seldom noticed, yet we cannot doubt that it was extensively used by the Jews; shoes, bottles, thongs,
garments, ropes and other articles were made of it. The art of tanning, however, was held in low
esteem by the Jews.
Leaven
Various substances were known to have fermenting qualities; but the ordinary leaven consisted
of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which was mixed into the mass of dough
prepared for baking. The use of leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by
fire. During the passover the Jews were commanded to put every particle of leaven from the house.
The most prominent idea associated with leaven in connection with the corruption which it had
undergone,a nd which it communicated to bread in the process of fermentation. It is to this property
of leaven that our Saviour points when he speaks of the “leaven (i.e. the corrupt doctrine) of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees,” (Matthew 16:6) and St. Paul, when he speaks of the “old leaven.”
(1 Corinthians 5:7) (Another quality in leaven is noticed in the Bible, namely, its secretly penetrating
and diffusive power. In this respect it was emblematic of moral influence generally, whether good
or bad; and hence our Saviour adopts it as illustrating the growth of the kingdom of heaven in the
individual heart and in the world at large: because (1) its source is from without; (2) it is secret in
its operation; (3) it spreads by contact of particle with particle; (4) it is widely diffusive, one particle
of leaven being able to change any number of particles of flour; and because (5) it does not act like
water, moistening a certain amount of flour, but is like a plant, changing the particles it comes in
contact with into its own nature, with like propagating power.—ED.)
Lebana
(white), one of the Nethinim whose descendants returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel.
(Nehemiah 7:48) He is called Lebanah.
Lebanah
(white) in (Ezra 2:45)
Lebanon
a mountain range in the north of Palestine. The name Lebanon signifies white, and was applied
either on account of snow which, during a great part of the year, cover its whole summit, or on
account of the white color of its limestone cliffs and peaks. It is the “white mountain”—the Mont
Blane of Palestine. Lebanon is represented in Scripture as lying upon the northern border of the
land of Israel. (1:7; 11:24; Joshua 1:4) Two distinct ranges bear this name. They run in parallel
lines from southwest to northeast for about 90 geographical miles, enclosing between them a long,
fertile valley from five to eight miles wide, anciently called Coele-Syria. The western range is the
“Libanus” of the old geographers and the Lebanon of Scripture. The eastern range was called
“Anti-Libanus” by geographers, and “Lebanon toward the sunrising” by the sacred writers. (Joshua
13:5)
•Lebanon—the western range— commences on the south of the deep ravine of the Litany, the
ancient river Leontes, which drains the valley of Cole-Syria, and falls into the Mediterranean five
miles north of Tyre. It runs northeast in a straight line parallel to the coast, to the opening from
the Mediterranean into the plain of Emesa, called in Scripture the “entrance of Hamath.” (Numbers
34:8) Here Nehr el-Kebir—the ancient river Eleutherus— sweeps round its northern end, as the
Leontes does round its southern. The average elevation of the range is from 6000 to 8000 feet;
but two peaks rise considerably higher. On the summits of both these peaks the snow remains in
patches during the whole summer. The line of cultivation runs along at the height of about 6000
frankie
(Frankie)
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