Logistics of Jesus Feeding Of 5000

The Logistics

Mt 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Mr 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

Lu 9:14 For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty." 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

Joh 6:10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

It is interesting that four accounts that have shown significant divergence to this point suddenly agree almost totally in all but the smallest of details. It is as if the four strands of thought cross at exactly this point. I suspect that it is also the Spirit ensuring that the miraculous part of this miracle is well attested. The accounts are sufficiently similar that I shall break from the previous pattern and discuss the four accounts together rather than sequentially.

The first thing we note from all four accounts is that the Lord instructed that the multitude should sit on the ground. From the previous section we knew that the mob was advancing and had the potential to become unruly. The Lord was not prepared to be hustled into a miracle. Matthew implies that the Lord commanded the multitude; the other three make clear that the Lord transmitted the command through the disciples.