John 6:1-14

VI. The Crisis to Galilee.

John 6:1. The Feeding of the Five Thousand.

John 6:1 is the natural sequel to work in Galilee, not in Judæ a. Similarly John 7:1 would naturally follow work in the south, not in the north. The author has probably modified the order in which the material out of which his gospel has grown took shape. We should therefore connect John 6 with John 4, and John 5 with John 7. [83] The account of the miracle cannot in all details be reconciled with the Synoptic account. In particular it leaves no room for the day of teaching (Mark 6:34), after which, not as here (John 6:5) when Jesus first sees the crowd, comes the conversation with the disciples and the miracle. But it presents several details, the parts played by Andrew and Philip, the fact that the scanty store procurable had to be obtained from a lad, the danger arising from the enthusiasm of the crowd, etc., which are not in themselves improbable, and which help us to realise the scenes as described in the other gospels. For the name Tiberias (p. 29), cf. Josephus, Wars, iii. 3, 5. The mention of the Passover, omitted in some Patristic authorities but in no MSS or VSS, is made either to account for the presence of the crowd, when people were on the move, or to point to the following Eucharistic teaching, the Christian rite as the continuation of, or contrast to, the Jewish Passover. The gathering up of the broken pieces is here attributed to the Lord's command. The lesson, which the author uses it to teach, of the grateful use to the full of God's bountiful giving, is clear.

[83] [On the general subject of disarrangements in the Fourth Gospel see Lewis; also Moffatt, Intro. to Lit. of NT, 550ff., who points out the close correspondence between chs. 4 and 6. A. J.Q.]