Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 6:39

"And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass." — Mark 6:39 (ASV)

At Jesus’ direction the disciples arranged the crowd into groups of hundreds and fifties in order to facilitate the distribution of the food. This arrangement helps calculate the total number of men at five thousand (v.44; cf. Matthew 14:21). The arrangement may also suggest the teacher-student relationship or even recall the Mosaic camp in the desert (Exodus 18:21, 25). Thus the people are like the new people of God and Jesus like a second Moses who transforms them into a new Israel.