Mark’s gospel contains both the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. The stories shave a number of things in common.
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deserted place
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Jesus’ compassion
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Question ‘ How many loaves do you have’
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Directed the crowd to sit down
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Jesus days a prayer
The majority of modern scholars have these stories as stemming from one event, an event which has undergone change in the oral tradition. As Jimmy Dunn has pointed out oral tradition did not mean exact repetition of the received stories and traditions, a storyteller can have some creative impact on the story although the words and general gist of the event would stay the same.
In the pillar commentary Edwards offer the following reasons as to why they might be stories coming from two separate events. The differences are
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5 loaves 2 fish, seven loaves and few fish
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word for fish is different
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5,000 men, 4,000
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Jesus was with the crowd one day(6:35)/ Jesus with the crowd three days
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Spring time as there is green grass / no mention of season
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People arranged in groups/ People not arranged in groups
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Different number of baskets
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The second feeding leads to an uprising of the people.
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In the second feeding Jesus is more active/prominent whereas in the first he responds to the disciples
It is interesting that the feeding of the 4,000 is to a gentile audience. If these do stem from different accounts then we can see that Jesus the gentile population. brings feeding, and the symbolism attached to it (Eucharist, Exodus) to the gentiles. Jesus comes to restore Israel and also to be a blessing tot he nations.
In Brian McLaren’s latest book he quotes someone called Grant LeMarquand who theorises that in the feeding of the 5000 the 12 baskets leftover represent the 12 tribes of Israel, whereas with the Gentile feeding, there are 7 baskets which he suggests represent the 7 Canaanite nations of the conquest. Working in Matthew, he is basically arguing that Jesus is subverting the conquest narratives. We should now be nice to Canaanites not slaughter them, sort of thing. It would be nice if this reading was correct but I’m not sure I’m convinced. Read the full article here -http://www.tesm.edu/articles/lemarquand-canaanite-woman
It does sound a little far fetched. When is it an ‘allusion’ and when is it an ‘illision’- a creation in the mind of the reader and not part of the the initial authors intent. It seems more liekly that 12 has to with 12 tribes, and 7 is the number of perfection/completion… but again it could be an illusion. Thre is no doubt that Jesus acted symbolically (cleansing of temple) and that the gospel writers would write compile their gospels in a way which would draw similarities with charcetrs from the Hebrew Bible… but how can we tell what was origonally intended….
I know, that old chestnut ‘authorial intent’. Here is the definitive answer on the subject, at least for Paul – he intended whatever I conclude in my thesis
Now – a small matter of Midget Gems ?
Be warned – they are addictive.
Jeffrey John (The Meaning in the Miracles) adds that we have 5 (pentateuch) x 1000 (very large number = Jews, and 4 (four corners of the earth) x 1000 (very large number) = gentiles