[B-Greek] Mk 6:45 PROS BHQSAIDAN

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Wed Jul 5 10:42:59 EDT 2006


Dear Wieland,

>In Mk 6:45 we are faced with a difficult problem. Jesus forced his disciples to "go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida". 
>Bethsaida is on the east cost. But the feeding happened on the east coast according to Mt and Lk. In Lk it even happened IN Bethsaida. 
>Also, in Mk 6:53 it is said (like Mt 14:34): " When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret". 
>So, how to explain this? Of course the commentaries are full of speculation. 
>
>1. One is (Wohlenberger, Comm. Mk. 1910) to take PROS BHQSAIDAN as "(looking) to Bethsaida". 
>
>PROAGEIN EIS TO PERAN, PROS BHQSAIDAN
>=
>"go on ahead to the other side, (looking) to Bethsaida"
>
>Is this interpretation of "PROS" allowed?
>
>
>2. Another explanation is suggested by Klostermann and also considered by Th. Zahn, namely to take PROS BHQSAIDAN with the following EWS clause. I don't see how this could be constructed though.
>

HH: Matthew states that they finally landed at Gennesaret, which was 
evidently on the opposite side of the lake from where the miraculous 
feeding occurred (Mt 14:22, 34). Luke suggests that Jesus retreated to 
Bethsaida, where he welcomed and fed the crowd. Mark emphasizes that he 
was in a remote place, and ultimately went across to Bethsaida. John 
6:17 says that they started across the sea to Capernaum after feeding 
the crowd.

ISBE says that thee has been dispute about the exact location of 
biblical Capernaum. The article on Bethsaida notes that there is 
conflict over the location of that place, and whether there is one 
Bethsaida or two. The last idea is due to this very problem you raise. 
If you have access to the modern ISBE article on "Bethsaida" by R. H. 
Mounce, it gives interesting arguments on both sides.

HH: One tidbit is that Josephus used an expression similar to "to the 
other side" for a boat trip from Tiberias to Taricheae (3.7 miles), both 
on the west shore of the lake. It seems possible that Luke just gives 
general information, omitting that Jesus was not feeding the crowd in 
Bethsaida itself, but in a remote place in the vicinity of Bethsaida. 
Bethsaida and Capernaum are not that far from each other, so if the 
remote place was further east than Bethsaida, perhaps either Bethsaida 
itself or Capernaum could generally describe the disciples more western 
destination after the feeding.

Yous,
Harold Holmyard




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