Five Thousand Fed
FIVE THOUSAND FED
MATTHEW 14:13-21
Jesus loved the people so much he couldn’t turn them away.
The words “when Jesus heard this” (14:13) refer not to the death of John, which was not fresh news, but to Herod’s unwelcome interest in Jesus himself, recorded in 14:2. When the evidence of all the Gospels is put together, it appears that the disciples, during their Galilean mission, had at times spoken or acted with more enthusiasm than discretion. It was best therefore to withdraw to a “lonely place” east of the lake, out of Herod’s jurisdiction. But even there Jesus was followed by crowds, whose urgent desire was that he would put himself at their head, overthrow their oppressors, and inaugurate a new era of liberty and abundance. To this desire he would not accede, but in his compassion (cf. 9:36) he healed the sick among them and then performed one of the greatest of his mighty works.
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” asked the unbelieving Israelites in Moses’ day (Psalm 78:19). They had their answer then; a similar answer is given now. (Another Old Testament parallel is the incident of 2 Kings 4:42-44, in Elisha’s day.) Over the produce of the land and the produce of the sea Jesus pronounces the blessing; the traditional Jewish grace before meat takes the form, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth.” The lifting of one’s eyes heavenward in prayer seems to have been a general practice (its omission is noted as exceptional in Luke 13:13).
The feeding of the 5,000 is narrated by Matthew, as by the other Synoptists, with an economy of language which leaves the reader with the impression that there is much more here than meets the eye. The inner significance is brought out in the dialogue of John 6:26-58. But even in Matthew’s account it is possible to read between the lines and see Jesus revealed as the second Moses, the prophet of the end-time (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19), feeding his people in the wilderness, and as the true Messiah, giving them (in symbol at least) the food which sustains the life of the age to come. There is first-century evidence for the Jewish expectation that the gift of manna would be renewed when the Messiah was revealed.
The “twelve baskets” (14:20) correspond, probably intentionally, to the sum-total of the tribes of Israel (as also do the twelve apostles). Matthew alone of the evangelists adds the phrase “besides women and children” (14:21; cf. 15:38). An army of 5,000 men would not have been contemptible, had Jesus been minded to use the multitude thus.