How appropriate is it that this is airing during the week of Thanksgiving in America?
This week’s Scripture passage on the feeding of the five thousand is just HUGE for Exodus references and is very heavy on the eschatological wording that we see throughout the Prophets. This is the only miracle account shared in all four Gospel accounts and so we know it must be central to the identity of Yeshua/Jesus being revealed by each of the four authors. So much is happening this week–we will be discussing the importance of the wilderness, of green grass, of shepherds and sheep, of hundreds and fifties. We will go back and talk about Exodus and Numbers and the prophets Isaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and Elisha. This account is set in stark contrast with last week’s Scripture passage and thus compares the banquet of Herod with the banquet of the Messiah.
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30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Hi, I am Tyler Dawn Rosenquist, and welcome to Character in Context, where I teach the historical and ancient sociological context of Scripture with an eye to developing the character of the Messiah. If you prefer written material, I have five years’ worth of blog at theancientbridge.com as well as my six books available on amazon—including a four-volume curriculum series dedicated to teaching Scriptural context in a way that even kids can understand it, called Context for Kids—and I have two video channels on YouTube with free Bible teachings for both adults and kids. You can find the link for those on my website. Past broadcasts of this program can be found at characterincontext.podbean.com and transcripts can be had for most broadcasts at theancientbridge.com
All Scripture this week comes courtesy of the ESV, the English Standard Version but you can follow along with whatever Bible you want. A list of my resources can be found attached to the transcript for Part two of this series at theancientbridge.com.
I am calling the next two weeks “Echoes of Exodus” and for very good reason. Mark doesn’t even try to hide what he is doing in linking these two incidents together thematically. So, we will be talking about the Exodus, Isaiah and some of the other prophets, the Psalms, and about the Qumran community and we will also have some fun talking about first-century Jewish and Christian superstition concerning ghosts—complete with a disturbing factoid from the text. But this week, we will focus on the difference between Herod’s feast last week and Yeshua’s/Jesus’s feast this week, the invitees, the parallels to the first Exodus and the new Exodus prophesied by Isaiah, and how the Qumran community was set up. I also have a new book going into the book list and it is a very good one for people who are new to studying Second Temple extra-biblical materials and if you buy it I am betting you will have to buy other books as well. So far, I have had everything it called for because I have a complete Mishnah commentary, the Dead Sea Scrolls in a couple of versions, a complete Pseudepigrapha, and the complete Loeb’s Josephus—and I frankly have my supporters to thank for that, and my husband, because this is really expensive without donations. But the new book that my dear friend Nikki bought me is called Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism, edited by Ben C Blackwell, John K Goodrich, and Jason Maston. It is part of a new series, which now has three volumes, the other two being on Romans and Revelation. I am hoping their next volume is on Matthew. But they tie the extra-biblical materials to the text and teach you to read along. I think it was designed for Biblical studies majors. Wish I had had it years ago when I was first starting out.
Alright, enough lollygagging.
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
It’s very important to understand the context of this statement. Two sections ago, Yeshua had sent them out in groups of two, preaching, casting out demons, anointing people, and healing them. Last week, we see that this created such a stir in the Galilee that Herod Antipas the tetrarch, son of Herod the Great, was terrified that Yeshua was John raised (not reincarnated, that’s different) from the dead, vindicated by God for his unjust murder. In fact, we heard that the whole area is buzzing with rumors spreading like wildfire—people wondering who or what He is—Elijah? One of the other prophets? This led into a lengthy account of exactly what happened to John which was, of course, a foreshadowing of the fate of not only Yeshua but also His disciples.
31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
This briefly touches on a recurring theme—Yeshua and His disciples are swamped with demands, so much so that they can’t even eat, and sometimes He is forced to retreat to a quiet place but this time He takes them with Him. We have previously seen this in Mark 1:35 and 45, 3:9 and 20, etc. The word for desolate place should be familiar by now, being eremos. And we are going to see a lot of words this week that are associated with what scholars call eschatology, which pertains to the last days in our reckoning, but in Yeshua’s day, they were linked to the coming of the Messiah in general, when He would conquer the foreign oppressors and those in the nations who had treated Israel badly and would set up a renewed Davidic kingdom. So, when you see references to resting, feasting, the wilderness, the Messiah, and the concept of a shepherd watching over sheep, these were often pointers to eschatological passages. And a lot of them pop up this week. Now, this doesn’t mean that every mention of these words will be Messianic, but they tend to show up when the passage is dealing with the inbreaking of the Messianic age.
32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
So, they went in the boat to wherever it was they were going. And we don’t even have any idea where they started out so we are flying blind here! But they went, again, to the eremos, our second wilderness reference. Just for a list of Biblical references to rest being promised, and this probably isn’t complete, Deut 3:20, 12:9, and 25:19, Joshua 1:13 and 15, 21:44, Ps 95:7-11, Is 63:14, Jer 31:2, Hebrews 3:7-4:13.
33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
So, evidently, they are not rowing across, but at some distance from the shore where they can still be seen and people are following and as they come through the tiny settlements along the shore, it evidently creates quite the buzz and they start picking up more and more people. I mean, what else was there to do besides work, and the opportunity to be a part of something exciting didn’t come along very often. By this time, with the six teams have been going out for who knows how long, the text doesn’t say, it may be that some of these people have seen the disciples but not Yeshua yet. If the teams of disciples could heal and cast out demons, they must have been wondering what their leader was capable of—and what about all these rumors that he was actually Elijah or one of the other prophets returned at long last? If He was Elijah, that means their redemption from the Romans was drawing near. It would be more exciting and puzzling than we can probably imagine. Notice that the crowds saw “them” going this time and not just Yeshua, and recognized “them”. The disciples are now local celebrities, and as well known in the places they have visited, and maybe more so, than Yeshua Himself.
34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
They finally go ashore and Yeshua sees what He sees everywhere He goes, pollys ochlos, a great crowd, the many, the rabbim of Isaiah’s Servant songs. And Yeshua has compassion on them—why? Because they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” What does this mean? Well, they have no legitimate ruler—“King” Herod is no king at all, and he is a foreigner who plays at Judaism, he is paid by the Romans to keep the Jews from revolting, really. He is the chief collaborator in charge. This mockery of a king of the Jews also just had John the Baptist murdered, whom Josephus credited with being an incredibly popular religious leader. The chief priests and the high priestly family are also in the pocket of Rome, corrupt and growing richer and richer at the expense of the poor people of the Land. The Pharisees are the closest to lay-leaders that they have but the Pharisees themselves have no formal power whatsoever. They are simply limited to their influence in the matters of determining how commandments are kept.
Remember our eschatological words? Here we have shepherd paired with sheep. I want to show you how this is tied in with Numbers 27:16-18
16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation 17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” 18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.
In the Torah, Moses is succeeded by Joshua, or Yehoshua, son of Nun. Yeshua, of course, is the Aramaic short-form of Yehoshua. In Greek the transliteration is exactly the same as we see for Joshua in the LXX, the authorized translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the 2nd/3rd century BCE–Ἰησοῦς. In Zechariah, we even have the name of the Messiah given in the form of an interactive prophecy performed by Zechariah:
11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
Remember, there are five prophecies concerning “the BRANCH” in the prophets and you will see the word in all caps in both Jewish and Christian Bibles because these are recognized Messianic prophecies. But it is only in Zechariah that the name of the Messiah is given as Joshua/Yeshua which gets transliterated from Hebrew into Greek as Ἰησοῦς and from Greek into Latin as IESUS and then into English as Jesus. I left out a step and the explanations for a lot but we really have the same name that was prophesied for the BRANCH, the Messiah. He is the one given by God so that His people would not be like sheep without a shepherd and remember in the Second Servant Song in Isaiah 49:6 that it was considered too small a task for the Servant to simply save Israel but He was given the task of saving the nations as well:
he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
That’s some pretty heavy stuff! But let’s also take a look at Ezekiel 34:1-6, 11-15
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them…11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.
This is the context for what is about to happen here. So hang on to your hats.
35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.
Okay, third reference to eremos, the wilderness—are you seeing a theme here? We have the people who have followed Yeshua to this desolate place, somewhere near the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And they have stayed with him until it became late, which meant it would soon not be a safe time to be travelling in the wilderness in Galilee because there are wild animals. Even in a group, if it was dark, it could be dangerous just as it would be for sheep travelling at night.
36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Of course, this was a ridiculous notion. These small fishing and agricultural villages might have a few hundred inhabitants, tops, but even if it had a thousand, there will not be enough bread for so many people. What they’re really saying is, “We’ve got to get rid of these people before things get ugly because there is no food and there are thousands of them following us. What the heck are we going to do?” But Yeshua is about to counteract their true underlying heart issue, which is their belief that: “These people are not our problem.”
37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
Yeshua plainly says, “These people most certainly are our problem, and you need to feed them.” Weren’t these Yeshua’s words to Peter at his restoration after the resurrection? “Feed my lambs…Tend my sheep…Feed my sheep.” Let’s remember where the disciples have been up to the beginning of this story. They have been ministering to these people, staying at their homes and eating from their tables. They received hospitality and were being required to now return it. They fed you while you were on the road and you don’t look to me like you lost any weight, so you need to provide for their needs because now we are the hosts.
And for His suggestion, He is treated to a sarcastic snark-fest. “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” Now, two hundred denarii was about a year’s wages for a day laborer so this was a small fortune to a normal person. They may or may not have had that much money on them but Yeshua is throwing the ball back in their court. “Oh? If it is so easy to go to the villages around here and buy that much bread, then you do it.” Truth is, they were caught and they knew it. They had wanted to send the people away knowing there was no way they would be able to find sustenance. Now, this isn’t unprecedented. When the Israelites were complaining about the manna and longing for Egypt, Moses said this to Yahweh in Num 11:13-15:
Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
And of course, Yahweh gave those whiners so much quail that they got sick on it. But we have no indications that these people are complaining about hunger—just the disciples are complaining. “Whoa there! How can you ask us to do what we are asking them to do?” And now, in response, we are going to see the only miracle that is included in all four Gospels. Therefore, it is also THE most important miracle. So, we need to pay attention. It’s also the longest miracle account in Mark and in the New Testament. Why is it so important? Because Yeshua is going to reveal who He is in a dramatic way. He is going to give everyone a glimpse of the Messianic banquet. He is going to reveal Himself as greater than Moses and Joshua. He is going to solidify His absolute authority over the natural world. He is going to dramatically compare His Kingdom with the kingdom of Herod and Rome by providing instead of oppressing. He is going to reveal Himself as the true Shepherd who lays His sheep down in green pastures.
38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
John Chapter 6 tells us that it was Andrew who came back with the loaves and fish that he had gotten from a boy. That’s actually why he is my favorite disciple and why I named my son after him. It couldn’t have been easy being Peter’s brother. These loaves weren’t wonderbread loaves, They were barley loaves, about an inch thick and eight inches long. Just bread and fish. Not like Herod’s huge spread and the guest list certainly wasn’t as elite. Certainly not likely that there was any ritual handwashing going on, as we will see in the Mark 7 controversy in a few weeks. No wine and bread—this was eucharistic. This was just a satisfying fare for hungry people who weren’t wealthy. Before I read this next bit, I want to read Psalm 23, because there is a lot there that we see here:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This is the most famous example of Yahweh as Shepherd in the Bible, definitely the most famous psalm. It’s important because the feeding of the five thousand is a prophetic act. Now, I want to get to the miracle account:
39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.
Green grass or pastures are only mentioned four times in Scripture. Heck, the color green is only mentioned thirty-six times and almost all of those mentions are dealing with trees. Of the four mentions of green pastures, this is one, Psalm 23, which we just read, is another, and Joel 2:22 which talks about the fields of the Messianic Kingdom, and in Revelation, when the green grass is burned up. So, seventy-five percent of the mentions of green grass are either blatantly or arguably messianic in nature and especially when we see it combined with fig trees and vines in Joel, which are also Messianic Kingdom symbols. My good friend Dinah Dye has an excellent series on the fig tree as a symbol and the entire series is free on YouTube. I highly recommend it and her as a teacher.
Now, because the grass was green, we know that this was in the spring, sometime before May. The latter rains occurred in January/February and the early rains occurred after Sukkot/Festival of Tabernacles. Once late spring came around, there was very little green grass anywhere once the rains stopped and those scorching summer winds hit. Not really important, just a bit of context.
40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.
This is where it starts to get totally cool. This is supposed to remind us of Exodus 18:21 and 25–
21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens…Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
These numbers were so significant to the Jewish people that when the Qumran community sequestered themselves in the wilderness in their “Yachad” (a word meaning unity), as we see in 1QS or better known as the Rule of the Community—used to be called the Manual of Discipline–they ordered their communities according to these numbers. 1QS meaning that it was found in the first Qumran cave, that’s the 1Q part, and the S stands for Serekh, meaning “rule.” This is from column 2 of the Geza Vermes translation, verses 19-25:
Thus shall they do, year by year, for as long as the dominion of Satan endures. The Priests shall enter first, ranked one after another according to the perfection of their spirit; then the Levites; and thirdly, all the people one after another in their Thousands, Hundreds, Fifties, and Tens, that every Israelite may know his place in the Community of God according to the everlasting design. No man shall move down from his place nor move up from his allotted position. For according to the holy design, they shall all of them be in a Community of truth and virtuous humility, of loving kindness and good intent one towards the other, and (they shall all of them be) sons of the everlasting Company.
It was incredibly important to the Qumran community to try to become the perfect fulfillment of all the wilderness prophecies and scriptures. Reading their sectarian documents found among the Dead Sea Scrolls is an amazing window into how Jews around the time of Christ were thinking—at least the extreme ones, anyway. They were a real piece of work. Ever see the Weird Al Yankovic video Amish Paradise where he’s saying it’s okay if the tourists make fun of him and kick him in the butt because he’ll be laughing his butt off when they are burning in hell (which is not representative of the Amish, FYI)? That might as well have been written about the Qumran community. For reals. And they would never have had anything to do with the people whom Yeshua ate with, not in a million years.
41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied.
So, He took what was given to him by that child, via Andrew, and prayed the B’racha. Traditionally, whenever bread is eaten there is a special prayer and there is also one for wine. The prayer for bread is, Baruch atah A-donay, Elo-heinu Melech Ha’Olam Hamotzi lechem min haaretz. Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth. So, although Yeshua didn’t fast on the Pharisee’s fast days and as we will see, He didn’t do the ritual handwashing tradition, there are traditions that He observed. Obviously, this is not commanded in Scripture but it is a very good tradition. And so Yeshua took up the food offering, and looked up to heaven, said the b’racha and broke the loaves, gave them to the disciples and it was the disciples job to feed the people. I love this—this is the Kingdom. God takes our meager offerings (comparatively to His owning the cattle on a thousand hills) and He blesses them and we give them to others. The picture here is very clear—if God tells us to give Him something or to do something, and we obey and give it to Him, He can turn it into something insanely amazing.
Back to the text—we see echoes here of three miraculous feedings in Scripture. The first is obvious—the giving of the manna in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses during the Exodus. Yes, that was just manna. Then we have the miraculous provision of oil and flour to the widow of Zarapeth after she fed Elijah the last of the food she had for herself and her son in I Kings 17. But again, only bread. There’s also a lesser-known example from the prophet Elisha from 2 Kings 4:42-44. Let’s take a look at both of these
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.” 43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” 44 So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
We see this looks very similar to the feeding of the five thousand but again, only bread. The Israelites under Moses received meat, but it came with punishment for having insulted the manna and water they were provided with. Yeshua gave them bread and fish, a thoroughly satisfying and nutritious meal. Probably the best most of them had eaten outside of the Passover seder once a year.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
What do we get from all these accounts? And I have to say that we have zero indication from Mark’s account that the people were aware of the miracle that had happened. Twelve baskets full of broken pieces. Twelve tribes full of broken people. Five thousand fed.
One more Scripture. This time from Isaiah 25:6-9 which we have never covered before:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
This feeding of the five thousand who followed Him into the wilderness? Just a preview of the Messianic banquet to come. And He didn’t ask who was a sinner and who was a saint. He didn’t ask if they were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, or the people of the Land. Yeshua shows who He is through who He invites to and accepts at His table—namely, anyone willing to follow Him wherever He goes. These people were willing to walk or run or whatever along the shore just to keep up with Him and His disciples, to see where they would set ashore and they had no guarantees that it would be anytime soon. They might have had to go back empty-handed, but they followed Him without any guarantee of success. He rewards that kind of endurance and persistence. And these people actually weren’t begging for healing. We don’t see them pressing in or demons crying out. He was only recorded as having taught them “many things.” I wonder how much we would benefit from simply following Him, demanding nothing, and listening to Him.
