8, 9), contains the statement: “In place of your forefathers there will come to be your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth.” (Ps. 45:16) Of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, men in Christ’s ancestral line of descent, it is written: “In faith all these died, although they did not get the fulfillment of the promises, but they saw them afar off and welcomed them.” (Heb. 11:8-10, 13) Since the rule of Christ involves an “administration . . . to gather all things together again . . . the things in the heavens and the things on the earth” (Eph. 1:10), this allows for his having, not only subordinate kings and priests in heaven (Rev. 20:6), but also ‘princely’ representatives on earth carrying out the king’s directions. (Compare Hebrews 2:5, 8.) Isaiah 32:1, 2 is clearly part of a Messianic prophecy and describes the benefits rendered by such “princes” under the Kingdom rule.—See CHIEFTAIN; RULER.

LEAH

(Leʹah) [perhaps, weary, or, wild cow].

The older daughter of Laban, the grandnephew of Abraham. Leah was Jacob’s cousin, Laban being the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s mother. (Gen. 22:20-23; 24:24, 29; 29:16) Leah was not as beautiful as her younger sister Rachel, it especially being noted that her eyes lacked luster, or were dull or weak. (Gen. 29:17) In the case of Oriental women, bright or lustrous eyes especially are considered to be an evidence of beauty.—Compare Song of Solomon 1:15; 4:9; 7:4.

Leah became Jacob’s first wife because Laban deceived Jacob when at night he gave her to Jacob as a wife instead of Rachel, whom Jacob loved. Jacob protested his being tricked, but Laban argued that it was not the custom of the place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. (Gen. 29:18-26) Leah likely was veiled, in keeping with the ancient Oriental custom of heavily veiling a prospective bride, and this doubtless contributed to the success of the ruse. Jacob had served seven years with Rachel in mind, but for this work he received Leah. Rachel was granted to him after he celebrated a week of seven days with Leah, but Jacob had to work seven more years to pay for Rachel.—Gen. 29:27, 28.

The account tells us that Leah was “hated.” (Gen. 29:31, 33) But it also recounts that, after he had finally gotten Rachel, Jacob “expressed more love for Rachel than for Leah.” (Gen. 29:30) Undoubtedly Jacob did not hold malicious hatred for Leah, but viewed Rachel more lovingly, as his favorite wife. He continued to care for Leah and to have relations with her. Leah’s being “hated,” therefore, would merely mean that Jacob loved her less than Rachel.—See HATE.

Leah became the mother of seven of Jacob’s children, his six sons Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun and a daughter, Dinah. (Gen. 29:32-35; 30:16-21) Accordingly, Leah is named at Ruth 4:11 along with Rachel as one of those who “built the house of Israel.” Leah had the honor of having borne Levi, who became the founder of Israel’s priestly tribe, and Judah, who became the father of the nation’s royal tribe.

Leah and her children accompanied Jacob when he left Paddan-aram and returned to Canaan, the land of his birth. (Gen. 31:11-18) Before Jacob met Esau en route, he protectively divided off the children to Leah and to Rachel and their maidservants, putting the maidservants and their children foremost, followed by Leah and her children, with Rachel and Joseph to their rear. (Gen. 33:1-7) Leah’s children accompanied Jacob into Egypt, but the Bible account does not say that she did so. (Gen. 46:15) The time, place and circumstances of her death are not furnished, but she may have died in Canaan. Whatever the case, the patriarch had her body taken to the family burial place, the cave in the field of Machpelah. Jacob’s instructions respecting his own remains show that it was his desire to be buried where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah had been buried.—Gen. 49:29-32.

LEAVEN

A substance added to dough or liquids to cause fermentation, especially a portion of fermenting dough preserved for baking purposes. This type of leavening agent is specified by the Hebrew word s^eʼorʹ (“sour dough” [Ex. 12:15]) and by the Greek word zy’me (“leaven” [Luke 13:21]). A leavened thing is designated by the Hebrew word hha·metsʹ.—Lev. 2:11.

Wine, the fermented juice of grapes or other fruit, has long been known to mankind. Of course, wine ferments without the addition of leaven.

Beer, which requires a leavening agent for its production, was made by the early Egyptians, and they baked both leavened and unleavened bread. The Hebrews were likely familiar with “wheat beer.” (Isa. 1:22; Hos. 4:18, NW; Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros by L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, p. 646) Wild yeast such as might be obtained from the spores of certain fungus growths may have served as one of the leavening agents for these products. Excavations in Egypt have yielded porous bread containing dead yeast cells. The Egyptians are also said to have used natron (sodium carbonate) in making bread. Sodium carbonate would not bring about the process of fermentation as did sour dough, but it would provide gas bubbles to make the bread rise. In Egypt, as in Israel, the primary practice in breadmaking seems to have been to save some dough from a batch, let it ferment and use the resulting sour dough to leaven a fresh batch.

IN GOD’S LAW TO ISRAEL

No grain offering that the Israelites presented by fire to Jehovah was to be made of “a leavened thing.” (Lev. 2:11) However, leaven could be used in connection with thanksgiving communion offerings, in which the offerer voluntarily made the presentation in a spirit of thankfulness for Jehovah’s many blessings. The meal was to be one of cheerfulness; leavened bread was normally eaten on happy occasions. Along with the meat (that is, the animal) offered, and the unfermented cakes, he would bring ring-shaped cakes of leavened bread, which were not put on the altar, but were eaten by the offerer and by the officiating priest.—Lev. 7:11-15.

At the presentation of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, on the day of Pentecost, the high priest waved before Jehovah two loaves of leavened wheat bread. (Lev. 23:15-21) It is noteworthy that, on Pentecost day, 33 C.E., the first members of the Christian congregation, namely, the disciples of Jesus Christ taken from among the Jews, were anointed with holy spirit. Jesus Christ, as Jehovah’s great High Priest, was able to present before God the first of his spirit-begotten brothers. These were taken from sinful mankind. (Acts 2:1-4, 41) About three years and four months later, the first Gentile converts to Christianity, Cornelius and his household, were anointed with holy spirit, thereby being presented before God. These were likewise from sinful humankind.—Acts 10:24, 44-48; Rom. 5:12.

The festival of unfermented cakes occupied the seven days following Passover day, namely, Abib or Nisan 15-21. During those days nothing leavened nor any sour dough was even to be found in the Israelites’ houses or “seen” with them. (Ex. 12:14-20; 13:6, 7; 23:15) This served to remind them of their hasty deliverance from Egypt by Jehovah’s hand, when they did not have time to wait for their dough to ferment, but, in their hurry, carried it with them along with their kneading troughs.—Ex. 12:34.

SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

“Leaven” was often used in the Bible to denote sin or corruption. Jesus Christ told his disciples: “Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” and, “Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” The disciples at first did not understand that Jesus was using a symbolism, but finally discerned that he was warning them to be on guard against false doctrine and hypocritical practices, “the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” which teaching had a corrupting effect. (Matt. 16:6, 11, 12; Luke 12:1) He also mentioned Herod (evidently including his party followers) in one of his warnings, saying: “Keep your eyes open, look out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” (Mark 8:15) Jesus boldly denounced the Pharisees as hypocrites concerned with outward show. (Matt. 23:25-28) He pointed out the wrong doctrinal viewpoint of the Sadducees. He exposed the hypocrisy and political treachery of the party followers of Herod.—Matt. 22:15-21; Mark 3:6.

The apostle Paul employed the same symbolism when he commanded the Christian congregation in Corinth to expel an immoral man from the congregation, stating: “Do you not know that a little leaven ferments the whole lump? Clear away the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, according as you are free from ferment. For, indeed, Christ our passover has been sacrificed.” He then clearly showed what he meant by “leaven”: “Consequently let us keep the festival, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of injuriousness and wickedness, but with unfermented cakes of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:6-8) Paul here was drawing on the pictorial meaning of the Jewish festival of unfermented cakes, which immediately followed the Passover celebration. Just as a bit of sour dough soon causes the whole lump or batch of bread to be leavened, so the congregation as a body, if it did not clear out this corrupting influence of the immoral man, would become unclean in Jehovah’s eyes. They must act to get the “leaven” out of their midst, just as the Israelites could have no leaven in their houses during the festival.

Leaven was associated with corruption even in the minds of peoples of antiquity other than the Hebrews. For instance, Plutarch, a Greek biographer, spoke of it as “itself the offspring of corruption, and corrupting the mass of dough with which it is mixed.”

The permeating property of leaven can also be used to illustrate the action of that which is good. Thus, as leaven permeates the dough to which it is added, so the kingdom of the heavens has far-reaching, pervasive effects, extending its influence among people of all nations and, eventually, extending its governmental power and authority over the entire earth. Jesus employed this figure of speech when he said: “The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three large measures of flour, until the whole mass was fermented.”—Matt. 13:33; Luke 13:20, 21; compare Matthew 13:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19; Daniel 2:35, 44, 45.

It was with irony that Jehovah told transgressing Israel in Amos’ day: “From what is leavened make a thanksgiving sacrifice to smoke, and proclaim voluntary offerings.” (Amos 4:5) God was telling them that all their worship at Bethel and at Gilgal was transgression against him, so they might as well go ahead and offer leavened as well as unleavened bread on the altar—hold nothing back. It would all still be in vain because they were committing idolatry.

LEBANAH

(Le·baʹnah) [white].

Founder of a family whose sons or descendants were among the Nethinim returning with Zerubbabel from Babylonian exile.—Ezra 2:1, 2, 43, 45; Neh. 7:46, 48.

LEBANON

(Lebʹa·non) [white].

Generally, the westernmost of the two ranges forming the mountain system of Lebanon. Perhaps its name is derived from the light color of its limestone cliffs and summits or from the fact that the range’s upper slopes are covered with snow during a major part of the year. (Jer. 18:14) Extending from N-NE to S-SW for some ninety-five miles (153 kilometers) along the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanon chain parallels the Anti-Lebanon range for about sixty-five miles (105 kilometers). The two ranges are separated by a long, fertile valley (Coele-Syria or the Biqaʽ) measuring between six and ten miles (10 and 16 kilometers) in width. (Josh. 11:17; 12:7) Through this valley the Orontes River courses northward, whereas the Litany (its lower course being called Nahr el-Kasimiye) flows southward and curves around the southern end of the Lebanon range. The Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus) flows past the northern end of the Lebanon chain.

With few exceptions, the foothills of the Lebanon range rise almost directly from the Mediterranean Sea, leaving only a narrow coastal plain. The summits of this range average between 6,000 and 7,000 feet (c. 1,800 meters and c. 2,100 meters) in elevation, with two peaks towering over 3,000 feet (c. 900 meters) higher. Both the eastern and the western slopes of Lebanon are steep.

The range itself consists of a bottom layer of hard limestone, next a layer of yellow and red sandstone overlaid and interspersed with limestone, and finally another layer of limestone. Its eastern slopes are quite barren and have practically no important streams. But the well-watered western slopes are cleft by streams and gorges. (Compare Song of Solomon 4:15.) The terraced lower slopes on the W side support grain, vineyards, fruit orchards, and mulberry, walnut and olive trees. (Compare Hosea 14:5-7.) Pines thrive in the rich soil of the sandstone layer, and at the higher elevations are to be found a few small groves of the majestic cedars that anciently covered the range and the wood of which was used for various purposes.(1 Ki. 6:9; Song of Sol. 3:9; Ezek. 27:5; see CEDAR.) Ash, cypress and juniper trees are also native to the Lebanon range. (1 Ki. 5:6-8; 2 Ki. 19:23; Isa. 60:13) Among the animals inhabiting this region are jackals, gazelles, hyenas, wolves and bears. In ancient times both the forests and wildlife were more abundant, it being a haunt for lions and leopards. (Song of Sol. 4:8; Isa. 40:16) Possibly it was the fragrance of its great forests that was known as the “fragrance of Lebanon.”—Song of Sol. 4:11.

The Lebanon region was not conquered by the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership, but came to be the NW border of the land. (Deut. 1:7; 3:25; 11:24; Josh. 1:4; 9:1) The pagan inhabitants of this area, however, served to test Israel’s faithfulness to Jehovah. (Judg. 3:3, 4) Centuries later, King Solomon exercised jurisdiction over a part of Lebanon and there did building work. (1 Ki. 9:17-19; 2 Chron. 8:5, 6) Possibly one of his construction projects included “the tower of Lebanon, which is looking out toward Damascus.” (Song of Sol. 7:4; some, however, understand this to refer to one of the peaks of Lebanon.) At this time Hiram the king of Tyre controlled another portion of Lebanon, from which he supplied Solomon with cedar and juniper timbers.—1 Ki. 5:7-14.

ILLUSTRATIVE USE

Many of the Scriptural references to Lebanon are associated with its fruitfulness (Ps. 72:16; Isa. 35:2) and luxuriant forests, particularly its majestic cedars. (Ps. 29:5) Often Lebanon is used in a figurative way. It is depicted as if in a state of abashment, sympathizing with the land of Judah that had been despoiled by the Assyrian forces. (Isa. 33:1, 9) The Assyrian army itself, however, was to experience calamity, being felled like trees of Lebanon. (Isa. 10:24-26, 33, 34) Disastrous effects resulting from Jehovah’s judgment are compared to the withering of the blossom of Lebanon. (Nah. 1:4) However, the turning of Lebanon’s forest into a fruitful orchard is alluded to in a restoration prophecy and illustrates a complete reversal of matters.—Isa. 29:17, 18.

Jehovah, through Jeremiah, “said concerning the house of the king of Judah, ‘You are as Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon.’” (Jer. 22:6) The “house” appears to designate the palace complex. (Jer. 22:1, 5)