Mark 6:44

Mar 6:44 . πεντακισχίλιοι ἄνδρες , 5000 men: one loaf for 1000! Mt. adds: χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων , women and children not counted. Of these, in the circumstances, there would be few, therefore probably not referred to by Mk.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 44. Were about five thousand] ωσει, about, is omitted by a great majority of the best MSS. and by the principal versions. It is wanting in several editions: Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach, leave it out of the text. It is omitted by some in the parallel place, Mt 14:21, but it stands without any variation in Lu 9:14, and Joh 6:10. This miracle is mentioned by all the four evangelists. It is one of the most astonishing that Christ has wrought. It is a miracle which could not be counterfeited, and a full proof of the divinity of Christ.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(44) Five thousand men.—St. Mark uses the word which excludes women and children.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. five thousand men] besides women and children (Mat_14:21), who would not sit down with the men, but sit or stand apart.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And straightway he constrained his disciples,.... The reasons of this is See Gill on Mat 14:22,

to get into the ship; in which they came to this place, and which was waiting for them:

and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida; or rather "to go to the other side over against Bethsaida"; for they were now in a desert belonging to that city, wherefore they were ordered to go, and did go to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, even to Capernaum, as appears from Joh 6:17;

while he sent away the people; See Gill on Mat 14:22.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

Ver. 44. {See Trapp on "Mat 14:20"} {See Trapp on "Joh 6:12"} {See Trapp on "Joh 6:13"} {See Trapp on "Joh 6:14"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. ὡσεί has very little authority.

44. ἄνδρες. In all four; men; ἄνθρωποι. would be “people,” including women and children, whom Mt. mentions separately. Mt., Lk., and Jn have ὡσεί or ὡς before πεντακισχίλιοι.

The attempts to explain away the miracle as a myth, or a parable, or a gross exaggeration, are very unsatisfying. The first Temptation, as recorded by Mt. and Lk. (Luke a narrative which must have had its origin in Christ Himself), points strongly to His having powers such as are indicated here. He would not have put His temptation into a form that implied that He had power which He knew that He did not possess. At the time when He told the disciples about His temptations experience would have taught Him whether there was the supposed limit to His supernatural power. We are not in a position to draw a hard and fast line between what is only unknown and what is certainly impossible. This consideration applies also to the narrative which immediately follows.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. πεντακισχίλιοι ἄνδρες—five thousand men alone. ἄνδρες is the Greek word for men, distinct from women and children. See Mat 14:21. The whole number then was much greater.

This is, with the exception of the raising of the dead, the most remarkable of all the miracles recounted in the Gospels, being the one in which secondary causes are out of the question, making it a purely creative act, a creation out of nothing. The rest of the provision did not come somehow out of the five loaves and two fishes, but was added to it by the mere creative word. All talk about acceleration of natural processes is mere talk, because there is here nothing to start from in such a process. Of course, this has led to all kinds of rationalizing. Paulus, and after him Holtzmann, suppose that Jesus set the example of utilizing such provisions as they had, those who had sharing with those who had not. And even Weiss, in order to preserve the historicity of the account in the face of an increasing skepticism in regard to so stupendous a miracle, admits the possibility of this explanation, only insisting that we have here a miracle of providence in bringing together such supplies even in a natural way, and that Jesus relied with serene confidence upon it. Schenkel explains it as a materialization of Jesus’ feeding of the multitude with spiritual food. But fortunately, we have here, as Weiss points outs, a concurrence of three eye witnesses, the Logia of Mt., the oral testimony of Peter, and the witness of John being all represented in the several accounts, and there is no doubt whatever of the fact that they represent it as an actual feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fishes, after which there remained twelve baskets of fragments.

OUR LORD WALKS ON THE WATER

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Men [ανδρες] . Not generic, including men and women, but literally men. Compare Mt 14:21, beside women and children; a detail which we should have expected from Mark.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.