Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 6:39
And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
39. by companies ] Literally, drinking parties. The word alludes to an orderly social grouping, catervatim. The words are repeated by a Hebraism in the original, like the “two and two” of Mar 6:7.
upon the green grass ] St Mark alone mentions the green grass, “still fresh in the spring of the year, before it had faded away in the summer sun.” It was the season of the Passover, corresponding to our March or April, hence there was “ much grass in the place; ” comp. Joh 6:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
39. And he commanded them to makeall sit down by companies upon the green grassor “greenhay”; the rank grass of those bushy wastes. For, as John (Joh6:10) notes, “there was much grass in the place.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he commanded them to make all sit down,…. Christ ordered his disciples, without any more ado, to cause the whole multitude, men, women, and children, to sit, or lie down, as they used to do at table when about to take a meal: and as they had no table before them, nor beds, or couches to sit, or lie down upon, he directed them to place them
by companies upon the green grass; that there might be some order among them, as at a meal; and that their number might be the more easily known; and that all of them might more plainly see the miracle that was to be wrought: and the provision be more orderly distributed to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By companies ( ). Distribution expressed by repetition as in Mr 6:7 ( ) instead of using or . Literally our word symposium and originally a drinking party, Latin convivium, then the party of guests of any kind without the notion of drinking. So in Plutarch and the LXX (especially I Macca.).
Upon the green grass ( ). Another Markan touch. It was passover time (Joh 6:4) and the afternoon sun shone upon the orderly groups upon the green spring grass. See on Mt 14:15. They may have been seated like companies at tables, open at one end.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
By companies [ ] . Peculiar to Mark. The Jewish dining – room was arranged like the Roman : three tables forming three sides of a square, and with divans or couches following the outside line of the tables. The open end of the square admitted the servants who waited at table. This explains the arrangement of the multitude here described by Mark. The people sat down, literally, in table – companies, arranged like guests at table; some companies of a hundred and some of fifty, in squares or oblongs open at one end, so that the disciples could pass along the inside and distribute the loaves.
Green. Mark only.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) ”And He commanded them to make all sit down,”(kai epetaksen autois aniklithenat pantas) ”And He instructed. them to cause all to sit down,” or recline. They brought the loaves; they brought the fishes; they caused the people to sit down, at His command. When they obeyed, God did the rest to meet their needs of the hour, Joh 14:15; Joh 15:14; 1Sa 15:22; Jer 7:23.
2) “By companies upon the green grass.” (sumposia epi to chloro chorto) “In symphonic companies, upon the chlorophyl-like (green) grass,” the best, at passover season, reclining place in the area. It appears to have been on the North end of the Sea of Galilee in a reedy, marshy area, near where the Jordan River flows into the upper Sea of Galilee, Mar 6:31-32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(39) By companies.The Greek expresses the distributive force of the English by simple repetition, companies and companies. The green grass may be noted as an example of St. Marks vividness, and serves as an indirect note of time pointing to the same season as that specified by St. John, sc., a little before the Passover. (Comp. Joh. 6:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And he commanded them that all should sit down group by group on the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.’
Peter remembered vividly the greenness of the grass, which indicated springtime. But was there a hint here that He Who made the grass to grow by abundant rain, a wonderful provision of God, could also feed the hearts of men? (Isa 44:4). When the grass fails and there is no green thing it is a time of desolation (Isa 15:6). Thus when the grass flourishes times are good. We may also compare it with the green pastures to which ‘the Lord is my Shepherd’ led His people (Psa 23:2). In Scripture man is often likened to the grass, usually dying grass. But this was a time of life, and the grass was alive.
‘They sat down rank by rank.’ Literally ‘garden plot by garden plot’. This was probably depicting their orderliness, or perhaps the colourful groups on the green grass. Whoever described all this, and it must have been an eyewitness, seems to have had an eye for colour. Similar descriptions are used by the Rabbis of the arrangement of their students like rows of vines in a vineyard and like garden beds, mainly depicting their orderly arrangement.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The feeding:
v. 39. And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
v 40. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.
v. 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.
v. 42. And. they did. all eat and were filled.
v. 43. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
v. 44. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. Nothing could be more expressive than the contrast afforded here between the helpless puttering of the disciples and the cool, majestic bearing of Christ in taking charge of the situation. He had the disciples give orders that all should recline on the grass in orderly groups, for just at this place there was a meadow near the shore of the lake. And they sat down in groups as in garden squares, as orderly as Rowers planted in rows a fine bit of vivid description. Then Jesus, taking the five loaves and the two fishes, and having looked up to heaven, spoke the blessing upon the food. Note: He broke the bread and passed it on for distribution; He divided the fishes and had them taken to all in a similar way; under His hands the amount of food grew. The miracle is mentioned by all four evangelists, and was one that could not be counterfeited, a secret supply being out of the question. It is a full proof for the divinity of Christ. All ate, and all had enough to eat. And not only that: when the fragments were gathered into the large carrying baskets used by the people of Palestine, twelve of these were filled. And the number of those that had eaten is expressly stated, it being so easy to count them as they sat in groups: five thousand men, without women and children.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 6:39-40. He commanded them, &c. When the loaves and the fishes were brought, our Lord commanded his apostles to make the whole multitude sit down by companies, each consisting of two rows, with their faces opposite, and their backs turned to the backs of the next companies. This disposition appears from the words before us. St. Luke, Luk 9:14 represents it thus: Make them sit down by fifties in a company. , the word used by St. Mark, signifies “a company of guests at a table;” but , the word in St. Luke, denotes properly “as many of them as lie on one bed,” according to the Eastern manner of eating. By Christ’s order, therefore, the people were to sit down to this meal in companies, consisting some of fifty persons,some of a hundred, according as the ground would admit. The members of each company were to be placed in two rows, the one row with their faces towards those of the other, as if a long table had been between them. The first company being thus set down, the second was to be placed beside the first in a like form, and the third by the second, till all were set down; the direction of the ranks being up the hill, and the two ranks of every division formed into one company, by being placed with their faces towards each other; so that they were distinguished from the neighbouring companies by lying with their backs turned to their backs: and the whole body of the multitude thus ranged would resemble a garden-plot, divided into seed-beds, which is the proper signification of , the name given by St. Mark to the several companies, after they were formed. The difference of numbers found in the companies arose probably from the situation of the ground; they were ranged on the declivity of a hill, where it happened that on one side ranks of twenty-five persons only could be admitted, and consequently the companies there consisted of no more than fifties each, and the ranks of twenty-five. St. Luke describes their disposition from that which was most prevalent, the greatest part of the people lying together by fifties in a company. By this regulation the number was more easily ascertained, and the people better and more regularly fed. We may observe further, that as the people were fed on a mountain, and lay as we have remarked, with their heads pointing up the hill, reclining on their elbows, they were almost in a sitting posture, and had their eyes fixed on Jesus, who stood below them in a place which was more plain, at a little distance from the ends of the ranks. Without doubt, therefore, they all heard his thanksgiving and prayer for the miracle, saw him give the disciples the food, and were astonished above measure, when they perceived, that instead of diminishing, it increased under his creating hands. Moreover, being set down in companies, consisting some of fifty, some of a hundred persons, according as the ground would admit, and every company being divided into two ranks, which lay fronting each other, the ranks of all the companies were parallel, and pointed towards Jesus; and so were situated in such a manner, that the disciples could readily bring the bread and fish to them who sat at the extremities of the ranks. By this disposition too, there must have been such a space between the two ranks of each company, that every individual in it could easily survey the whole of his own company, as well those above as those below him; and therefore when the viands were brought from one to another, they would all follow them with their eyes, and see them swelling not only in their own hands, but in the hands of their companions likewise, to the amazement and joy of every person present. The evangelists indeed give very short accounts of our Lord’s miracles; nevertheless, the nature of those miracles, and the few circumstances which they have mentioned, often suggest many astonishing ideas, which inattentive readers altogether overlook. See Pierce’s 5th Dissertation on the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
Ver. 39. See Trapp on “ Mat 14:17 “ See Trapp on “ Joh 6:8 “ See Trapp on “ Joh 6:9 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 6:39 . . Hebraistic for . ( cf. , Mar 6:7 ) = in dining companies. , on the green grass; a reedy, marshy place near the mouth of the Jordan at the north end of the lake. Vide Stanley’s description (Sinai and Palestine).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
by companies = in table-parties: i.e. arranged in three sides of a square, as in a Jewish or Roman dining-room; the guests being seated on the outside and served from the inside. These were arranged in companies of 50 and of 100. Greek. sumposia sumposia. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6).
upon. Greek. epi. App-104.,
green. This is a Divine supplement only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Ki 10:5, Est 1:5, Est 1:6, Mat 15:35, 1Co 14:33, 1Co 14:40
Reciprocal: Mat 14:19 – he commanded Mar 8:6 – to sit Luk 9:14 – Make Joh 6:10 – Make
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
FED OF GOD
And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies.
Mar 6:39
The subject of which I wish to speak to you is the need which comes to men of simply being fed by God, of ceasing from self-assertion, and simply being receptive to the influences which come to them from Divinity.
I. Lifes perpetual energy.There is a danger for many men, if not for all, in the perpetual output of energy which so much of our life involves. Life is made up of tasks and problems. It is one process of education; the calling out of powers by their use. It is the tendency of all the practical necessities of life, the constant outward movement of activity. All is going out, nothing is coming in. Is not that the dismay which settles down upon many an experience as it attains to middle life?
II. The blessedness of a pause.This applies also to our sacred and religious occupations. Nothing so tends to keep God out of our lives as work for God done in a wrong and superficial spirit. The disciples as well as the stragglers from Capernaum, must have needed Christs call to sit down and be fed. The more earnestly you are at work for Jesus, the more you need times when what you are doing for Him passes totally out of your mind, and the only thing worth thinking of seems to be what He is doing for you.
III. Is it not possible to rest in working, so that in the very act which exhausts, I shall get my renewal and supply? Here is a man who is engaged in a wholly secular employment. At the same time he is a Christian man who loves Christ; but all the day he is busy at the office or the shop. He knows how his life is always out-going. What can he do? Once in a while he turns aside and leaves the business. He makes his Sunday genuinely sacred. He consecrates his hour of prayer. What happens then? The blessing surely comes. God feeds the docile and expectant life, and it returns to work purer, greater. Why are you selling your goods? If you can say, Because it is my duty, in order that I may maintain my family, and serve my generation, and honour God by usefulness, then the act opens itself and becomes a Churcha gate of heaven. In every act, consciously and devoutly done for Gods sake, God gives Himself to the soul and feeds it in the act.
Bishop Phillips Brooks.
Illustration
There are races, and there have been times to which this need of rest and receptivity has been the most familiar truth. Open the record of the fourth century, and it is full of the pictures of hermits sitting on rough mountain sides, listening for the voice of God. Let your boat drop quietly down the Ganges to-day, and along its banks the silent figures sit like carved brown statues, day after day, with eyes open and fixed on vacancy, clearing themselves of all thought or desire, that being emptied of self they may see God. The East believes only too readily what the West finds it so very hard to accept, that no life is complete which does not sometimes sit trustfully waiting to be fed by God.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
9
Sit down by companies means to form groups for the orderly passing of food. Green grass does not grow where there never is any moisture, so the desert does not mean an infertile spot.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 6:39. Upon the green grass. Green is inserted by Mark alone, in his usual graphic way.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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.
Can you envision this in a crowd of Christians today? Well I do not want to sit with that person and I certainly am not going to be split up from my friends. Why should I have to sit with that man, when I could sit with this good looking guy over here. Oh the sun is too bright on my skin over there, I need to be in this group.
Some how they overcame all their problems and divided into groups as they were requested to do. (Wonder if they had to line up and count 1-2-3-4-5- and then divide — well maybe not.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by {t} companies upon the green grass.
(t) Literally, “by banquets”, after the manner of the Hebrews who have no distributive words; see Mr 6:7 . Now he calls the rows of the sitters, “banquets”.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Mark alone noted the green grass thus dating this miracle in the late winter or early spring. John dated it more specifically as near Pentecost, which fell in late March or early April (Joh 6:4). Hoehner dated this Pentecost at April 13-14, A.D. 32. [Note: Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, p. 143.] In the summer much of the grass turns brown in Palestine.
The orderly division of the people at least facilitated the distribution of food. The Greek phrases symposia symposia (Mar 6:39) and prasiai prasiai (Mar 6:40) picture the people spread out on the hillside like several garden plots. This organization may reflect the student teacher relationship that the rabbis fostered by seating their students in rows. [Note: P. Carrington, According to Mark, p. 136.] This seems farfetched to me. Another suggestion is that Jesus intended this arrangement to recall Israel camping in the wilderness (cf. Exo 18:21). [Note: Guelich, p. 341.] The reader should then view Jesus as the second Moses and the crowd as the new people of God. [Note: Lane, pp. 229-30.] This view has some attractive elements. However, most of those present were probably unbelievers.