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December, 2005
Psalm 23 in the Feeding of the Five Thousand
Wifely observations in Mark
Posted by Brian Beers at 12/23/2005 10:31:00 AM (1 comment left so far)
As my wife read through Mark 6 she found a fascinating allusion to Psalm 23. She first noticed a speck of color in the otherwise visually-drab narrative, “Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.” (Mark 6:39). The mention of color only occurs 9 times in the Gospels. Five of them are the purple robe that Jesus was given during his trial. Two of them are the red sky that indicates weather in Matthew 16. One is green wood in Luke 23:31, and the green grass in Mark 6:39 is the ninth.

The green grass alone may not be enough to call out an allusion to Psalm 23, but Mark 6:34 says that Jesus “saw the crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Verse 45 also records that Jesus “immediately made his disciples get into the boat” which completes the allusion to Psalm 23:2.

 

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

The broader context of Jesus’ redemptive purpose, the paths of righteousness, and the valley of the shadow of death, are all apparent in Mark. Is Mark emphasizing that Jesus is the Good Shepherd? Is this a unique allusion in the gospel or are there other occasions when Mark alludes to the Psalms?

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Comment 1 by Charlie:

This is a very interesting observation. Your wife has a sharp eye. Just on a side note, the Greek word green (χλωρος) in Mark is what we get our word Clorox from.

Unfortunately, the link isn't very strong in Hebrew and Greek. In Hebrew, the word is דשא, which just means grass, which happens to be green. There is no extra word to highlight it as green grass. The LXX has χλοης, which is once again simply grass that happens to be green. Mark on the other hand, has grass (χορτος) which is specifically called green (χλωρος). So it doesnt' seem to me to be a very strong verbal link between them.

But a conceptual link? Perhaps. As Brian says, there are a few other links in the immediate text. I would have to do much more study of Mark to figure out if this was an intended allusion specifally to Psalm 23, but the ideas are at least the same. Probably, off the top of my head, it is more Mark drawing on the same ideas that energized Psalm 23, sort of a generally used stock of idioms.

Posted  12/29/2005 2:26:00 PM 

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