JESUS FEEDS THE FOUR THOUSAND IN THE DECAPOLIS

MATTHEW 15:29–39

If there is one place where reading the Gospels is likely to give us the feeling of déjà vu, it is when reading the multiplication miracles—the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. In both Matthew and Mark the feeding of the four thousand comes second (Matt. 15:29–39; Mark 8:1–10). When we come to those verses in either Gospel, we get the feeling that we have been there before. Jesus encouraged thousands of people to sit down on a mountainside in a remote place where he miraculously turned a small amount of food into an abundant feast with leftovers to spare. These details are common to both multiplication accounts. But while both share such similarities, it is in their differences that we find the emerging message. As we shall see, Jesus feeds over four thousand people in the Decapolis for a reason.26

Mark reports that after Jesus had left the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, he traveled down the east shore of the Sea of Galilee into the Decapolis (Mark 7:31). The Decapolis cities and their region lay largely east of the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River. These were Greco-Roman cities either founded or reestablished with a dual mission: to guard the important transportation routes near them and to display all that Greek culture had to offer. Although the region these cities controlled had been part of the land that Joshua had assigned the eastern tribes of Israel (Josh. 13:8), the Decapolis was dominated by Gentiles during the time of the events recorded in the Gospels.27 While the exact spot where this miracle occurred is unknown, the Gospels firmly place the feeding of the four thousand east of the Sea of Galilee in the Decapolis.

Excavations of the Decapolis city of Scythopolis (view looking northeast).

The cardo (main street) of the Decapolis city of Gadara (view looking west).

Once we have the correct location for the miracle, we can put the right participants on the hillside. As Jesus sat down along the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds of people encircled him. They brought those who were physically disabled to Jesus, and hundreds were healed by his touch. But these were not observant Jews like those who had been with Jesus when he fed the five thousand; these were Gentiles,28 and not just any Gentiles at that! These were Gentiles who had come to Jesus because of a powerful witness given by a man formerly possessed by hundreds of demons (Mark 5:9; see also Matt. 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–17). After Jesus had sent the demons into a herd of pigs, this man begged Jesus to let him go along with him. But Jesus refused his request, instead telling him to circulate the news about his experience in his homeland. And that is what he did throughout the Decapolis (Mark 5:18–20). In contrast to the last time Jesus had been in this region and the residents had asked him to leave after their pigs ran headlong into the Sea of Galilee, this time we find these Gentiles flocking to Jesus and praising “the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31).

Jesus fed the four thousand in the Decapolis for a reason.29 His entire journey away from the Jewish side of the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee had begun when certain Pharisees from Jerusalem challenged Jesus for failing to observe practices that would maintain their views of ritual purity (Matt. 15:1–20; Mark 7:1–23). In response, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, where he affirmed the faith of what these Pharisees considered an unclean Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:21–28; Mark 7:24–30). From there, Jesus traveled to the other side, the Decapolis, where he healed hundreds and fed thousands of non-Jews with a miraculous bounty of food, just as he had healed and fed observant Jews during the feeding of the five thousand. The Jerusalem Pharisees believed that all Gentiles were unclean, but through this miracle Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom of God had come to all people.

The Decapolis and feeding of the four thousand

The Decapolis city of Hippos (Susita), located on the east side of the Sea of Galilee (view looking west).