Feeding the Multitudes

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 02/26/2007.)

Reading: MattithYahu (Matthew) 13-16

Mat 16:6 And Yeshua said to them, "Mind! And beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."
Mat 16:7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "Because we brought no bread!"
Mat 16:8 But Yeshua, aware of this, said to them, "O you of little belief, why do you reason among yourselves because you brought no bread?
Mat 16:9 "Do you still not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you picked up?
Mat 16:10 "Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you picked up?
Mat 16:11 "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?"
Mat 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Somehow, Yeshua reminding His disciples of these two events, the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 and the numbers involved--5/5000/12 and 7/4000/7 respectively--made it clear to them that He was warning them against the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

I spent some time researching this and found all kinds of explanations for what the numbers symbolized. In some cases, the mathematical formulas used were too complex for me and went over my head. In other cases, it just didn't add up or was stretched too far to try to make it fit a specific ideology. I even tried using those numbers and various functions on my calculator to try to see if there was a pattern that might clue me in to exactly what clicked in the disciples' heads, but I didn't discover anything conclusive from playing with the numbers.

In the previous chapter, Yeshua pointed out that the Pharisees taught "commands of men" (15:9), and later on it is said of the Sadducees that they "say there is no resurrection" (Matt. 22:23). These are both false teachings that Yeshua corrected, calling the Pharisees hypocrites (Matt. 15:7) and telling the Sadducees they had gone astray and didn't know the Scriptures (Matt. 22:29).

In the case of the Pharisees, they had added to YHWH's teachings by insisting on "commands of men", while the Sadducees took away from YHWH's teachings by saying "there is no resurrection", so both are in violation of:

Deu 4:2 "Do not add to the Word which I command you, and do not take away from it, so as to guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim which I am commanding you.

At the feeding of both multitudes, at first there is too little (5 loaves for 5000, 7 loaves for 4000), and then the people are fed and satisfied (receiving just the right amount), and then afterward, there is too much (12 baskets and 7 baskets of leftovers).

The Sadducees can be seen in the before picture--too little/taking away from the Word. The Pharisees can be seen in the after picture--too much/adding to the Word. But Yeshua Messiah (the Living Word) fed the people the perfect amount--the Bread of Life.