Feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

[Orion]

It's a Bible story I've heard all my life. They were all in a desolate place listening to Jesus preach, it was getting late, and the disciples wanted to send people away so they could get something to eat, but Jesus said for them to feed the people. They had nothing to give them, but a boy had 5 loaves and 2 fish. It was enough to feed everyone and had 12 basket fulls of scraps left over.

Here's my problem.

1. Why didn't people bring their own food if they knew they were going out to a place far away? Why didn't they prepare?

2. Why was this boy the only one who had food on him. Unless everyone DID bring their own food and the disciples didn't realize it.

3. Was he just some wandering boy, or was he part of a family? Was the 5 loaves and 2 fish their meal?

4. If they were all out in a desolate place. . . .where did all the baskets come from to pick up the leftovers?

:-?

 

[cyberjosh]

One thing most people never realize is that there was a near parallel occurance in the Old Testament with Elisha. Elisha made some stew and served bread during a famine for 100 men and his servant objected that there was no way it could feed that many - yet it did, here's the account:

"38When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."
39Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.
40So they poured it out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they were unable to eat.
41But he said, "Now bring meal." He threw it into the pot and said, "Pour it out for the people that they may eat." Then there was no harm in the pot.

42Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat."
43His attendant said, "What, will I set this before a hundred men?" But he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left over.'"
44So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD. "
(2 Kings 4:38-44)


The leftover is exactly parallel to the story of the 5000!


I'm writing a book on the life on Jesus and in the chapter I cover the feeding of the 5000 I wrote fairly extensively on the parallel and used the numbers/figures for comparison and emphasis. Perhaps I can post an excerpt from it later...

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[cyberjosh]

Orion,

Thanks for the interesting questions. I'll try my best to answer them.

1. Why didn't people bring their own food if they knew they were going out to a place far away? Why didn't they prepare?

They were so eager to run ahead of him that they wouldn't have stopped in the market place to grab food. They got there even before (or at the same time as) Jesus did, that's how fast they ran over there. Moreover Jesus had withdrawn himself to a secluded place probably a mile or so outside Bethsaida, so no market places were nearby.

2. Why was this boy the only one who had food on him. Unless everyone DID bring their own food and the disciples didn't realize it.

Good question. Ultimately a definitive answer is impossible but I'll give a couple suggestions. Either the boy was a late comer to the group and had come from near-by Bethsaida with his lunch/dinner of the bread & fish (and perhaps he was a fisherman and had come from the bank with the fish as well). Or he was merely the first person they encountered that had anything to speak of. Amid 5,000 men (and probably well exceeding 10,000 including women and children) the disciples hardly would have gone from person to person to ask for food. It was probably limited to the people in the front rows of the crowd. Either way no real problem is presented.

3. Was he just some wandering boy, or was he part of a family? Was the 5 loaves and 2 fish their meal?

What I said in #2 above overlaps a bit with this one. He may indeed have been traveling to the place from Bethsaida or from fishing (as I suggested above). And that amount of food actually could be too much for one person so it probably was intended for a family.

4. If they were all out in a desolate place. . . .where did all the baskets come from to pick up the leftovers?

He most certainly made/replicated the baskets from the original just as he did for the bread and fish. Pretty darn amazing, no?

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[Heidi]

It's a Bible story I've heard all my life. They were all in a desolate place listening to Jesus preach, it was getting late, and the disciples wanted to send people away so they could get something to eat, but Jesus said for them to feed the people. They had nothing to give them, but a boy had 5 loaves and 2 fish. It was enough to feed everyone and had 12 basket fulls of scraps left over.

Here's my problem.

1. Why didn't people bring their own food if they knew they were going out to a place far away? Why didn't they prepare?

2. Why was this boy the only one who had food on him. Unless everyone DID bring their own food and the disciples didn't realize it.

3. Was he just some wandering boy, or was he part of a family? Was the 5 loaves and 2 fish their meal?

4. If they were all out in a desolate place. . . .where did all the baskets come from to pick up the leftovers?

:-?

First of all, it's entirely likely that people didn't know that they would be there for so long. It seems apparent that may wanted to stay around him for as long as they could. So that takes care of the first 2 questions.

Secondly, since the creation of the universe and life itself are a miracle, then it's nothing for God to create more baskets and food for everyone to eat. So just look around you and see the awesome miracle of even one flower much less the cause-effect workings of the universe from the smallest particle to the largest and reality itself should show you the awesome power of our glorious creator.

 

[ChristineES]

These kind of miracles happen all the time, but we do not recognize them. For instance, once I only had $25 for a week's worth a groceries for my children and myself. (my husband was out to sea at the time, as he was in the Navy) Unbelievable, I was able to buy enough food for an entire week! (I live in Southern California, where everything is more expensive anyway). That had to be a miracle, as there is no other explanation for this.

 

[Orion]

Heidi, . . . don't you think it would have been worthy of noting that sort of miracle if, all of the sudden, 12 baskets suddenly appeared?

 

[Rick W]

Fashioning baskets from what was available was as second nature to them as going to the cupboard for a plate and saucer is for us. There were no manufacturing facilities as we know them today, all things were handmade. Baskets can be made from just about anything and just about anywhere. And I'll bet they were very good at it.

I was in Salt Lake City for 14 years. Get out into the desert and that's desolation, nothing there but scrub brush and sage. And I believe I can make a basket from that. No biggie.

Matthew 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, ...

Obviously something was growing out there. Things do grow in the desert. Not all deserts are the vast areas of sand people think of when the word desert is used. In fact, only a scant few are.

I don't see any problem here.
:smt102

Besides, out of all those people I really don't see why some of them couldn't have baskets anyway. It would be like us carrying purses or handbags or fanny packs or even backpacks wherever we go. People carry things anywhere and anytime even if they don't know where they are going following someone else. I'd say it would be more of a miracle if nobody at all had any baskets.