"At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God."
And this man, this son of Joseph the carpenter, had fed 5,000 people on fire barley loaves and two small fishes. They saw the little boat on the beach in which Jesus had come; they had heard of his walking on the water that very night; and now the crowd was increasing, for the country was aroused, and people came flocking from all parts to see this man who did such marvellous things.
"Jesus sat in the synagogue in his usual place. The Jews poured in, each man and woman making lonely reverence toward the ark. . . , The service began with the prayer of sweet incense, after which the congregation, the batlanim leading, sang Psalms of David; when these were sung, the chazzan, going up to the ark, drew aside the veil and took out the sacred roll, which he carried round the aisles to the reader of the day, who raised it in his hands, so that all who were present could see the sacred text. Then the whole congregation rose. . . . Opening the scroll, the reader read out the section or chapter for the day. . . . When the lesson was finished the chazzan took the scroll from the reader and carried it back to its place behind the veil. Then when the roll was restored to the ark, they sang other psalms, after which the elder delivered the midrash, an exposition of the text which had been read. The time now being come to question and be question, all eyes turned on the Teacher who had fed the 5,000 men. . . . Their questions were Sharp and loud:
"'Rabbi, when camest thou hither?'
"'Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye ask me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed."
"Then they asked him:
"'What must we do that we may work the works of God?'
"To which he answered, with a second public declaration, that he was Christ the Son of God:
"'This is the word of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.'
"'What sign showest thou that we may see and believe thee! What dost thou work?'
"Full of the great act which many witnesses declared that they had seen in the desert beyond the lake, they wished to have it repeated before their eyes; so they said to him:
"'Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
"Jesus took up their thought.
"'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not the bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.'
"'Rabbi, evermore give us this bread.'
"Jesus answered them:
"' I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. . . . . . For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. '. . .
"The elders, the batlanim, the chazzan gazed into each other's faces, and began to murmur against him, just as the men of Nazareth had murmured against him.
"'Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How is it, then, that he saith, I am come down from heaven?"
"Jesus spoke to them again: