Preparations for a formal meal

Now the tempo changes.  Jesus orders the disciples to sit the people down in groups on the green grass.  The Greek means ‘recline’ rather than ‘sit’ which suggests arrangements for a meal are being made.  And the groups are of hundreds and fifties.  They are very orderly groups – the word in Greek literally means vegetable or flower beds, giving the impression of plots. (15) This indicates that preparations are being made for the distribution of food on a large scale.  Indeed, it has been suggested that the groups were arranged after the fashion of the triclinium (a couch running round three sides of a table on which people reclined) with the short side having fifty people, the long sides 100 each and the fourth side being left open to allow the disciples to enter and distribute food. (16) These are the preparations for a formal banquet, not a picnic. (17)