TEXT [Commentary]

11. Dialogue about yeast among the Pharisees and Herod (8:14-21; cf. Matt 16:5-12)

14 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. 15 As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”

16 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 17 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’[*] Don’t you remember anything at all? 19 When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?”

“Twelve,” they said.

20 “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”

“Seven,” they said.

21 “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them.

NOTES

8:14 only one loaf of bread. Mark’s reader is now conditioned to expect that the absence of provisions will lead to some form of teaching from Jesus. Although some have seen the one loaf as referring either to Jesus or to the Lord’s Table, these seem distant from the point. Jesus turned the circumstance of the single loaf into a symbol about his opponents, not himself.

8:15 Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. Jesus made a symbol of the bread, although the disciples were slow to realize it. The Gr. mentions “leaven” (zumēs [TG2219, ZG2434]), which technically is distinct from yeast (Marcus 2000:506; BDAG 429). However, “yeast” is the closest common equivalent in our experience. This was an apt symbol for the spreading of evil by the Pharisees because in making bread, a little leaven would spread through all the dough. Matthew’s version mentions the Sadducees, not Herod (Matt 16:6; also 15:12), and ties the image to their teachings, while Luke 12:1 notes only the Pharisees and their hypocrisy.

8:16 began to argue. Still thinking on the material plane of literal food, the disciples argued, probably about who was responsible for the omission (8:17). The reference to not bringing any bread meant, in context, that not enough bread had been brought to take care of everyone.

8:17-18 Don’t you know or understand even yet? . . . hearts . . . eyes . . . ears? . . . Don’t you remember anything at all? Jesus asked a series of five questions that pointed to the disciples’ failure to understand or appreciate the meaning of what he had just done with the bread. This is the fourth such text in Mark (4:13, 40; 6:52—again, hard hearts). The first question echoes a question in Isa 40:21, a call to embrace God’s sovereignty and power. The references to eyes and ears recall Jer 5:21, where the nation’s lack of understanding led her into exile. The rebuke was a serious call (Ps 95:8; Isa 6:9-10; 63:17; Ezek 12:2), a call to understand, to open their hearts, to see, and to hear (see Deut 29:2-4, LXX; Marcus 2000:513). This rebuke is placed between two scenes in which Jesus demonstrated that he could heal physical blindness (8:22-26) and deafness (7:31-37); these picture his ability to heal at a deeper level and bring the messianic era such healing suggests.

8:19 how many baskets of leftovers? Maintaining the distinction in the terminology for baskets in these events, Jesus reviewed how many leftovers the feedings of the 5,000 and the 4,000 had produced. These two questions make a total of seven questions, the same number as the number of baskets of leftovers at the end of this event.

8:21 Don’t you understand yet? The concluding question to ponder gives this passage an “open” literary ending. Jesus asked if the disciples did not yet understand the meaning of his work of provision. This concludes his rebuke and sets up the confession at Caesarea Philippi, where Peter will step forward with a reply.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The disciples were still processing the significance of Jesus’ work and they were slow to get the point. This incident in which the disciples were preoccupied with not having brought enough bread triggered Jesus’ warning to the disciples about an evil inclination in Herod and in the teaching of the Pharisees. Jesus warned that their reactions corrupted spiritual sustenance.

The background for this was the prohibition of yeast or leaven at Passover (Exod 12:14-20). In Judaism, such leaven signified evil inclinations (Taylor 1966:365; Genesis Rabbah 34.10; 1 Cor 5:6-8). That the Jewish leaders sought signs while refusing to believe indicated their corrupt hearts, as 7:1-23 has already suggested. Those who reject a sign such as that given to Israel during the Exodus (i.e., manna from heaven) will miss out on blessing and stand condemned.

Jesus drew the disciples’ attention to his ability to provide physical sustenance; he also said that the provision of food was a picture of what he could provide spiritually. This “picture in kind” was not unusual in Jesus’ teaching. In Luke 5:1-11, the miraculous catch of fish stood for how Jesus would make the disciples fishers of people. After an exorcism, Jesus noted that this demonstrated his overtaking the house of Satan, the strong man. However, the disciples did not understand. The numbers of twelve and seven indicate God’s care for his people and the fullness of that provision. A new era of provision, like that of the Exodus, had come.