Feeding Of 5000

he Logistics

Mt 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Mr 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

Lu 9:14 For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty." 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

Joh 6:10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

It is interesting that four accounts that have shown significant divergence to this point suddenly agree almost totally in all but the smallest of details. It is as if the four strands of thought cross at exactly this point. I suspect that it is also the Spirit ensuring that the miraculous part of this miracle is well attested. The accounts are sufficiently similar that I shall break from the previous pattern and discuss the four accounts together rather than sequentially.

The first thing we note from all four accounts is that the Lord instructed that the multitude should sit on the ground. From the previous section we knew that the mob was advancing and had the potential to become unruly. The Lord was not prepared to be hustled into a miracle. Matthew implies that the Lord commanded the multitude; the other three make clear that the Lord transmitted the command through the disciples. In fact throughout this entire section we see the Lord working exclusively through the apostles. Luke records that the Lord instructed that they should sit in groups of fifty, Mark affirms that they sat in fifties and hundreds. Matthew tells us they were to sit on the grass, Mark tells us the grass was green and John tells us there was a lot of it. Luke and John agree that there were about 5,000 men present.

The three synoptics are then in agreement that the Lord took the loaves and the fish; Matthew adds that the Lord asked for them to be handed to Him. John implies that the Lord took the bread first and dealt with the fish in a later cycle. Again the three are in agreement that the Lord looked up to heaven, blessed and then brake. John does not deal with the looking to heaven but notes that the Lord gave thanks for the items He was blessing. Additionally John does not note that the bread was broken before distribution.

There is some disagreement about the relative treatment of the loaves and the fishes. Matthew only discusses the loaves being given to the disciples to hand to the multitudes. Mark has a similar narrative for the bread but then adds that he divided the two fishes amongst them all. In fact Mark almost implies that the Lord distributed the fish. In Luke the two entities are treated exactly the same way, blessed, broken and given to the disciples to hand out. John is similar to Mark in that the bread and fish are seen as two cycles; however he implies that the disciples set down the fish. However he also adds the detail that the fish were distributed as much as was wanted.

The Symbols

Whilst I believe that these are all literal, physical accounts of that which occurred; I also believe that this sign can contain deeper meanings beyond that which is obvious. In particular the previous section contains some symbols that are sufficiently important that I think it is worth considering them at this point.

The first is really given to us by Mark 6:34 when he notes that the multitude are like sheep without a shepherd. Then he informs us in verse 39 that they are made to sit on green grass. In fact the word Mark uses for 'sit' is anaklino which really means to recline. This would appear to be an allusion to Ps 23:1-2 where David states the Lord is his shepherd that makes him lay down in green pastures

The bread is a little harder. The ability to fill the poor with bread was an Old Testament promise[16] and we know that this miracle of provision did cause the crowd to consider Jesus to be the Prophet that was to come[17]. However, there is a meaning suggested by the Lord, in John 6:35, where the Lord says that He is the bread of life. Additionally there is clearly