For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for May 25, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:10

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how one's eyes see sleep neither day nor night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.

9:1 All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them 2 is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. 8 Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. (Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:10, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of June 10, 2008 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two), when they were repeated with editing and supplement from June 13, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two, and the week of Trinity Sunday, 2006), when comments were based on comments from June 8, 2004 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two) in an email sent Jun 7, 2004, for June 7-13.

One of the anomalies of life is apparent injustice. “There is a vanity (lb,h,, hevel) that takes place on earth,” says Qoheleth, “that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous” (Eccl. 8:14). Peter Machinist sees the theme of Ecclesiasticus 8:9-14 as “the treatment of the good and the wicked. On this theme,” he says,

Koheleth goes beyond what he has said earlier (e.g. 7:15) to express directly the tension between his personal conviction, following traditional wisdom, that the good are rewarded and the wicked punished (vv. 12-13), and his observation that in reality this does not always work out (vv. 10, 14). The conclusion to this dilemma is Koheleth’s favorite: It is all ‘hevel’ [‘vanity’]–beyond human comprehension (cf. 1:2; etc.). (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, pp. 1616-1617 on Eccles. 8:9-14)

R. B. Y. Scott and Roland E. Murphy put it this way: Qoheleth (‘Solomon’) “knows what the traditional teaching [about justice for “the wicked” and for “those who fear God”] calls for (vv. 12b-13), but things do not work out that way (v. 14)” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Eccles. 8:10-17). So he returns to the theme of enjoying one’s situation and work (3:12, 22; 5:18; 11:8, 9). “So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and to enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun” (Eccl. 8:15). Qoheleth reports serious and prolonged reflection, if not investigation. “When I applied my mind to know wisdom,” he says, “and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night, then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun” (vv. 16, 17a). According to Leong Seow, “one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night [is] an idiom of earnest fervor. Even those who are so dedicated to understanding God’s mysterious activity cannot find what they yearn to know” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Eccl. 8:16-17). “Even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out” (v. 17b). According to Machinist, “This conclusion [v. 14] and the recommendation [v. 15], then, are reinforced by the assertion that human wisdom cannot make any sense of the divine ‘activity’ of the world” (op. cit., p, 1617 on Eccles. 8:16-17).

Chapter 9 continues this melancholy line of reasoning. “All this I laid to heart,” says Qoheleth, “examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know” (9:1a). “Everything that confronts them is vanity,” he says, “since the same fate (hr,q4m9, miqreh) comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice” (9:1b-2a). The word “vanity” and the following comma (v. 2 NRSV cf. text note d) are corrections based on the ancient versions. For rw@6x3Ka lKoha (hakkōl ka’ ^ašer, Heb.), F. Horst says “read rw,x3Ba :lb,h!& [hāvel. ba’ ^ašer] cf. G s’ V [i.e., the LXX, Symmachus, and the Vulgate]” (Librum Ecclesiastes, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1975, apparatus to Eccl. 9:2). The Septuagint begins verse 2 with mataiovthV ejn toi:V pa:sin (mataiotēs en tois pasin), “there is purposelessness in everything” (v. 2a LXX). Note that the correction separates the two phrases. Time has a leveling effect, whether one is righteous or wicked, good or evil, clean or unclean and observant, offering sacrifices, or not, “the same fate (hr,q4m9, miqreh) comes to all. Raymond C. Van Leeuwen and Kent Harold Richards say, “For the converse, see Mt. 5:45. Qoheleth does not mean that the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, etc., are equal, but that death comes to all” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Eccl. 9:2). But the comparison continues. “As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath” (v. 2b). Qoheleth summarizes. “This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts (bl26, lēv) of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead” (v. 3). For “hearts . . . evil,” Van Leeuwen and Richards refer to 7:20, adding, “In biblical terms, the heart is the spiritual center of the self, the ultimate source of thought, will, emotion and action. See Prov. 4:23; Jer. 7:24 (‘will’ here translates the Hebrew word usually rendered ‘heart’); 32:33; Ezek. 18:31; 36:26-27; Mk. 7:20-21” (ibid., on v. 3).

A positive note begins to emerge, as Qoheleth says, “But whoever is joined with all the living has hope (NOH7F0AB9, bittāchôn), for a living dog is better than a dead lion” (Eccl. 9:4). Other things being equal, the lion would be better than the dog, but death cancels that superiority. William L. Holladay defines the word translated here as“hope,” as “trust” (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. NOH7F0AB9, bittāchôn), compare Isaiah 36:4, where the Assyrian Rabshakeh questions toe Judean officials, saying, “On what do you base this confidence (NOHF0AB9, bittāchôn) of yours?” Another “benefit” of being alive–if one can put it that way–is knowing that one will die. “The living know that they will die,” says Qoheleth, “but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost” (Eccl. 9:5). Scott and Murphy do see hope in Eccl. 9:4, but tempered by irony in verse 5. “While the hope of the living is suggested by [v. 4], there seems to be irony in the next verse. What do the living know? Only that they will die! This is hardly an advantage over the dead whose lot is described in vv. 5-6" (op. cit., on 9:1-6). Seow interprets verses 4-6: “For all its limitations, life is still better than death, for the dead do not have whatever life has to offer. For the living, there are still possibilities, however uncertain and ephemeral those may be” (op. cit., on Eccles. 9:4-6). Machinist agrees: “Contrary to 4:2-3; 7:11, being alive is better than being dead, because (vv. 5-6, 10b) in Sheol, the netherworld, the place where all dead reside, no labor, reward, emotion, or thought is possible” (on 9:4). For the dead, “Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun” (v. 6).

Qoheleth’s advice continues, enjoy the present satisfactions of living. “Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do” (v. 7). The emphasis here is on the enjoyment, not the possible side effects of enjoying too much wine. “Let your garments always be white,” says Qoheleth, suggesting dress for celebration, not for morning, “do not let oil be lacking on your head” (v. 8). “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love,” he adds, “all the days of your vain life (j~l,b4h, ym26y4, y ^emê hevlekā) that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun” (v. 9). The “vanity” motif (lb,h,, hevel) emerges again. Qoheleth assumes that those whom he addresses have the life of workers. Should we compare the advice of landowners to migrant workers? The advice of a sage, to students is perhaps a better model. “Whatever your hand finds to do,” he says, “do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (v. 10). In the “practical response” offered by verses 7-10a, Machinist finds advice “to enjoy life while you live it (cf. 2:24-25; 8:15)” and “new motifs” (op. cit., on 9:7-10a).

One of them [the motifs] connects enjoyment with symbols of purity, a white garment and the head anointed with oil. Some rabbinic sages (e.g., b. Shab. 143^b; Ibn Paquda) understood this to mean that one’s behavior in life should always be morally exemplary and spiritually elevated: ready at any moment for death and God’s judgment, and avoiding the excesses that would stain one’s character as they would stain a white garment. (ibid., on v. 8)

“The other motif,” he says, “states that enjoyment should include having a wife to love–a sentiment that appears to differ from the negative image of women in 7:26, 28" (ibid., on v. 9). So we needn’t be discouraged by all of this gloom. There is some light, as we say, at the end of this tunnel! Things brighten a little in further readings and toward the end of Ecclesiastes. According to Seow, the advice is to “enjoy life while you can, for God has already approved what you do. There will no longer be this possibility when one dies. A similar passage from the ancient Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh suggests that the advice to enjoy life in the full knowledge of certain death was a piece of folk wisdom (see ANET [i.e., Ancient Near Eastern Texts], 90).

Galatians 4:21-31

The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah (Gen 21.8-21; Isa 54.1)

21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. 23 One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

"Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,

burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;

for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than the children of the one who is married."

28 Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the scripture say? "Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman." 31 So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21-31, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of March 22, 2009 (The Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when the reading included Gal. 5:1). The comments then were repeated from February 4, 2009 ((Wednesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when comments were repeated from June 10, 2008 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two), and earlier as noted there.

Paul argues further for his contention that the Galatian Christians are justified by faith. He uses the stories of the birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16), the birth of Isaac (Genesis 21), and the related situations of Hagar and Sarah as an allegory which interprets the story of Hagar and Sarah, and Ishmael and Isaac (Gen., chaps. 16-18, 21). “Tell me,” he says, “you who desire to be subject to the law (novmoV, nomos), will you not listen to the law (novmoV, nomos)? Gal. 4:21). By the first reference to “law” Paul refers to the Mosaic regulations of the Pentateuch (the Torah); and by the second he refers to the narrative in Genesis. According to Richard B. Hays, “Law, here [is] broadly, scripture, See, e.g., 1 Cor. 14:21)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Gal. 4:21). But the example is from Isaiah, whereas, in the present context, reference is to the Pentateuch (i.e. the “Torah”). Paul briefly summarizes the story. “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise” (Gal. 4:22-23). The symbolism of the allegory emerges in the telling of the story. Hagar, the slave woman, has a child “born according to the flesh,” but Sarah, the free woman has a son “born through promise. Paul presents his analogy. “Now this is an allegory (a{tinav ejstin ajllhgorouvmena, hatina estin allēgoroumena): these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery” (v. 24). Frederick William Danker defines the verb, which occurs only here in the New Testament, as “ ‘to convey a sense different from what would normally be understood by having certain referents stand for or symbolize something else,’ express symbolically” The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 2009, s.v. ajllhgorevw, allēgoreō ). “The two covenants,” says Hays, “do not correspond to the OT and the NT, but more generally to the covenant of promise and the covenant of law; according to Paul, the former is older than the latter (see 3:17)” (op. cit., on v. 24). Paul explains further. “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children” (v. 25). According to Suzanne Richard, “Biblical mention of Arabia is rare and often vague, and for the biblical writers in Jerusalem the name seems to have connoted all the general desert area to the east, including Sinai” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Arabia). Hays says, “The equation of Hagar with Mount Sinai has no basis in the Genesis story; apparently the link is posited by Paul to connect slavery with the law” (op. cit., on vv. 24-25). According to Sheila Briggs, “Paul’s identification of Hagar with Mount Sinai, where the law was given to Israel is unparalleled” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Gal. 4:25).

By way of contrast, says Paul, “the other woman [i.e., Sarah] corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother” (v. 26). Compare the description of Abraham as looking “forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10), and John’s description of “the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:10). According to Briggs, with the words, “The Jerusalem above . . . our mother, Paul draws on the prophets’ vision of the pilgrimage of the nations to the restored Jerusalem (Isa. 51:2-6; ch. 60; 62:1-2; Zech 2:10-12). Ps. 86:5 (Septuagint) (cf. Ps.87:5) has the phrase ‘mother Zion’ ” (ibid., on v. 26). Paul cites another Isaiah passage, “For it is written,

‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,

burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;

for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than the children of the one who is married’.” (Gal. 4:27, citing Isa. 54:1)

There is a bit of irony in Paul’s use of a text about Jerusalem gaining her freedom, to demonstrate that “present Jerusalem” (v. 25) is now the “slave” (vv. 30-31). But he regards his faith and that of his Gentile Christian converts as bringing them into the family of Abraham and Sarah, and the “Judaizers” as spoilers of the tranquility of that family. “Now you, my friends,” says Paul to the Galatians, “are children of the promise, like Isaac” (Gal. 4:28). And with another jab at the Judaizers, he says, “But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh [i.e., Ishmael] persecuted the child who wa born according to the Spirit [i.e., Isaac], so it is now also” (v. 29). According to Hays, “The idea that Ishmael persecuted Isaac is found in rabbinic midrash, or commentary, based on Gen. 21:9” (op. cit., on v. 29). “But what does the scripture say?” asks Paul, as he quotes Sarah, “Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman” (Gal. 4:30, citing Gen. 21:10; cf. Jn. 8:35). And Paul draws his conclusion. “So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman” (v. 31). When we turn to Genesis, we may be troubled by the ethics of the ways that Abraham and Sarah dealt with Hagar and Ishmael. In the end, according to Christina de Groot [Calvin College], “once again the weak and lowly that Abraham and Sarah dispense with are cared for by God” (IVP Women’s Bible Commentary, 2002, p. 13 on Gen. 12-21, esp. 21:17-19). Cheryl J. Sanders [Howard Univ. Sch. of Divinity] says, “The same themes of divine promise and redemptive suffering commonly associated with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah also find fulfillment in the story of Hagar the Egyptian” (IVP Women’s Bible Commentary, p. 10, in an excursus on Hagar). Paul’s allegorical interpretation doesn’t focus on the story as such, but uses the pattern of relationships to make a point about his own times. According to Hays, Paul “reverses Jewish tradition” in which Isaac symbolizes Israel and Ishmael symbolizes Gentiles (Jubilees 16:17-18) (op. cit., on Gal. 4:21-5:1).Paul’s emphasis on freedom is significant. “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1).

As noted above, this reading comes as one in a series of arguments presented by Paul in Galatians in support of his thesis, “that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). Paul refers to the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, in Genesis as an “allegory” (4:24). The verb ajllhgorevw (allēgoreō), used only here in the New Testament, means “to use analogy or likeness to express something, speak allegorically” (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. ajllhgorevw, allēgoreō). Ronald Y. K. Fung says that Paul, with his allegory, “is not expounding the meaning of the OT passage as intended by the original writer; he is speaking of the meaning conveyed to him by the passage as it stands” (Galatians, NICNT [new ed.], 1989, 206).

This so-called “allegorical” interpretation of the OT text . . . is accomplished by a series of “conceptual identifications.” The two women stand for (literally “are,” RSV, NASB) two covenants. On the one hand, Hagar stands for the covenant derived from Mount Sinai and producing children for bondage: just as the children of a slave-wife (unless acknowledged as true children by the husband and master) were destined to be slaves themselves, so the covenant of law given at Sinai committed all who embraced it to its binding power.

Over against Hagar and the covenant of law which she represents . . . stand the free woman (v. 22b), with the other covenant represented by her. (ibid., pp. 206-207)

Fung lists the contrasts between the two covenants as follows:

            Slavery:                                                          Freedom:

            Hagar–a slave woman                                     Sarah–a free woman

            Ishmael–born according to the flesh               Isaac–born through God’s promise

            The Sinaitic covenant of law                          The covenant of promise (based on faith)

            the present Jerusalem (= Judaism)                  the Jerusalem above (= the Church)

            the children of the present Jerusalem             the children of the Jerusalem above

                        (= legalists)                                                    (= Christians)

            Righteousness by Law                                  Righteousness by Faith

Fung distinguishes this “allegorical” use of the Old Testament from that of Philo and Josephus, “since Paul treats the Genesis story as historically true” (ibid., p. 217), and Fung prefers to call it an “analogy” which goes “beyond the historical to the hidden and underlying meaning” (ibid., p. 218). Paul draws out “the spiritual principles underlying the actual events” based on “a definite central point of reference . . . faith in Christ” (ibid., p. 219). I would add that the analogy, as a discussion of concepts, should not be twisted into antisemitism against the children of Sarah in the world–the Jews–nor any comparable prejudice against the children of Hagar.

Matthew 15:29-39

Jesus Cures Many People (Mk 7.31-37)

29 After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, 31 so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Feeding the Four Thousand (Mk 8.1-10)

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." 33 The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" 34 Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 38 Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. (Matthew 15:29-39, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from November 11, 2009 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One) when they were based on those of June 10, 2008 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two), when comments were repeated from November 14, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One), when comments were repeated from June 13, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of Trinity Sunday, Year Two), when comments were combined with revision from June 8, 2004 (Tuesday of the week of Trinity Sunday, Year Two) in an email sent June 7, 2004 for June 7-13, and from November 9, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The comments were used again on June 10, 2007 (the Sunday closest to June 8, Year One), with further revision and supplement. For recent comments on Mark’s version, see the Archives for March 15 and 16, 2010 (Monday and Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year Two).

The two stories in the reading from Matthew have parallel accounts in Mark, as presented in the separate file, Healings and the Feeding of the Four Thousand. These are preceded by the account of Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician, or Canaanite, Woman (Mk. 7:24-30; Mt. 15:20-21). Mark gives details of Jesus’ return. “Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis” (Mk. 7:31), but Matthew simply reports that “After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down” (Mt. 15:29). For Mark the setting is clearly in Gentile territory, “the Decapolis,” but this is not clear in Matthew’s version, though he briefly notes that the crowd “praised the God of Israel” (v. 31). Matthew presents a brief summary of many healings by Jesus. “Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them” (Mt. 15:30; cf. the summary in Mt. 4:23-25, which sets the scene, so to speak, for the Sermon on the Mount). In the present instance, Matthew notes the crowd’s amazement, for, as he says, “the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel” (v. 31).

At this point Mark tells the story of a single healing. Whether this represents focus on one of the many healings reported by Matthew, or a separate incident, there are some common elements. The setting is near the Sea of Galilee, though, as noted above, Mark puts it in the Decapolis, east and southeast of the Sea. The man whom Jesus heals in Mark’s account is deaf with “an impediment in his speech” (Mk. 7:32; cf. “the mute,” Mt. 15:30). By including several details of the healing, Mark gives an account that is nearly twice as long as Matthew’s. It is unusual in the Gospels to record such details as when Jesus “put his fingers into his ears, and  . . . spat and touched his tongue” (Mk. 7:33), or Jesus’ use of the Aramaic word Ephphatha, “Be opened” (v. 34).

After Matthew’s brief summary account of Jesus’ healings, he comes to the Feeding of the Four Thousand. Matthew and Mark give similar accounts of the Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mt. 15:32-39; Mk. 8:1-10). This and the earlier Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:32-44; Lk. 9:10b-17; Jn. 6:1-15) remind us of God’s feeding of the Israelites in the wilderness, as John’s version of the earlier feeding reminds us (in the Bread of Life discussion, Jn. 6:26-59). Dale C. Allison, Jr., points out that Matthew’s second feeding account adds to the narrative:

The gathering of the crowds, the healing of the sick (cf. 11:5), the allusion to Isa. 35:5-6 (vv. 30-1), the compassionate feeding of many, and the mountain setting together recall OT prophecies about Mount Zion (see Donaldson [Jesus on the Mountain, a Study in Matthean Theology], 1985). So the second feeding shows us that the eschatological expectations associated with Zion have come to fulfillment in Jesus. (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 864, on Mt. 15:29-39).

Some wonder why there are two stories so similar in the Gospels, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, found in all four Gospels, and the Feeding of the Four Thousand found only in Matthew and Mark. Krister Stendahl favors a suggestion that the Feeding of the Four Thousand refers to the Gentiles. He says that E. Lohmeyer “strengthens this view by reference to the seven baskets = the seven deacons (Ac. 6:1ff.) over against the twelve baskets in 14:20 = the twelve disciples (as representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel)” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, sec. 686 m, p. 787 on Mt. 15:32-39). In any case, the feeding represents Jesus’ response to human need, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat” (Mt. 15:32). For an extensive discussion of the relationship between the Feeding of the 5000 and the Feeding of the 4000, see the comments on Mark 8:1-10 in the archive file for March 16, 2010 (as noted above).

After studying what indications of dates and a time sequence there are in this part of the Gospels, William Barclay concludes that there was a six-month interval between the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mt. 14:15-21) and the Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mt. 15:32-39) (The Gospel of Matthew, Daily Study Bible, 2^nd ed., 1975, vol. 2, pp. 125-126, on Mt. 15:29-39). He describes the scene of the latter as follows:

Many scholars think that the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand are different versions of the same incident; but that is not so. As we have seen, the date is different; the first took place in the spring, the second in the summer. The people and the place are different. The feeding of the four thousand took place in Decapolis [“ten cities’] . . . On this occasion there would be many Gentiles present, perhaps more Gentiles than Jews. It is that fact that explains the curious phrase in verse 31, “They glorified the God of Israel.” To the Gentile crowds this was a demonstration of the power of the God of Israel. There is another curious little hint of difference. In the feeding of the five thousand the baskets which were used to take up the fragments are called kophinoi; in the feeding of the four thousand they are called sphurides. The kophinos was a narrow-necked, flask-shaped basket which Jews often carried with them, for a Jew often carried his own food, lest he should be compelled to eat food which had been touched by Gentile hands and was therefore unclean. The sphuris was much more like a hamper; it could be big enough to carry a man, and it was a kind of basket that a Gentile would use. (ibid., p. 126, on Mt. 15:29-39)

It almost seems that, in spite of himself, Matthew, who indicates that Jesus’ ministry was only to Jews (cf. Mt. 10:5-6; 15:21-28), inevitably pictures Jesus as ministering to Gentiles, including the Canaanite woman and the crowds in the Decapolis (cf. Mk.15:31)

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for May 25, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net