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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 6:39 - 6:39
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39. ἀνακλῖναι πάντας. That all should recline. If the people had stood, they would have crowded round the distributors, and equal distribution would have been impossible. Arranging them in “messes” (τραπέζας διαφόρους, Theoph.) still further contributed to orderly and equal feeding.
συμπόσια. Lit. “drinking-parties,” and then any gatherings for taking refreshment. Hence the addition of οἴνου (Sir 31:31; Sir 32:5; Sir 49:1) when drinking is specially meant. Cicero has compotatio, but the usual words are commissatio and convivium. Vulg. has secundum contubernia here and in partes for πρασιαὶ πρασιαί. The reduplication (see on δύο δύο, Mar 6:7) should be similarly rendered in both verses; but A.V. and R.V. have “by companies” and “in ranks.” Company by company and rank by rank preserves the reduplication and the similarity of construction.
ἐπὶ τῷ χλωρῷ χόρτῳ. The desert was not sand, but prairie, and the green grass confirms Jn’s mention of a Passover here. Contrast Clem. Recog. ii. 70, iii. 30.