081. XII. The 12 And The 7 Baskets Of Fragments

XII. THE 12 AND THE 7 BASKETS OF FRAGMENTS

1. Matthew 14:20.—In the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, recorded by all four Evangelists, the disciples, we are told, took up δώδεκα κοϕινους πλήρεις (Matthew 14:20; Mark 6:43; Luke 9:17; John 6:13); in all these eases our translation renders the passages “twelve baskets.” In the miracle of feeding the four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fishes, recorded by two of the Evangelists, the disciples took up ἑπτὰ σπυρίδας (Matthew 15:37; Mark 8:8); in both these eases our translation renders the passages “seven baskets;” the term κόϕινος, and σπυρὶς, being expressed both alike by “basket.”

Yet there was, no doubt, a marked difference between these two vessels, whatever that difference might be, for κόϕινος is invariably used when the miracle of the five thousand is spoken of; and σπυρὶς is invariable used when the miracle of the four thousand is spoken of. Moreover, such distinction is clearly suggested to us in Matthew 16:9-10, where our Saviour cautions his disciples against the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees;” and in so doing, alludes to each of these miracles thus: “Do ye not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets (κόϕινους) ye took up? neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets (σπυρὶς) ye took up?” though here, again, the distinction is entirely lost in our translation, both κόϕινους and σπυρὶς being still rendered “baskets,” alike. The precise nature of the difference of these two kinds of baskets it may be difficult to determine; and the lexicographers and commentators do not enable us to do it with accuracy; though from the word σπυρὶς being used (Acts 9:25) for the basket in which St. Paul was let down over the wall, we may suppose that it was capacious; whereas from the κόϕινους, in this instance, being twelve in number, we may in like manner suppose that they were the provision-baskets carried by the twelve disciples, and were, consequently, smaller. But the point of the coincidence is independent of the precise difference of the vessels, and consists in the uniform application of the term κόϕινοι to the basket of the one miracle (wheresoever and by whomsoever told); and the as uniform application of the term κόϕινος, to the basket of the other miracle; such uniformity marking very clearly the two miracles to be distinctly impressed on the minds of the Evangelists, as real events; the circumstantial peculiarities of each present to them, even to the shape of the baskets, as though they were themselves actual eye-witnesses; or at least had received their report from those who were so.

It is next to impossible that such coincidence in both cases, between the fragments and the receptacles, respectively, should have been preserved by chance; or by a teller of a tale at third or fourth hand; and accordingly we see that the coincidence is in fact entirely lost by our translators, who were not witnesses of the miracles; and whose attention did not happen to be drawn to the point.

2. There is another distinction perceptible in the narrative of these two miracles, which, like the last, seems to indicate a minute acquaintance with them, such as could only be the result of ocular testimony. In Matthew 14:19, where the miracle of the five thousand is told, it is said, “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves,” In Mark 6:39, it is said, in the account of the same miracle, “And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.” In John 6:10, “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down.”

St. Luke, Luke 9:14, contenting himself with writing, “Make them sit down by fifties in a company.” But in the description of the corresponding miracle of the four thousand we find in Matthew 15:35, “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.” And in the parallel passage of Mark 8:6, “And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground.” The other two Evangelists not relating it.

It should seem, therefore, that the abundance of the grass was a feature in the scene of the miracle of the five thousand, which had impressed itself on the eye of the relator, as peculiar to it. It was a graphic trifle which had rendered the spectacle more vivid: and accordingly, unimportant as it is in itself, the incident finds a place in the narrative of three out of the four Evangelists, and in all the instances where they are speaking of the miracle of the five thousand. Whereas “the ground,” and no more, is the term used in the narrative of the miracle of the four thousand by the two Evangelists who record it. The distinction seems to be of the same minute kind as that of the baskets; and, like that, marks the description to be from the life, and from the eye of the spectator.

3. There is still another indication of truth and accuracy in the account of the miracle of the five thousand, which presents itself on a comparison of St. John with St. Matthew; this also is a coincidence of a kind only discoverable in the Greek. In St. John 6:10, we read in our English version, "And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down in number about five thousand;" "men" being the term used in both clauses of the verse. But in the Greek, ἀνθρώπους stands in the first clause, ἄνδρες, in the second; as though Jesus had said, "Make the people sit down;" and, accordingly, the men amongst them did sit down in companies of fifty, as another Evangelist tells us (Luke 9:14), and were thus readily reckoned up; the women and children left, to be otherwise disposed of.

Such would be our inference from St. John’s narrative.

Now let us turn to St. Matthew 14:21.

"They that had eaten were about five thousand men (ἄνδρες), besides women and children."

Here the fact which we had only inferred from St. John, we find directly asserted by St. Matthew. Surely an instance this of concurrence without design, in the testimony of these writers; not the less valuable from being so delicate as to be lost in a translation. On the whole, it seems most improbable that this miracle of the feeding the five thousand, as described by the Evangelists, should furnish so many arguments of veracity singly and alone, and yet be a fabrication after all.