Is there a connection between John 6 verse 10 and Psalm 23 verse 2?

Answer 1

A:John 6:10 is part of the story of the feeding of the five thousand. The original of this verse is not in the Psalms but comes from Luke 9:14, but originally in Mark 6:39. This is because, as we now know, John's Gospel was based on Luke's Gospel and that Luke uses Mark as its primary source.

Mark's Gospel was very clear that the people were to sit in groups of fifty and a hundred, although there is no logical reason for this arrangement and, if we place ourselves in the position of a great crowd of hungry, tired and largely illiterate people of the first century milling around on a mountainous slope, it is hard to see how this arrangement could have been achieved. However, there are clues in Mark that could connect this to an even earlier source.

Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) has found many close parallels between Mark's Gospel (which was the primary source for the other New Testament gospels) and the Homeric epics. Taken individually, these parallels could be dismissed as interesting, albeit improbable coincidences, but the sheer number of such parallels has attracted the attention of other New Testament scholars.

The feeding of the 5000 described in the gospels is very similar to a sacred feast in which Nestor fed the 4500. Jesus commanded the people to sit in groups, using the word sumposion, which literally means a 'drinking group'. Homer used the same unusual word in his epic. In both stories everyone ate and was filled (by the power of Jesus in one story, by the fabulous wealth of the host in the other), but the gospel went one better by having baskets of food left over.

Thus we can certainly connect John chapter 6 verse 10 to Mark's Gospel, and very possibly to Homer's epics as the original inspiration for the story.

Another Answer:

There is no connection between these two verses of Scripture. In Psalm 2, the reference to green pastures helps tell the reader how 'safe' it will be with the Lord. Sheep are very fearful creatures and will only lay down when they feel entirely safe.

In John 6:10, the mention of the grass (green) points to the season. Grass only begins to grow in late Winter, early Spring and this is the Passover season.