Mark 6:37

37 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?"

Mark 6:37 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 6:37

He answered and said unto them, give ye them to eat
This he said to try their faith, and make way for the following miracle:

and they say unto him, shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth
of bread, and give them to eat?
This might be just the sum of money they now had in the bag, as Grotius, and others conjecture; and the sense be, shall we lay out the two hundred pence, which is all we have in hand, to buy bread for this multitude? is it proper we should? is it thy will that so it should be? and if we should do so, as Philip suggests, ( John 6:7 ) , it would not be enough to give every one a little: wherefore they say this, as amazed that he should propose such a thing unto them: or the reason of mentioning such a sum, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, might be, because that this was a noted and celebrated sum among the Jews, and frequently mentioned by them. A virgin's dowry, upon marriage, was "two hundred pence" F3; and so was a widow's; and one that was divorced F4, if she insisted on it, and could make good her claim: this was the fine of an adult man, that lay with one under age; and of a male under age, that lay with a female adult F5; and of one man that gave another a slap of the face F6. This sum answered to six pounds and five shillings of our money.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Misn. Cetubot, c. 1. sect. 2. & 4. 7. & 5. 1.
F4 Ib. c. 2. sect. 1. & 11. 4.
F5 Ib. c. 1. sect. 3.
F6 Misn. Bava Kama, c. 6. sect. 8.

Mark 6:37 In-Context

35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late;
36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat."
37 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?"
38 And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish."
39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The denarius was the usual day's wage for a laborer
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.