I've appreciated Ray Vander Laan's cultural explanations of the Bible. The feeding of the five thousand and four thousand is no exception.
I found a summary here....
The lesson is taught at the Decapolis (Ten Cities), founded by the Greeks. They considered the pig sacred, and practiced the fertility cult of Baal.
In Rabinnic tradition, this is where Joshua drove the seven nations out of the Promised Land (Joshua 3:10; Acts 13:9). And yet Jesus ministered both the Jews and to the seven nations.
Mark 6:39-43 takes place in Capernaum. Jesus fed the people with 5 loves and 2 fish. The disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish — meaning that Jesus was the bread of life to the 12 tribes.
In Mark 7:31, 8:6-8 Jesus fed 4,000 at the Decapolis, and 7 baskets were leftover — showing that Jesus is the bread of life even to the seven nations driven from the Promised Land.
Jesus is the bread of life, for everyone!Tomorrow: Catch up day
Monday's Bible In a Year Passage: Genesis 37-39, Mark 9:1-32
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