The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

THE FEEDING OF THE FOUR
THOUSAND
Matthew xv. 32-39 ; Mark
viii. 1-9.
This miracle stands in such close relation to the
Feeding of the Five Thousand that it is not to be
wondered at that many critics have tried to identify
the two. But the points of difference are too
numerous and striking to admit of this, as, for
example, with regard to the number of persons fed,
the quantity of the food, the amount of the fragments
left over, the nature of the baskets used, and the
time and place of the miracles, to say nothing of
other and subtler traits which will appear in the
course of the following exposition. Nor must it be
forgotten that our Lord Himself clearly established
the distinction between the two miracles when He
asked His disciples, in the striking conversation that
followed the second :
" When I brake the five loaves
among the five thousand, how many baskets full of
broken pieces took ye up They say unto Him,
Twelve. And when the seven among the four
thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces
took ye up And they say unto Him, Seven"
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