“When
the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”
Mark 8:20
Mark 8 [17.] Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?”
They told him, “Twelve.”
Mark 8 [20.] “When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?”
They told him, “Seven.”
Mark 8 [21.] He asked them, “Don’t you understand, yet?”
Meaning:
Jesus has just reminded his disciples of the feeding of the five thousand and the twelve baskets left over (Mark 8:17-19). Now he asks about the second, more recent miracle. Only a short time earlier, in a deserted place, he had fed four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish (Mark 8:6-9). Two miracles, two questions, two correct answers, and one lesson the disciples had still not learned.
- When the seven loaves fed the four thousand
The second feeding was not a copy of the first. The crowd had stayed with Jesus for three days and had nothing to eat, and some had come from far away (Mark 8:1-3). Jesus took the initiative out of compassion. He took seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them, and the disciples served the people until they were filled (Mark 8:6-9).
This happened after Jesus had travelled through the region of the Decapolis, the “Ten Cities” east of the Sea of Galilee, where many of the people were Gentiles (Mark 7:31). The Old Testament already contains a small picture of such provision: Elisha fed a hundred men with twenty barley loaves, and “they ate, and had some left over” (2 Kings 4:42-44). Jesus fed thousands with less.
- How many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?
Mark uses a different word for “basket” here than in the first feeding. After the five thousand were fed, the disciples filled twelve kophinoi, small food baskets (Mark 8:19). After the four thousand, they filled seven spyrides, larger hampers of the kind used for carrying provisions, so seven of these held a great deal.
Jesus himself keeps the two words distinct, and Matthew’s account records the same distinction (Matthew 16:9-10). Jesus remembered every detail of what he had done for them, even when they had forgotten its meaning.
- They told him, “Seven.”
The disciples answered without hesitation. They had gathered the leftovers with their own hands only days before. Their memory of the facts was perfect; it was their understanding that was missing.
Many readers have noticed the numbers. Twelve baskets, after a feeding among the Jewish crowds of Galilee, recall the twelve tribes of Israel. Seven, the number of completeness in Scripture, after a feeding near Gentile territory, may point to God’s provision reaching the nations. Whether or not Mark intended such symbolism, the gospel itself moves in that direction: the Bread of Life is for Jews and Gentiles alike.
- Two miracles, one lesson
Jesus asks about both miracles because together they prove that his provision was not a one-off event. He had provided abundantly twice, in different places, for different crowds, from different amounts. In both cases there was more left over than they began with. The question that follows, “Don’t you understand, yet?” (Mark 8:21), invites the disciples to draw the obvious conclusion: with Jesus in the boat, one loaf was more than enough.
The Significance of Mark 8:20
- God provides more than enough
Paul wrote, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). The baskets of leftovers show that God’s provision is not only adequate but generous, “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
- The gospel is for everyone
If the four thousand included many Gentiles, then this miracle is a foretaste of the good news going to all nations. No one is too far away for Jesus’ compassion, just as some of that crowd had “come a long way” to be with him.
- Let past grace shape present trust
Jesus asked his disciples to count the baskets. When we face a new need, it helps to count our own “baskets”: specific times when God provided. Each one is a reason to trust him again.
Cross-References:
Matthew 16:10: "Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?" Matthew records the same question in his parallel account.
2 Kings 4:44: "So he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left over, according to Yahweh’s word." Elisha’s small miracle foreshadows Jesus’ far greater provision.
Philippians 4:19: "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." The God who filled seven baskets still supplies his people.
Ephesians 3:20: "Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us," God’s generosity goes beyond our requests and expectations.
Conclusion: With his second question Jesus reminded the disciples of the feeding of the four thousand, when seven loaves became a meal for a great crowd with seven large baskets left over. The disciples remembered the number, “Seven,” but had not yet understood what it revealed about Jesus. Together with the twelve baskets of the earlier miracle, the seven baskets testify that Jesus provides abundantly, for Jews and Gentiles alike, and that those who follow him need never be anxious about tomorrow’s bread.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible