Mark 8:9
So how many people were there? Well, there were about four thousand. That’s stated plainly. So why ask? Matthew says it differently. Matthew chapter fifteen tells us it was four thousand men, not counting women and children. Does that mean Mark is wrong? No. It just reflects how things were counted.
Now, many have said that it’s all due to a tendency in ancient times to value only the males. Patriarchal thinking and bias is what it is blamed on. However, sometimes we just don’t think things through very well. How did the disciples know how many people there were?
We usually say something like Divine inspiration. God has inspired the human authors of Scripture. But, often, he allowed these writers to rely on their own memory. So, the gospel writers were going on what they remembered. How would they know the approximate number of men?
In our gospel accounts we are told the people were organized in groups. So, the disciples would have derived thier numbers from this organization. These people would have been easy to assemble by family groups. The men would be the easiest to count since there would probably only be one or two per group. In this way, the disciples would be likely to know the general number of men, not the women and children. Matthew thinks to mention the others, but Mark just reports the number of which they were relatively certain.
Heavenly Father, please always remind us that your wisdom is so much better than ours. Your Word is a great gift to humanity. Thank you for guiding the human writers. You have protected your Word, and it is perfect. Thank you for this wonderful present! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.