to arrange upon · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
them
αὐτοῖςautois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
make
ἀνακλῖναιanaklinai
G347
to lean back · verb — aorist active infinitive
all
πάνταςpantas
G3956
all · adjective — accusative plural masculine
down
ἀνακλίνωanaklínō
G347
to lean back
companies
συμπόσιαsumposia
G4849
a drinking-party ("symposium") · noun — accusative plural neuter
upon
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
green
χλωρῷchlōrō
G5515
greenish · adjective — dative singular masculine
grass
χόρτῳ.chortō
G5528
a "court" or "garden" · noun — dative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 15:35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1 Kings 10:5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and…
Esther 1:5-6 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and sma…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 6:30-44
In there verses, we have,
I. The return to Christ of the apostles whom he had sent forth (Mar 6:7), to preach, and work miracles. They had dispersed themselves into several quarters of the country for some time, but when they had made good their several appointments, by consent they gathered themselves together, to compare notes, and came to Jesus, the centre of their unity, to give him an account of what they had done pursuant to their commission: as the servant that was sent to invite to the feast, and had received answers from the guests, came, and showed his Lord all those things, so did the apostles here; they told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. Minis…
Much people, etc. - See this miracle explained on Mat 14:14 (note), etc.
John Gill on Mark 6:39
And he commanded them to make all sit down,.... Christ ordered his disciples, without any more ado, to cause the whole multitude, men, women, and children, to sit, or lie down, as they used to do at table when about to take a meal: and as they had no table before them, nor beds, or couches to sit, or lie down upon, he directed them to place them
by companies upon the green grass; that there might be some order among them, as at a meal; and that their number might be the more easily known; and that all of them might more plainly see the miracle that was to be wrought: and the provision be more orderly distributed to them.
John Calvin on Mark 6:30-44
Mark 6:30-44
Matthew 14:13-21
Mark 6:30-44
Luke 9:10-17
13. When Jesus heard this, he departed thence to a ship to a desert place apart; and when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot out of the cities. 14. And Jesus, when leaving (the ship,) saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and healed of such of them as were diseased. 15. And when the evening was drawing on, his disciples came to him, saying, It is a desert place, and the time is now past: send the multitudes away, that they may go into the village, and purchase victuals for themselves. 16. And Jesus said to them, It is not necessary that they should go away: give you to them something to e…
The Church Fathers
I believe that he ordered the people to sit down upon the grass because of what is said in Isaiah: "all flesh is grass"; that is, to humble the flesh, to make subject the arrogance of the flesh; so that each one may become a partaker of the loaves to which Jesus gave his blessing.
(Con. Evan. 2. 46) It goes on, And he commanded them to wake all sit down by companies upon the green grass, and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. But we need not be perplexed, though Luke says that they were ordered to sit down by fifties, and Mark by hundreds and fifties, for one has mentioned a part, the other the whole. Mark, who mentions the hundreds, fills up what the other has left out.
And he commanded them to make them all sit down in companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. The different groups of those reclining signify the distinct gatherings of the churches around the world, which make up one catholic. The Lord commanded them well to recline by hundreds and by fifties, so that the crowd of the faithful, both distinguished by locations and united by morals, might receive their food. Indeed, the rest of the jubilee is contained in the mystery of the number fifty, and fifty is doubled to reach a hundred. Therefore, because one first rests from evil work, so that later the soul rests more fully in thought, some recline by fifties, others by hundreds, because there are some who have rest from corrupt actions, and there are some who already have rest in mind from perverse thoughts. They also reclined well on the green grass. For it is written, All flesh is grass (Isa. XL). And those reclining on the green grass are fed with the Lord's food, who, through the zeal of continence and trampling down the allurements of carnal desires, devote themselves to listening and fulfilling the words of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bethsaida — House of fish. (1.) A town in Galilee, on the west side of the sea of Tiberias, in the “land of Gennesaret.” It was the native place of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, and was frequently resorted to by…
Grass · A green herb — A green herb
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jesus suggests that, just as the disciples were able to cast out demons and heal through his power (6:7, 13, 30), they should be able to feed the crowd. Their reply considered only what they themselves were capable of doing. They did not consider Jesus’ power.