Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
August 2, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(328)
1901 ASV
8:1 In those days, when there was again a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them,
8:2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat:
8:3 and if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way; and some of them are come from far.
8:4 And his disciples answered him, Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in a desert place?
8:5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
8:6 And he commandeth the multitude to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he brake, and gave to his disciples, to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.
8:7 And they had a few small fishes: and having blessed them, he commanded to set these also before them.
8:8 And they ate, and were filled: and they took up, of broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets.
8:9 And they were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
8:10 And straightway he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.
- I. The Feeding Of Four Thousand.
- A. According to Mark's literary design, this is the second attempt by Jesus to give The Twelve the necessary "insight" to stay on target with His agenda.
- 1. There exists a strong necessity for getting a grasp on Jesus' identity as The Compassionate Shepherd and its implications for "the disciples" (tous mathetas).
- 2. Simultaneously, there exists a powerful undercurrent of false motivation(s) within the hearts of those "disciples"called "a hardened heart" (6:52; 8:17).
- B. The details... .
- 1. "In those days...".
- a. This phrase is used by Mark in three places.
- 1) "In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John..." (1:9). This was when Jesus was first identified by a "voice out of the heavens" as "My beloved Son; in You I am well-pleased".
- 2) "In those days, when there was again a large crowd..." (8:1). This is our current text, and Jesus' identity is, again, at issue as it was in 6:49-52.
- 3) "But in those days, after that tribulation..." (13:24). This is the future when Jesus is "seen" to the world as "...the Son of Man coming...with great power..." to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.
- b. This phrase, with its common thesis regarding Jesus' identity, indicates the existence of the "problem" of man in his lack of insight regarding the Person Who must be properly identified in order for the "powerful undercurrent of false motivation(s)" to be wrestled into submission.
- c. This phrase is "generally determinate" in terms of "time" ("in those days") but it serves, not as a critical "time" issue, but as a critical "Who, then, is This?" issue (as in 4:41). The "event" in view really happened in human history, and it was an "event" that causes the most critical of human concerns to rise to the top (the danger of "leaven").
- 2. "...again...".
- a. Mark uses "again" in 26 texts and it typically signals "another setting of a similar kind".
- b. In this case, it is the physical hunger of 4,000 people.
- 3. "...a great crowd existing and not having the wherewithal that they should eat...".
- a. The "great crowd" is "great" (4,000 strong), but not nearly so great as the first go around (5,000 men and an unexpressed number of women and children).
- b. It is "great" enough to serve to illustrate the point.
- 4. "...summoning the disciples..."; literally, "having called face to face".
- a. Mark records someone "summoning [somebody] to Himself" in nine places in his record.
- 1) The first "summoning" is that of Jesus so that He might form His "Twelve" disciples of the "inner circle" (3:13) into a unit.
- 2) This, without the specific term (proskaleo), is a hearkening back to the beginning of Jesus' formation of The Twelve when He "called" (kaleo) the first four of them in 1:16-20.
- b. This summons is intensified by its prefix and given direction ("calling to come face to face").
- 5. "...and He is saying to them, 'I am being moved by compassion for the crowd..." (Present Passive Indicative).
- a. The "is saying" is yet another use of the present tense in historical narrative.
- b. What He "is saying" has to do with "being moved by compassion".
- 1) This word is used by Mark in only four contexts.
- a) Two of the four have to do with the plights of the leper (1:41) and the challenge of the father of the demoniac (9:22). The first of these is the issue of a dread disease and the second is the issue of a "demon possession". This is Mark's basic and on-going presentation of the "One coming Who is mightier than I".
- b. The other two have to do with Jesus' attitude toward "the crowds" who need food (6:14 and 8:2). These two point to Jesus as "The Compassionate Shepherd" who is sufficiently "powerful" to be able to feed them.
- 2) The uses dealing with the crowds' focus, in the first setting, upon the need for "teaching" as the "Shepherd's" main method for dealing with the problems created by their condition, and, in the second setting, upon the need for physical food because the crowd is remaining with Him for three days without food.
- c. Jesus' perception of the need.
- 1) If I should send them away, fasting, unto their house, they shall be loosed in the way; and some of them are coming from a long distance.
- 2) Clearly, Jesus' "compassion" reached as far as their need for food for energy.