In both of the multiplication miracles, the bread seems to be more important than the fish. It is in both cases the bread that is called for at the beginning of the pericope, and the fish are discovered only during the course of trying to find bread. At least the fish makes regular appearances throughout the feeding of the five thousand; in the feeding of the four thousand, on the other hand, the fish are relegated to a single verse, as an afterthought.
Mark 6.33-44:
33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Mark 8.1-10:
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
Words tracking the bread are in
boldfaced orange; words tracking the fish are in
boldfaced green.
I am sensitive to the eucharistic overtones in these passages (the verb sequence of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving is exactly replicated in Mark 14.22, for example, at the Last Supper); but, if they were composed with the eucharist in mind, why are the fish there? If, on the other hand, there was an original story that had only bread (and it ought to be admitted that, especially in the second feeding, the fish are superfluous), why were fish added? Finally, if these stories are based upon actual incidents in which fish played a part, why do the fish appear to be so extrinsic to the proceedings (again, especially in that second feeding)?
There are two basic schools of thought when it comes to why two such feedings appear in Mark. The first is that the feedings come from different sources (whether oral or written); they may have started out as one story, but the details deviated as it was retold. The second is that somebody, often thought to be Mark himself, creatively and deliberately doubled the miracle.
If you adhere to the first school of thought, you do not have to sweat the details, since details can indeed change as stories are retold. However, the fish in the 4000 variation bear explaining: they look like an afterthought. Did that variation of the story lose the fish altogether, and they were added back in under influence from the 5000 variation? Did the original story lack fish altogether, and they were woven into the two stories at rather different concentrations?
If you adhere to the second school of thought, then the details become something to explain. Why does the second feeding involve fewer people than the first? Why are only the men counted at the first feeding, whereas women and children seem to be included in the count at the second? Why are the fish woven more tightly into the first feeding than into the second? Why does blessing the bread in the first become giving thanks for it in the second (yet, in the second, the fish are blessed)? Why are the fish counted for the first feeding but only estimated ("a few") for the second? Why does the number of loaves (5) line up nicely with the number of men fed (5000) at the first feeding, whereas the number of loaves (7) instead matches the number of baskets of leftovers (7) at the second?
Possibly relevant links:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2554,
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2223.
Thanks.
Ben.