Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 94 Part 11
- Part 11: The Twelve Baskets
- His Talmidin gave the bread to the people
- The type of Baskets
- The Custom of Peah and Scrap Gathering
- Symbolism of the Twelve Tribes
- Heavenly Provision of Bread and Meat
- All of them ate and were satisfied
- The Prophetic Context: A Prophet Greater than Moses!
The Twelve Baskets:
When they were filled, he (the Messiah) said to his talmidim, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. After the people were filled with all of the food they wanted to eat the disciples gathered 12 Baskets of food fragments.”
This was a part of the education of the 12 Talmidim. This was a supernatural demonstration that the Messiah was able to more than adequately meet all of the needs of the people of Israel. Later the Master would appeal to their spiritual stupidity. Even though the disciples were closer than the rest of the people of Israel to the Messiah, they too were in a state of spiritual blindness.
His Talmidin gave the bread to the people:
What is the meaning of the Twelve Baskets of Bread? The phrase “12 baskets” traces back to the twelve tribes and the twelve loaves of bread that were broken and shared each Shabbat at the Tabernacle.
The twelve loaves of bread that were broken each Sabbath in the Tabernacle were first mentioned in the scripture when God gave the law to Moses. This service continued in the Temple under David and Solomon, with the priests “breaking bread” there as well. They were broken rather than cut with a knife, for this occurred on the Sabbath when the use of such instruments was forbidden. Exodus 25:30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.
Calling the 12 loaves of bread the “bread of the Presence” indicates that the breads were to continually be in God’s presence in the Temple. The priests “break bread” in the Temple on the Sabbath and the Jewish families “break bread” in their homes. Similarly, the Messiah miraculously broke and multiplied the twelve breads to feed the multitudes (five then seven).
God commanded Moses to bring forth twelve breads in His Temple service, and He directed His Messiah to bring forth twelve breads for the Israelites in these two miracles that were performed according to the Torah on the Sabbath .
The Messiah speaks of himself as the “true bread,” the true spiritual bread from God. This is what his talmidim would later go out “breaking” and sharing—his words, teachings, and God’s presence by His spirit that was dwelling in their midst. This pattern of things in the Tabernacle that God gave to Moses (including the “Bread of the Presence”) reveals spiritual truths that are to be understood in the Brit Chadashah. Hebrews 8:4–5 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”
We know that the Messiah is the true pattern that we are to be formed into, and as we are sustained and nourished of the spiritual bread of life, we—as one spiritual body—are growing up into him: Ephesians 4:15–16 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him, who is the head, even Messiah, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
The type of Baskets:
The Purity Basket (Kophinos): First-century Jewish travelers frequently carried a small, rigid wicker basket called a kophinos. As recorded by historians like Flavius Josephus, the Yehudim carried their own clean provisions in these baskets to maintain strict ritual purity laws and avoid eating Gentile food while traveling through foreign regions. The 12 empty baskets were the personal travel packs belonging to the *12 talmidim (disciples).
*Wicker basket backpack. Clue: Think symbolism. What were the Talmidim carrying everywhere they went? Clue: “You feed them.”
Contrast with Large Baskets (Spuridas): The small baskets become very large baskets in a later miracle—the feeding of the 4,000 in a Gentile region—where 7 baskets(spuridas, large market hampers) were collected, representing the addition of the Gentile believers “added” to the Jewish community.
The Custom of Peah and Scrap Gathering:
In Jewish communal dining tradition, bread is viewed as a sacred gift from God. It was an established custom to collect any fragments that fell to the ground during a meal to ensure nothing was wasted. Furthermore, leaving a portion of the food behind—sometimes called the Peah—was a regular practice meant to honor and provide for the servants or hosts who facilitated the meal.
Symbolism of the Twelve Tribes:
The specific number 12 explicitly mirrors the 12 tribes of Israel. It serves as a message to a Jewish audience that God’s covenant provision is superabundant, fully satisfying, and capable of restoring the entire nation.
The Wilderness Setting: The Desert Location: Both events take place in a barren, desolate region (Hebrew midbar). The Looming Hunger: Just as the Israelites faced starvation away from the food sources of Egypt, the crowd of 5,000 found themselves in a remote location late in the day with no natural means of buying or gathering sustenance.
Heavenly Provision of Bread and Meat:
The Daily Bread: In the Torah, God answers the community’s grumbling by raining down manna, a miraculous “bread from heaven”. In the communal meal of 5,000, the miracle explicitly begins with loaves of bread being blessed, broken, and continuously multiplied to feed the masses.
The Flesh and Fish: God didn’t just give the Israelites bread; He also brought a massive flock of quail over the sea to provide them with meat. The communal meal mimics this dual provision of “bread and meat” by multiplying fish alongside the loaves. According to certain ancient Jewish traditions recorded in the Midrash, a miraculous well (the Well of Miriam) followed the Israelites in the desert and provided them with fish, making the bread-and-fish combo a deeply rooted Exodus theme.
All of them ate and were satisfied:
Complete Satisfaction: The Torah notes that when the Israelites gathered manna, “those who gathered more had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage”—everyone had exactly what they needed to be satisfied. Similarly, during the feeding of the 5,000, the text emphasizes that everyone ate and was completely satisfied.
The Twelve Baskets: While manna in the wilderness would normally rot if kept overnight, a double portion was miraculously preserved for the Sabbath. In the meal of the 5,000, the supernatural abundance is proven by the collection of 12 baskets of leftover fragments, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel being sustained by divine care.
The Prophetic Context: A Prophet Greater than Moses!
Testing Faith: In Exodus 16:4, God states that the manna is a test to see if the people will follow instructions. In the account of the 5,000, the leader tests his disciples by asking where they can buy bread, highlighting human insufficiency before demonstrating divine provision.
The New Exodus: Deuteronomy 18:15 promises that God will raise up a prophet “like Moses.” Because Moses was famously identified as the leader who mediated the gift of manna, the crowds at the meal of 5,000 immediately recognized the multiplication of bread as a sign of this new Moses.