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Mar_6:30-44. See on Mat_14:13-21. Comp. Luk_9:10-17. The latter, but not Matthew, follows Mark also in connecting it with what goes before; Matthew in dealing with it abridges very much, still more than Luke. On the connection of the narrative in Matthew, which altogether deviates from Mark, see on Mat_14:13. Mark has filled up the gap, which presented itself in the continuity of the history by the absence of the disciples who were sent forth, with the episode of the death of John, and now makes the disciples return, for whom, after the performance and report of their work, Jesus has contemplated some rest in privacy, but is hampered as to this by the thronging crowd.
ἀπόστολοι ] only used here in Mark, but “apta huic loco appellatio,” Bengel.
συνάγονται ] returning from their mission, Mar_6:7.
πάντα ] What? is told by the following καί … καί : as well … as also.
Mar_6:31. ὑμεῖς αὐτοί ] vos ipsi (Stallb. ad Plat. Phaed. p. 63 C; Kühner, § 630, A 3), ye for yourselves, ye for your own persons, without the attendance of the people. Comp. on Rom_7:25. See the following ἦσαν γὰρ κ . τ . λ .
καὶ οὐδὲ φαγεῖν ] Comp. Mar_2:2, Mar_3:20.
Mar_6:33. And many saw them depart and perceived it, namely, what was the object in this ὑπάγειν , whither the ὑπάγουτες wished to go (Mar_6:31-32), so that thereby the intention of remaining alone was thwarted. πολλοί is the subject of both verbs.
πεζῇ ] emphatically prefixed. They came partly round the lake, partly from its sides, by land.
ἐκεῖ ] namely, to the ἔρημος τόπος , whither Jesus with the disciples directed His course.
προῆλθον αὐτούς ] they anticipated them. Comp. Luk_22:47. Not so used among the Greeks, with whom, nevertheless, φθάνειν τινά (Valck. ad Eur. Phoen. 982), and even προθεῖν τινά (Ael. N. A. vii. 26; Oppian. Hal. iv. 431) is analogously used.
Mar_6:34. ἐξελθών ] not as in Mat_14:14, but from the ship, as is required by the previous προῆλθον αὐτούς . In Mar_6:32 there was not as yet reported the arrival at the retired place, but the direction of the course thither.
ἤρξατο ] His sympathy outweighed the intention, under which He had repaired with the disciples to this place, and He began to teach.
Mar_6:35 ff. καὶ ἤδη ὥρας πολλ . γενομ .] and when much of the day-time had already passed (comp. subsequently: καὶ ἤδη ὥρα πολλή ), that is, when the day-time was already far advanced, τῆς ὥρας ἐγένετο ὀψέ , Dem. 541 pen. Πολύς , according to very frequent usage, applied to time. Comp. Dion. Hal. ii. 54: ἐμάχοντο … ἄχρι πολλῆς ὥρας ; Polyb. v. 8. 3; Joseph. Antt. viii. 4. 3.
λέγουσιν ] more exactly in Joh_6:7.
δηναρ -g0-. διακοσ -g0-.] Comp. Joh_6:7, by whom this trait of the history, passed over by Matthew and Luke, not a mere addition of Mark (Bleek, Hilgenfeld), is confirmed. That the contents of the treasure-chest consisted exactly of two hundred denarii (Grotius and others) is not clear from the text. The disciples, on an approximate hasty estimate, certainly much too small (amounting to about £7, 13s., and consequently not quite one-third of a penny per man), specify a sum as that which would be required. It is otherwise at Joh_6:7. Moreover, the answer of the disciples bears the stamp of a certain irritated surprise at the suggestion δότε αὐτοῖς κ . τ . λ .,—a giving, however, which was afterwards to be realized, Mar_6:41.
With the reading δώσομεν , Mar_6:37 (see the critical remarks), the note of interrogation is to be placed, with Lachmann, after ἄρτους , so that καί is then the consecutive; and so shall we, etc. The reading ἀπελθόντες on to φαγεῖν together without interrogation (Ewald, Tischendorf), is less in keeping with the whole very vivid colouring, which in Mar_6:37-40 exhibits a very circumstantial graphic representation, but not a paraphrase (Weiss).
Mar_6:39 f. συμπόσια συμπόσια ] Accusatives: after the fashion of a meal, so that the whole were distributed into companies for the meal. The distributive designation, as also πρασιαὶ πρασιαί (areolatim, so that they were arranged like beds in the garden), is a Hebraism, as at Mar_6:7. The individual divisions consisted partly of a hundred, partly of fifty (not 150, Heupel, Wetstein).
χλωρῷ ] Mark depicts; it was spring (Joh_6:4).
εὐλόγησε ] refers to the prayer at a meal. It is otherwise in Luke. See on Mat_14:19.
Mar_6:41. καὶ τ . δύο ἰχθ .] also the two fishes.
ἐμέρισε πᾶσι ] namely, by means of the apostles, as with the loaves.
Mar_6:43. And they took up of fragments twelve full baskets, in which, however, κλασμάτων is emphatically prefixed. Yet probably Mark wrote κλάσματα δώδεκα κοφίνων πληρώματα (so Tischendorf), which, indeed, is only attested fully by B, and incompletely by L, Δ , min. (which read κοφίνους ), as well as by à , which has κλασμάτων δώδ , κοφίνων πληρώματα , but was very easily subjected to gloss and alteration from the five parallel passages. This reading is to be explained: and they took up as fragments fillings of twelve baskets, i.e. they took up in fragments twelve baskets full
καὶ ἀπὸ τ . ἰχθ .] also of the fishes, that it might not be thought that the κλάσματα had been merely fragments of bread. Fritzsche without probability goes beyond the twelve baskets, and imports the idea: “and further in addition some remnants of the fishes,” so that τί is supplied (so also Grotius and Bleek).
Why Mar_6:44 should have been copied, not from Mark, but from Mat_14:21 (Holtzmann), it is no easy to see.
τοὺς ἄρτους ] These had been the principal food (comp. Mar_6:52); to their number corresponded also that of those who were satisfied.