Mark 6:40

They sat down in ranks

(ανεπεσαν πρασια πρασια). They half-way reclined (ανακλιθηνα, verse Mark 6:39). Fell up here (we have to say fell down), the word ανεπεσαν means. But they were arranged in groups by hundreds and by fifties and they looked like garden beds with their many-coloured clothes which even men wore in the Orient. Then again Mark repeats the word, πρασια πρασια, in the nominative absolute as in verse Mark 6:39 instead of using ανα or κατα with the accusative for the idea of distribution. Garden beds, garden beds. Peter saw and he never forgot the picture and so Mark caught it. There was colour as well as order in the grouping. There were orderly walks between the rows on rows of men reclining on the green grass. The grass is not green in Palestine much of the year, mainly at the passover time. So here the Synoptic Gospels have an indication of more than a one-year ministry of Jesus (Gould). It is still one year before the last passover when Jesus was crucified.