By Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Before you read what I think you will find to be a challenging article, you must first read the following passage from Mark 6:33-44.

33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may 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 spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” 38 And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward Heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

The church interpretation of the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6:33-44 has always been about the miracle that only Yeshua could take five loaves of bread and two fish and make it feed all those people. Unfortunately, this methodology of telling people the black and white literal meaning of Scripture does not permit us to penetrate a deeper meaning.  Let us develop the interpretation of this story based on verse thirty-four.

Yeshua said that the people were sheep without a shepherd. This Semitic phrase means “a congregation without a leader,” “a nation without a national leader,” or “an army without a general.” The narrative tells us that 5,000 men were fed. That number may not immediately ring a bell for you. It is a significant number because it is the size of a Roman Legion at full strength. Since Yeshua was a man of peace, why would He talk in terms of war?

We are in a war but so many of us refuse to recognize it. Every day is a battle against the forces of evil and Satan. Evil inclination is the evil force that surrounds everything in the LORD’s Universe. It tries to penetrate every one of us. It is the Good inclination of the Universe that prevents most of us from turning to evil. It is a war that has been raging since Adam and Eve disobeyed the LORD in the Garden of Eden. Satan wants us to be with him. He disdains the fact that Good inclination and the power of the Shekinah (God’s glory) helps people come into God’s presence to be with Him.

It is a war for us to stay positive in our world. Today’s culture and society in the United States promotes the Evil inclination in our daily lives. Those of us who belong to the LORD and try so desperately to follow His ways are being attacked continuously in a spiritual way. Sometimes we do not even see or sense the Evil inclination that is tugging on us to join Satan.

We need a spiritual leader who will help us in every way possible to lead us away from Satan and his sinister clutch. The 5,000 men in Mark’s description of the feeding story tells us that those of us who follow the ways of the LORD can become an army. Our army will fight the forces of the Evil inclination and will defeat Satan. The spiritual leader of our military is Yeshua! Through the words of Yeshua in the Gospels, we can learn how to work together as a single force that will stop Satan from infecting our souls. As the LORD’s army, we can also help other people from falling into the trap of evil.

Evil inclination knows what will motivate humans to join Satan. It is excellent at making sinful actions seem good. We must resist the ways of Satan and stand firm together. Yeshua, as our leader, instructs us how to fight Satan’s enticements. The 5,000 men is a universal number for all humans. It is symbolic of telling us to view this passage in a spiritual sense. All people are invited to join Yeshua’s army and fight the evil that exists in the world.

Yeshua’s narratives almost always have multiple messages. What we have just done is to penetrate beyond the literal meaning of 5,000 people. Using PaRDeS, a way to understand Scripture developed during the Middle Ages and used by many of God’s people today, this spiritual understanding exposes a secret meaning contained in the Bible. The number 5,000 directs us to the ongoing spiritual battle against the Evil Inclination that motivates humans to follow the ways of Satan.

If you are not a member of Yeshua’s army against Satan, you need to ask yourself, “why not”? The Bible tells us that Heaven is a paradise. A way to ensure entry into the paradise of Heaven is to join Yeshua’s spiritual army. Do it now! There is no time to wait.

May the LORD bless you in your learning and studying of His Word.

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