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What did his disciples say when he expressed his intention of feeding the four thousand?
Mark: “And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven” (viii, 4, 5).
Why should they be surprised at his intention of feeding four thousand with seven loaves when but a few weeks before he had fed five thousand with five loaves?
In regard to this miracle Rev. William Sanday, of England, author of “Jesus Christ,” the most important article in Scribners’ “Bible Dictionary,” says: “Are the two Feedings of Mark to be regarded as two events or one? Besides the general resemblance between the two narratives, a weighty argument in favor of the latter hypothesis is, that in the second narrative the disciples’ question implies that the emergency was something new. They could hardly have put this question as they did if a similar event had happened only a few weeks before.” This is also the opinion of Dr. Schleiermacher.