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| Concerning the Seven Loaves. The Narrative of the Feeding of the Four Thousand Compared with that of the Five Thousand.
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19. Concerning
the Seven Loaves. The Narrative of the Feeding of the Four
Thousand Compared with that of the Five Thousand.
“And Jesus called unto Him His disciples and
said.”5535
Above in the
similar history to this about the loaves, before the loaves are spoken
of, “Jesus came forth and saw a great multitude and had
compassion upon them and healed their sick. And when even was
come the disciples came to Him saying, The place is desert and the time
is already past, send them away,”5536
etc. But now after the healing of the deaf and the rest, He takes
compassion on the multitude which had continued with Him now three days
and had nothing to eat. And there the disciples make request
concerning the five thousand;5537
but here He speaks
of His own accord about the four thousand.5538
Those, too, are fed when it was
evening after they had spent a day with Him; but these, who are
testified to have continued with Him three days, partake of the loaves
lest they might faint by the way. And there the disciples say to
Him when He was not inquiring, that they had only five loaves and two
fishes; but here to Him making inquiry, they give answer about the
seven loaves and the few small fishes. And there He commands the
multitudes to sit down or lie upon the grass; for Luke also wrote,
“Make them sit down,”5539
and Mark says,
“He commanded them all to sit down;”5540
but here He does not command but
proclaims5541
| 5541 ὀυ
κελεύει ἁλλὰ
παραγγέλλει | to the multitude to
sit down. Again, there, the three Evangelists say in the very
same words that “He took the five loaves and the two fishes and
looking up to heaven He blessed;”5542
| 5542 Matt. xiv. 19; Mark vi. 41; Luke ix.
16. |
but here, as Matthew and Mark have written, “Jesus gave thanks
and brake;”5543
there, they recline
upon the grass, but here they sit down upon the ground. You will
moreover investigate in the accounts in the different places the
variation found in John, who wrote in regard to that transaction that
Jesus said, “Make the men sit
down,”5544
and that, having
given thanks, He gave of the loaves to them that were set down, but he
did not mention this miracle at all.5545
| 5545 Or, did not
mention the occasion of this. |
Attending, then, to the difference of those things which are written in
the various places in regard to the loaves, I think that these belong
to a different order from those; wherefore these are fed in a mountain,
and those in a desert place; and these after they had continued three
days with Jesus, but those one day, on the evening of which they were
fed. And further, unless it be the same thing for Jesus to do a
thing of Himself and to act after having heard from the disciples,
consider if those to whom Jesus shows kindness are not superior when He
fed them on the spot with a view to showing them kindness. And,
if according to John,5546
they were barley
loaves of which the twelve baskets remained over, but nothing of this
kind is said about these, how are not these superior to the
former? And the sick of those He healed,5547
but here He heals these, along with the multitudes, who were not sick
but blind, and lame, and deaf, and maimed; wherefore also in regard to
these the four thousand marvel,5548
but in regard
to the sick no such thing is said. And these I think who ate of
the seven loaves for which thanks were given, are superior to those who
ate of the five which were blessed; and these who ate the few little
fishes to those who ate of the two, and perhaps also these who sat down
upon the ground to those who sat down on the grass. And those
from fewer loaves leave twelve baskets, but these from a greater number
leave seven baskets, inasmuch, as they were able to receive more.
And perhaps these tread upon all earthly things and sit down upon them,
but those upon the grass—upon their flesh only—for
“all flesh is grass.”5549
Consider
also after this, that Jesus does not wish to send them away fasting
lest they faint on the way, as being without the loaves of Jesus, and
while they were still on the way—the way to their own
concerns—might suffer injury. Take note also of the cases
where Jesus is recorded to have sent any one away, that you may see the
difference of those who were sent away by Him after being fed, and
those who had been sent away otherwise; and, as a pattern of one who
was sent away otherwise, take “Woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity.”5550
But further
the disciples who are always with Jesus are not sent away by Him; but
the multitudes after they have eaten are sent away. Likewise,
again, the disciples who conceive nothing great about the Canaanitish
woman say, “Send her away, for she crieth after
us;”5551
but the Saviour
does not at all appear to send her away; for saying unto her, “O
woman, great is thy faith, be it done to thee even as thou
wilt,”5552
He healed her
daughter from that hour: it is not however written that He sent
her away. So far at the present time have we been able to
investigate and see into the passage before us.
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