Mark 6:43

κλάσματα δ. κοφίνων πληρώματα ([1295][1296][1297]) rather than κλασμάτων δ. κοφίνους πλήρεις ([1298][1299][1300][1301]) from Mt.

[1295] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1296] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1297] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.
[1298] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[1299] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mark 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1300] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mark 3:35 to Mark 6:20.

[1301] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mark 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

43. ἦραν κλάσματα. See crit. note. Jn tells us that it was by the Entertainer’s order that this security against waste was taken; a remarkable order to come from One who had just fed 5000 with the food for five, and an order not likely to be invented by a writer of fiction. The amount saved far exceeded the amount supplied by the lad, but Christ did not allow it to be wasted. And the fragments are of the loaves and fishes; nothing new has been created.

κοφίνων. The word always used of this miracle, σφυρίδες being always used of feeding the 4000. The κόφινος was the wallet in which travelling Jews carried provisions, to avoid eating Gentile food; Judaeis quorum cophinus foenumque supellex (Juv. iii. 14), Cophino foenoque relicto Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem (Ib. vi. 542). A σφυρίς would hold a man (Acts 9:25). Wiclif has “coffyns” here and Mark 8:19.