The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

fisher-lad carried for them, he brought back the
tidings, ^ He hath * five barley loaves and two
small fishes,' to which he added, half in disbelief,
half in fiuth's rising expectancy of impossible
possibility: ' But what are they among so many ?' *
It is to the fourth Evan- • st Jobo gelist alone that
we owe the record of this remark, which we
instinctively feel gives to the whole the touch of
truth and life. It is to him also that we owe other
two minute traits of deepest interest, and of far
greater importance than at first sight appears.
When we read that these five were ftor^^y-loaves,
we learn that, no doubt from voluntary choice, the
fare of the Lord and of His followers was the
poorest. Indeed, barley-bread was, almost
proverbially, the meanest. Hence, as the Mishnah
puts it, while all other meat-ofierings were of
wheat, that brought by the woman accused of
adultery was to be of barley, because (so R.
Gamaliel puts it), ' as her deed is that of animals,
so her offering is also of the