Lange Commentary - Mark 8:1 - 8:9

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Lange Commentary - Mark 8:1 - 8:9


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5. The Miraculous Feeding of Four Thousand. Mar_8:1-9

(Parallel: Mat_15:32-39.)

      1In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat; 3And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. 6And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. 8So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets. 9And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

See on the parallels in Matthew.—Mark’s second miraculous feeding, with the following events, stands in the same connection as Matthew’s with the mountain travels of our Lord. There is not in the slightest particular a difference between Matthew and Mark. The representations of the second feeding are more than ordinarily alike in both: the beginning and the end, especially, are essentially the same.

Mar_8:7. And he blessed and commanded to set them also.—The Evangelist distinguishes the thanksgiving over the fish as a particular act, with the word åὐëïãÞóáò , while concerning the bread he used åὐ÷áñéóôÞóáò . Both acts of devotion are to be regarded as benedictions of the food. But the prayer of praise ( åὐëïãåῖí ) is related to the prayer of thanksgiving, as praise is related to thanks: it is the same thing carried to its higher pitch. That the thanksgiving becomes here blessing, characterizes the second act of the feeding, the festival anticipatory of the great feast; and it is all the more sublime as being pronounced over the ἰ÷èýäéá ὀëßãá . The following Romanist distinction (Reischl) is without foundation: “Thanksgiving (eucharist) Jesus presents as man (and High-Priest) to the Father; but He Himself, as Lord and God, distributes the blessing of omnipotence.”

Mar_8:8. Seven baskets.—Comp. the explanations on Matthew.

Mar_8:9. About four thousand men.—Matthew adds: besides women and children.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on the parallel passage in Matthew.—The divine side of the second miraculous feeding is presented all the more expressly and clearly by the circumstance, that in the present instance the multitudes of the people were more alien, the scene of it was a place more desolate and remote from human habitation, the excitement of the people more intense; not to mention that Christ had just returned from an extended and fatiguing journey. As it respects the human side of the miracle, and its relation to the measure of faith, we cannot fail to observe the circumstance that a more abundant provision of food is made for a smaller number of the fed. As it regards the difference between the fragments gathered up in the two miracles respectively, we have to notice the distinction between óðõñßäåò and êüöéíïé : the former seem to have been vessels of larger capacity.

2. Starke:— Óðëáã÷íßæåóèáé means such a feeling of compassion as not only moves the mind, but causes a physical emotion—the rush of blood, yearning of the bowels, &c.—likewise. The word is used several times concerning our Saviour by the three Evangelists. The greater the love of Jesus was, the more susceptible was His sacred humanity of sympathy.

3. The first miraculous feeding took place when the malignity of Herod occasioned the Lord’s departure from Galilee; the second, after He had retired from Galilee before the hierarchical and pharisaic party. Both times, as driven away, and as a refugee, He took upon Himself, forgetting His own sorrow, the needs of all the people.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See on Matthew.—Christ’s compassion towards the people was a compassion for their want of bread.—The Lord’s resting-place after long travelling.—Christ does not let His people depart without food.—Where Christ is in the midst, the multitude never go away unfed.—The rebuke contained in the example of the people, who waited on Christ three days, though they had nothing given them to eat.—The impotence of the disciples, and the Lord’s provident care.—Christ’s thanksgiving becomes blessing, whilst the provision is diminishing.—Christ’s royal law for the table.—The second miraculous feeding seemingly less, but in fact more, wonderful than the first. 1. Seemingly less; there was more provision, and a smaller number. 2. Really greater: a. in regard to the Lord (returning from long journey and much labor); b. in regard to the despondency of the disciples; c. in regard to the foreign elements of which the mass of this mountain-people was made up (probably in part Gentiles).—Wells are made, as by the Lord, so by the pilgrims of Zion, passing through the valley of banishment, Psalms 84—The Lord’s heavenly peace in His earthly need: He is Himself as a refugee in great straits, and yet feeds with compassion a host of thousands. 1. The peace of God in the forgetfulness of His own distress. 2. The self-renouncing love of others in this forgetfulness.—To-day He gives the people a feast; to-morrow all sorrows await Him.

Starke:—True brotherly love does not look so much at the worthiness of the person as at his need and misery.—Believers may sometimes fall, even though Jesus be near, into temporal difficulties and need; but they do not and cannot come to harm or perish, Rom_8:35-39.—The Lord knows our need earlier and better than our complaints can tell Him.—Osiander:—How different from these people are some Christians amongst us, who can scarcely tarry one hour with Christ’s servants, hearing the divine word!—Preachers should care not only for the souls, but also for the bodies, of their hearers.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—When we truly love Jesus, we think little of the length or hardship of the way; we care nothing for want and weariness; but wait with Him, and prefer the kingdom of God to all other things.—Our unbelieving heart hangs on the means, and will believe nothing that it does not see, Mat_6:25-30.—We should thank God for everything, even for our scanty provision; He is bound to us for nothing.—(The breaking of bread.) When God puts anything into our hands, we should not keep it unbroken for ourselves alone, but break and dispense abundantly to others.—Canstein:—Preachers should dispense the food of God’s word among the people; but they should give to the multitude nothing which God has not first put in their mouth and in their heart.—The meek shall eat and be satisfied, Psa_22:26.—The gifts of God satisfy the heart.—In every fragment there is God’s blessing: therefore it is right to gather up the fragments.—With God it is all the same whether there be little or much.—Schleiermacher:—He kept them near Him, and distributed spiritual gifts; nor did He remember their earthly need until He had found that they were filled with desires that extended much further. And this is the divine order, in this connection, between the spiritual and the temporal. All earthly things, so far as they go beyond necessity, have value only so far as they are connected with the spiritual.

Heubner:—Perseverance in hearing the word of God.—The design of Providence in letting us encounter earthly need.—Have we sought diligently, and first of all, heavenly things?—Trust in God when the season of scarcity comes.—The prevenient providence of God, and His anticipating care.—The Christian’s attention to his neighbor’s need.—God can bring help by small means.—Giving is better than receiving.—Christ’s miracle as a figure of the miracle of divine sustentation.—Jesus as Householder.—The Christian householder after the pattern of Jesus: 1. Watchfulness, and attention to all needs; 2. love and sympathy for the distress of each; 3. trust in God when the question is, Whence shall we get? (Do the best: God will do the rest in His own way); 4. spiritual care of all who belong to Him.—How our partaking of food may be sanctified.—Rambach:—How may the Christian give God His honor in the enjoyment of his daily food?—Marheineke:—The Christian should always see a higher significance in the means of his daily sustentation.—Harms:—Instruction concerning table-worship.—Dietsch:—The miracle in our nourishment.—Huffell:—The divine blessing on our food.—Mehliss:—The glorifying of God in the care of His creatures.—Reinhard:—The connection between the necessity of nourishment in order to the sustentation of our bodies, and the growth and nourishment of our souls.—Valerius Herberger:—How should the guests at God’s table comport themselves?—Heubner:—Jesus the people’s holy Friend.—Burk:—Jesus Christ supplies all our need out of His riches in glory.—Stier:—The miraculous blessing of God’s power, as shown, 1. in the domain of nature, and 2. in the kingdom of grace.—Ulber:—The meal blessed by prayer.—The compassionate heart of Jesus moaning over all our misery.—Couard:—Reproof of the prevalent complaint over hard times.—Reinhard:—Christian benevolence at a time of general need.—Bauer:—When Christ’s blessing rests on anything, it becomes infinitely more than it was in the hands of men.

Footnotes:

Mar_8:1.—Instead of ðáìðüëëïõ , B., D., G., L., M., Ä ., [Vulgate, Coptic, Gothic, Lachmann, Tischendorf,] read ðÜëéí ðïëëïῦ .—The ὁ ’ Éçóïῦò is probably an explanatory interpolation.

Mar_8:2.— Ìïé is wanting in B., D., [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.]

Mar_8:6 .—B., D., L., Ä ., [Lachmann, Tisc hendorf, Meyer:] ðáñáããÝëëåé .

Mar_8:7.— Êáὶ åὐëïãÞóáò áὔôὰ åἶðåí êáὶ ôáῦôá ðáñáôéèÝíáé . B., L., Ä ., [Meyer.]

Mar_8:9.— ïὶ öáãüíôåò wanting in B., L., Ä ., [Tischendorf, Meyer;] following Mar_6:44 .