When Jesus fed the thousands of people, the Bible says 5 and 4 thousand for both of the times, but how do we know it was exactly that number? Was it exactly 5 and 4 thousand? Did they just round or guess or is it exact?<\/p>\n\t
“Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. … Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men<\/em>” (Mark 6:39-40, 44).<\/p>\n
“For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty”<\/em>” (Luke 9:14).<\/p>\n
“Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children<\/em>” (Matthew 14:21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A trick to counting a large number of items is to count out smaller groups and then count the groups. You are less likely to make a mistake this way. When the people were seated for the feeding of the five thousand, they were divided into groups. Mark’s statement is a bit vague, but Luke is more precise. The people were seated in 100 groups with 50 men in each group. Even then, with such a large crowd you can be off by one or two, so the number is given as about five thousand. Notice also that only the men were counted, the women and children were not included in the count.<\/p>\n
“Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away<\/em>” (Mark 8:9).<\/p>\n
“Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children<\/em>” (Matthew 15:38).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the feeding of the four thousand, how the people were seated is not mentioned, but we can assume a similar method was used as with the feeding of the five thousand. Again, the number is a close estimate and not meant to be an exact number. And again, the women and children were not counted.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: When Jesus fed the thousands of people, the Bible says 5 and 4 thousand for both of the times, but how do we know it was exactly that number? Was it exactly 5 and 4 thousand? Did they just round or guess or is it exact? Answer: “Then He commanded them to make them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[568],"class_list":["post-28113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-fighting-men-did-joab-count-in-israel-and-judah\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":0},"title":"How many fighting men did Joab count in Israel and Judah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many fighting men did Joab count in Israel and Judah? II Samuel 24:9 says 800,000 and 500,000; but I Chronicles 21:5 says 1,100,000 and 470,000. Answer: When dealing with numbers, you must ask yourself two questions: Are the same group of people being counted and could one account\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35968,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-those-who-were-killed-by-the-angel-know-there-was-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":1},"title":"Did those who were killed by the angel know there was a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband wants to know if the 70,000 killed by a plague by an angel knew there was a God? Answer: You are referring to those who died as a result of David's sin in numbering the men of war in Israel. \"So the LORD sent a plague upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9565,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-144000\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":2},"title":"Who are the 144,000?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Revelation it talks about 144,000 in a couple of places, I was talking to my friend about it. It's been six months since I have read Revelation straight through and I have never done a real \"study\" on it. But what are the requirements for the 144,000 people?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-use-carnal-methods-to-attract-crowds\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":3},"title":"Did Jesus Use Carnal Methods to Attract Crowds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin via Gospel Power, Vol. 16, No. 23, June 7, 2009. Many religious groups use a variety of carnal appeals to draw people to their assemblies. For instance, there are suppers and ice cream socials, ball games and entertainment events, etc. When asked to justify these activities they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top_19_bmp-300x243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-horsemen-did-david-kill\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":4},"title":"How many horsemen did David kill?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: II Samuel 8:4 -- 1,700 horsemen I Chronicles 18:4 -- 7,000 horsemen Are these two passages related to each other? Why the discrepancy? Answer: The two passages do deal with the same event, but they are worded differently. The following is taken from the New King James Version: \"David\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-parents-reject-religion-how-can-i-become-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":28113,"position":5},"title":"My parents reject religion. How can I become a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My family wants to stay away from religion, but I want to go toward it. I want to embrace God's love. I would go to church, but I am too young to drive or walk there. 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