Mark 6:30-46 ~ the number of the men who had eaten was 5,000

North end of the Sea of Galilee. This area Scripture tells us Jesus traveled and grew up in (Capernaum, Cana, Nazareth, Bethsaida, among others). The photo clearly shows us why the children of Israel were told their promised land flowed with milk and honey.

Mark 6:30-46 (New International Version)

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

~ 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

This miracle is more thought about than some of the others. People of small or non-existent faith say Jesus, as the great communicator, encouraged the people to place their own food in the baskets to share with each other.

In the 2nd century BC, the Essenes, forming a community in Qumran, began writing the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 4Q521, the scrolls tell us what this religious community was looking for in the Messiah’s ministry:

"the heavens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and none therein will stray from the commandments of the holy ones. Seekers of the Lord, strengthen yourselves in His service! All you hopeful in (your) heart, will you not find the Lord in this? For the Lord will consider the pious (hasidim) and call the righteous by name. Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power. And He will glorify the pious on the throne of the eternal Kingdom. He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the b[ent] And f[or] ever I will cleav[e to the h]opeful and in His mercy . . . And the fr[uit . . .] will not be delayed for anyone."

~ Photo of 4Q521, Dead Sea Scroll. Found in Cave 4, Qumran. Written in 2 BC. The Essenes probably hid their papyrus away in 69 or 70 AD, before being destroyed by Titus' armies.

The Essenes believed the Lord and were a community of faith. They believed. They didn't meet Jesus, that we know of, yet they knew what the gospels would proclaim about the Messiah.

Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

If all things are possible with God, why is it any stretch of faith to believe Jesus could feed 5,000? The Essenes lived in isolation, never became followers of Christ, but believed the Messiah would do what Luke and Matthew said.

Luke 7:22
So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

Matthew 11:4-5
4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

The earliest gospel of Matthew is found in the Magdalen Papyrus (P64) in England in the library of Magdalen College. The fragments are dated between 30 and 70 A.D. Matthew reports he is an eye witness of Jesus Christ and wants us to know Jesus fed 5,000. Matthew could have reported Jesus, with amazing skill, had the hungry travelers share food and begin to establish His credentials of leadership to claim His Kingdom of Israel.

Yet Matthew reports Jesus fed the people because he had compassion on them! The Essenes would have understood this to be part of the Messiah’s, God’s, nature.


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