Bethsaida

By looking at the accounts in Luke and John, it seems that Jesus and his disciples sailed across to a place near Bethsaida, a town to the northeast of the Lake.  Bethsaida means ‘fisherman’s house’.  Archaeological evidence strongly indicates that Bethsaida was on the northeast side of the Lake of Galilee, next to the River Jordan and near the Lake. (1)

The size of the crowd

Five thousand men, and also some women and children, was a very large number of people to gather in this area at such short notice. (2). It was probably the largest crowd Jesus ever addressed and the reason is related to the time of year.  It was just before the Passover and groups of pilgrims from northern Galilee, from the Decapolis to the east of the Jordan, and from the area north of Palestine usually camped by the Lake of Galilee for a few days before the last part of their journey down the Jordan valley and up to Jerusalem. (3)  The numbers were probably swelled by people who had come into Caperneum to be with Jesus and to hear him (4), as well as by the inhabitants of villages along the northern shore of the Lake.

The five loaves

John tells us that the boy’s loaves were made of barley (6:9).  Barley is lower in protein than wheat or rye (5) and was the food of poor people. (6)

The twelve baskets

Mark tells us that after the feeding of the 5,000, they “took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish” (NRSV, 6:43).  These strong wicker baskets were mentioned by the Roman writer Juvenal as being a characteristic of the Jews in Rome.  It appears that the Jews carried them on their backs. (7) Having their own provisions in their baskets meant that Jews would not have to buy ‘unclean’ food from Gentiles. (8) The number of baskets mentioned in the Gospels suggests that each of the twelve disciples habitually carried a basket to hold provisions. (9)