How many incidents are there in the Bible in which food is miraculously provided to people?

Answer 1

The main account in the Old Testament of food miraculously provided to people is in the story of the Exodus, when God provided manna from heaven and quail for the fleeing Israelites. As it is now the consensus of almost all scholars that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in The Bible, this account should probably not be regarded as a real miracle.

1 Kings 17:1-6 has ravens bring food to Elijah when he fled from the presence of King Ahab, with vague similarities to the quail brought for the fleeing Israelites. This is not quite miraculous in the same way, except that the ravens understood Elijah's need and responded.

In Mark's Gospel, largely followed by the other gospels, there are two related events in which Jesus miraculously fed 5000 and soon afterwards 4000, then implicitly fed the disciples who were hungry and only had one loaf. The close relationship of these miracles to each other and to other several miracles and discourses in Mark 6:33-8:21 can be seen in the following list, with at least ten separate references to food and an underlying theme of the disciples not understanding:

• Jesus and the disciples had no leisure so much as to eat, so they went into a desert place
• Feeding the 5000
• When Jesus walked on water the disciples were amazed, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves
• Pharisees complain about the disciples eating with unwashed hands
• Discourse - what goes into a man goes into his belly and does not defile
• Greek woman metaphorically begs for crumbs from the table
• Feeding the 4000
• Disciples are hungry and have only one loaf of bread - a similar situation to the two feedings of thousands
• Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and they reason, "It is because we have no bread," showing they do not understand
• Summary by Jesus of the two feasts, asking again, "Why is it that ye do not understand?"

These are in turn related as a group to the Last Supper, through the framework parallel structure of Mark. A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, using association for emphasis and to develop themes that would not otherwise be apparent, as shown in the following table: A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

The consequence of this analysis is that the separate incidents reported in Mark might really have only been just one incident, which was repeated for emphasis, or even that the miracles did not really occur.

Answer 2

There is an account in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about Jesus feeding 5000 men and 4000 men in another account. He also provided food for his disciples later when they forgot to bring any (an opportunity for additional teaching about believing and having faith). Jesus also provided wine at the wedding in Cana at the beginning of His ministry. In Exodus we read God provided manna from heaven which was said to be like coriander seeds and could be baked into bread and eaten. Later quail was also provided by God to the Israelites in the wilderness. The prophet Elijah was also furnished bread brought to him by ravens in 1Kings 17.