#(specifically for the man who may absorb the woman in a 1 + 0 = 1)

[quranreadalong]

#165, Surah 33

THE QURAN READ-ALONG: DAY 165

We will get to Mohammed’s sexual adventures today, but first: more whining about the cowardly fake Muslims. Some of them, 33:20 informs us, would rather be in the desert with the Bedouin clans than have to serve under Mohammed in battle (this is making me sympathize with them tbh). They should remember that Allah has sent Mohammed as an excellent example, a paragon of virtue, and therefore everyone must pattern their behavior on his own. (For someone who loved to declare his religion free of saint nonsense and such, Mo sure did a fine-ass job of turning himself into a pure holy man eh?) Therefore, real believers weren’t afraid of the siege, because Mohammed wasn’t afraid of it. Real Muslims simply believed that “Allah and His messenger are true”.

Good Muslims are the ones who stood with Mohammed in battle (or rather ready for battle), bad ones are the hypocrites who were afraid and wanted to turn tail and run. Maybe Allah will forgive them, maybe he won’t. Well, fair enough. Neutral so far. We’ll finish up this particular topic with a recap of the events:

Allah repulsed the disbelievers in their wrath; they gained no good. Allah averted their attack from the believers. Allah is ever Strong, Mighty. And He brought those of the People of the Scripture who supported them down from their strongholds, and cast panic into their hearts. Some ye slew, and ye made captive some. And He caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land ye have not trodden. Allah is ever Able to do all things.

Those last two ayat are in reference to the poor Banu Qurayza, of course. Allah tells us that their brutal end was his doing, which is bad. Hey, at least the bloodiness of the massacre meant that they made it into the Quran! Most of the Bedouin clans Mo & Crew raided never even got a mention.

At any rate, we are now going to start talking about Mohammed’s wives. This entire section is in fact personally addressed to them. It begins in 33:28, in which Mohammed says that if his wives prefer “the world's life and its adornment”, then they should leave him. But if they stay with him and are good, they will be rewarded (in heaven). I guess that qualifies as a good-Muslims-go-to-heaven ayah and is good? Whatever. Moving on to the meaty part.

O ye wives of the Prophet! Whosoever of you committeth manifest lewdness, the punishment for her will be doubled, and that is easy for Allah. And whosoever of you is submissive unto Allah and His messenger and doeth right, We shall give her her reward twice over, and We have prepared for her a rich provision. O ye wives of the Prophet! Ye are not like any other women. If ye keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft of speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease aspire (to you), but utter customary speech. And stay in your houses. Bedizen not yourselves with the bedizenment of the Time of Ignorance. Be regular in prayer, and pay the poor-due, and obey Allah and His messenger. 

Oh lord. Let’s break this down.

The first ayah is talking about sexual immorality (fahisha). Previously, in the fourth surah, we saw that slave women get half the punishment as free women for such things--interpreted in the ahadith as subjecting them to flogging but not screaming at them. Mohammed’s wives, on the other hand, deserve to be punished twice as much as typical free woman for sexual immorality. What that means, exactly, we don’t know. Twice as many lashings? The death penalty, but extra spicy? None of them were ever found guilty of adultery (that one “slander” of Aisha was the closest they ever came to that), so it’s unclear.

Regardless, the second ayah tells them to be submissive to Mohammed (oh, “and Allah”) to get their heavenly reward. Telling women that they have to be submissive to their husband is bad and no, “doeth right” does not make up for it. The third ayah is a bit strangely translated, but you probably get the idea: Mohammed’s wives shouldn’t flatter men or speak to them in flowery language, in case it makes the men feel like they’re flirting with them. They should just speak plainly and should not use any language that could be interpreted in more than one way. Policing how your wives talk to other men seems pretty bad, tbh, but in comparison to the line before and after this, I guess it’s neutral...

Finally, 33:33, which literally instructs Mo’s wives to “stay in your houses” (which is bad). It means exactly what it sounds like: they had to stay in their houses unless they had some pressing issue requiring them to leave. Men could talk to them in their homes, but (as we will see later in this surah) they could not look at them--they had to address them from behind a curtain. This is the literal meaning of the word hijab. Some “Muslim feminist” types claim that the tradition of female seclusion only entered Islam after it absorbed Persian culture or some such bullshit. But as you can see, it was a codified part of the religion the whole time. Yes, this verse is addressed to Mo’s wives, specifically. But Mo’s wives were supposed to be role models for other women.

Also, in case you were wondering what “bedizen” or tabbaraj means, Ibn Kathir offers various opinions:

“Women used to go out walking in front of men, and this was the Tabarruj (flaunting) of Jahiliyyah.”

“[It means] When they go out of their homes walking in a shameless and flirtatious manner, and Allah, may He be exalted, forbade that.'' 

"Tabarruj is when a woman puts a Khimar on her head but does not tie it properly.'' So her necklaces, earrings and neck, and all of that can be seen.”

So... Mo’s wives can’t walk in front of men, can’t walk like it’s for sale and the rent is due tonight, and/or can’t leave their headscarves hanging straight down so their necks are uncovered. Take your pick, but all options are shitty.

One last curious note here. The last ayah above, 33:33, concludes:

Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, O Folk of the Household, and cleanse you with a thorough cleansing.

As it happens, this sentence is a bit of an odd duck. Despite being stuck to the verses commanding Mohammed’s wives to seclude themselves, a hadith says it’s about a completely different thing:

'A'isha reported that Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) went out one norning wearing a striped cloak of the black camel's hair that there came Hasan b. 'Ali. He wrapped him under it, then came Husain and he wrapped him under it along with the other one (Hasan). Then came Fatima and he took her under it, then came 'Ali and he also took him under it and then said:  Allah only desires to take away any uncleanliness from you, O people of the household, and purify you (thorough purifying)

Hasan and Hussein were Fatima and Ali’s sons, with Fatima being Mohammed’s daughter. So “people of the household”, or ahl al-bayt, evidently just means Mo’s family members. Ibn Kathir notes this hadith, but then notes a dissenting opinion:

[Ikrimah, a slave/student of Mohammed’s cousin, said] "This was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet.'' Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said concerning the Ayah:  "It was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet.'' `Ikrimah said: "Whoever disagrees with me that it was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet, I am prepared to meet with him and pray and invoke the curse of Allah upon those who are lying.'' So they alone were the reason for revelation, but others may be included by way of generalization.

Hmm. Ibn Kathir tries to make sense of the dissent here by saying that this “people of the household” verse applied to Mohammed’s wives and Fatima and her family, thus why it’s included in a section directed at his wives. That makes sense, I suppose, though clearly some people like Ikrimah here believed it solely applied to his wives and that the story about how it related to Fatima, Ali, et al was false.

For the record, there are other versions of the story about Mohammed wrapping Fatima’s kids with his cloak, and not all of them have this verse affixed to it. So it may be an improper conflation (or it may be a legitimate one! Who knows!). The fact that it directly follows a list of demands for Mo’s wives indicates to me that it was at least partially directed at them, in the sense that doing all these things will make them “pure”. It doesn’t really make sense otherwise.

But anyway. This section concludes with Mo telling his wives (or... whoever) to remember Allah’s revelations.

We’re around halfway through the surah, so I’ll leave it there for today. More on Mo’s sexual adventures later. Stay in your houses and don’t walk sluttily til tomorrow, pls.

NEXT TIME: The Prophet (PBUH) outlaws adoption so he can sleep with his daughter-in-law, and other tales of moral uprightness!!!

The Quran Read-Along: Day 165

Ayat: 15

Good: 1 (33:29)

Neutral: 9 (33:20-25, 33:28, 33:32, 33:34)

Bad: 5 (33:26-27, 33:30-31, 33:33)

Kuffar hell counter: 0

⇚ previous day | next day ⇛

#surah 33 #al ahzab #quranreadalong

[n1ghtcrwler]

WIP Reintroduction: Tall Tales

What is Tall Tales?

An online serial urban fantasy collection of short stories that explore the ways investigating the paranormal can blow up in your face. These stories are told through four blogs, each of them updating once a week. Ultimately, the short stories serve blog-specific ongoing plots as well as one complete metanarrative that combines them all. It is hosted here.

Moodboard, more info, and tag list below the cut:

Edited 12 December 2020

Tall Tales is one big story told through a bunch of interconnected short stories written in-world and presented in blog format. The blogs are:

Narrator: The Tall Tales narrator collects stories from around the world and across time. They are presented as having first-person awareness of the events they describe, but frequently use existing records (such as diaries and newspapers) to actually tell the stories. Updates Mondays.

Benediction: The assorted records of a Catholic priest named Father Benedict de Monte who isn’t entirely human. His story focuses on the hunt for a cult called the Brood of Nachash that seeks to violently finish the work they believe the serpent in Eden began. Updates Tuesdays.

Matteson, P.I.: John Matteson is an amateur paranormal investigator with an immunity to magic. His blog follows his investigations as well as describing events in his life he enjoys writing about. Updates Wednesdays.

Over the Hedge: Jackie Veracruz is a witch, and her blog primarily focuses on her study of how the metaphysical realm works and the events that give her insight into it. Updates Thursdays.

There will be a fifth blog introduced in mid-January 2021. It will update on Fridays.

As a series of short stories, there’s a very large cast of recurring characters with varying degrees of importance to the story. I tried to make a list so I could do them in alphabetical order but then realized it was prohibitively long for an intro post. So here’s just the blog authors and primary antagonists.

Barzai, the: White male, 5′10″, born sometime around 1972. No one knows exactly who the Barzai was before he took control of the Brood of Nachash. Just that he was a seventeen-year-old boy, already a member of the cult, and he willingly sacrificed himself to become the vessel of Nachash in the world. He was the only survivor of the destruction of the cult hierarchy that interrupted the summoning of Nachash, and walked away with fearsome powers and a drive to destroy all religions, governments, and other means of controlling mankind.

Father Benedict Michael de Monte: White male, straight, 6′2″, born May 18 1943. Raised by a Catholic priest after they both emerged from a cursed mountain in his infancy, Benedict has spent his entire life in service to the Vatican and became a priest himself as soon as he was able. His drive, commitment to the Church, aptitude, and access to supernatural abilities caught the attention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as an investigator and demon hunter.

Hecate: Greco-Turkish goddess, pansexual, variable height, originated some time before recorded history. Hecate was the goddess of a small monotheistic tribe in southwestern Turkey, once. Then she was absorbed into the Greek pantheon, and has been a powerful but background member of assorted belief systems ever since. But all this time, she has been preparing to reclaim her place as a central figure of worship, and she believes John Matteson and Jackie Veracruz may be the tools she needs to finally bring everything together.

Jeremiah Bazyli Matteson: Half Polish half Native American (specific plains tribe unknown), 6′0″, born September 11 1906. Jeremiah is the son of a human woman and a powerful spirit of the Ohio River. Facing rejection throughout his life both for his race and his magical nature, then losing what life he’d managed to scrape together when the Great Depression hit, Jeremiah is a bitter and angry man who values strength and the ability to control one’s own fate above all else.

Jonathan Peter [redacted] Matteson: Black male, 5′9″, born May 1 1982. Jackie has suggested he’s asexual but he has yet to solidly confirm or deny this. John is an Anchor, a type of human with a natural immunity to magic, an ability to interact with the metaphysical realm, and the power to counter magic in his vicinity both actively and passively. The thing about seeing spirits and ghosts all your life is that the physical world seems a bit dry when you’re forced to only interact with it. John is intelligent and creative, but unlikely to show very much interest in day-to-day concerns. He plays trombone in a ska band and delivers pizzas at the beginning of the story.

Two, the: A pair of spirits who frequently appear as ravens. One of them was the stated narrator in at least one story on the Narrator blog, and they have a vested interest in the activities of the other blog authors. Their exact nature and connection to the story is, as yet, unknown.

Jacqueline Sofia Veracruz: Latina, bisexual, 5′0″, born April 30 1983. Jackie is a witch who was originally trained by her grandmother in practices she brought from Honduras or acquired on her way north. Her magical training was later influenced by a mentor who relied on ancient Anatolian and Greek practices.  She is deeply curious and adaptable, and takes magic seriously. She feels a personal responsibility to make the world better through magic and holds on to the guilt from any time she feels she made it worse.

Content: While the story is not a grimdark setting, it does occasionally deal with significant issues including racism, sexual abuse (never directly described, but very significantly included as important to certain story arcs), fantasy and realistic violence, and death. Some characters swear and/or make questionable life choices. I try to warn about anything I know may be difficult for some readers on tumblr, and am always open to feedback on ways to improve this warning system.

Tag list (please ask to be added or removed):  @the-real-rg @anachronistic-vibrancy @mlgwrites @kowlazovdi @rkmoriyama @moonflower-writing @montevena @dancingwithwind @insolent-toad @planets-and-prose @farrradays @alexiswrote @stegladent @qelizhus @katerinarevel @namelessscribe @goose-books @elusiveink @maggie-wolff-writes @marlettwrites @twilightlegends @ofinkblotsandscript

#tall tales #writeblr #wip introduction #urban fantasy #writblr

[jeichanhaka]

And Carried Me Away: Ch. 6

Chapter 1|| Chapter 2|| Chapter 3|| Chapter 4|| Chapter 5|| Chapter 6||

Chapter 7|| Chapter 8|| Chapter 9|| Chapter 10|| Chapter 11|| Chapter 12||

Chapter 13|| Chapter 14|| Chapter 15||

Chapter Six:

Burnt sienna eyes slowly took in their surroundings, absorbing the decorations, space, and scenery. Alsie walked beside Spencer, her heart and mind impatient to see her daughter but at the same time terrified. Though she was more stable now than nine weeks ago, she was terrified of Jemma denying her. Of Jemma saying she wanted Linnet or Jemma calling Linnet 'papa.'

"It'll be fine. Don't worry." Spencer whispered to his sister, reaching for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. The corner of his lips twitched - this situation was so similar to when he'd brought Alsie to the BAU to tell Rossi about her and James. She'd been so nervous, she'd grabbed Spencer's hand.

Alsie smiled up at Spencer, but withdrew her hand. Her outburst at the hospital was still fresh in her thoughts, including what she confessed to her brother. That she loved him since they were children. That she still did, despite everything.

"Oh! Hello." Joy, having just entered the hall, greeted Spencer before her gaze drifted onto Alsie. "You must be Alsie. I'm Joy Struthers."

"Hi..." Alsie replied, smiling weakly. Her brow furrowed a moment as she placed the name. During her nine week stay in the hospital, David Rossi had visited or called frequently to tell her about how Jemma was doing. He also had mentioned that he had an adult daughter and a grandson. "...where's Jemma?"

"She's taking a nap." Joy replied, gesturing to the room she just exited. Before she could say anything more, Alsie entered the room in question and hurried over to her daughter. Not bothering to close the door. The look on Alsie's face as she knelt beside the slumbering three-year-old was enough that Joy didn't mind the other woman's abruptness.

"Thank you for helping with Jemma." Spencer whispered, his own gaze locked on Alsie and his niece. His stomach knotted.

"Not a problem. She's family." Joy reassured, smiling at Spencer. It had been a shock for her when she found out about her half-brother James being switched at birth, even more so when she read the articles about what he'd done. It had taken a few days to wrap her head around the facts - she had refused to believe it at first, and hadn't until she heard it from her dad directly. "It's lucky that the media haven't found out about Jemma. Or Alsie."

"Yeah." Spencer mumbled, his eyes still focused on his sister and his niece. Making him miss the scrutinizing look Joy gave him. Once he did notice it he blinked, confused. "What is it?"

"...You're Jemma's uncle biologically, and not just because you're part of the BAU family, aren't you?" Joy said, her eyes lighting up in triumph at the look her words brought to Spencer's face. Before the genius could do more than sputter, she continued. "Dad didn't tell me. I just had a feeling there was something about Jemma's mother that he wouldn't divulge. And seeing you and Alsie side by side right now, I figured out what it was. I'm not sure why, though. Why keep it a secret?"

Spencer swallowed, uncomfortable. He hadn't specifically asked any of his team to keep him having a sister secret, but he knew they knew he was uncomfortable telling others. "...our mom doesn't know yet, about Alsie."

"Huh? Why wouldn't..." Joy's eyes widened, her brain locking on an idea. "My god. Is Alsie...one of those who were taken by Connell as well? Like James?"

Spencer's uncomfortable and sad smile was answer enough for Joy. The journalist turned towards Alsie, more concerned about the brunette than ever.

"My god. That's awful. That's..." Joy shook her head, flabbergasted. Her journalistic curiosity took hold and asked a question before she could rethink it. "Is that how she met James?"

"Wha...no. That..." Spencer faltered in his denial, the question making him realize that none of them knew actually how James and Alsie had met. Each of them had had their own guess about how the two met, but none of them had asked either that question.

"...we met outside a bar. It was raining, he had been drinking, and I offered to drive him home." Alsie interrupted, turning to glance at the two standing by the door. Her brow furrowed, her recollection after driving James hazy. It had been during the time when she was still taking narcotics, so she couldn't be sure if her lack of recollection was drug-induced or from her D.I.D. Until recently she had assumed it was the former.

"Oh. So it was by chance?" Joy asked and approached Alsie, brimming with curiosity. She didn't know much of anything about her half-brother, aside from his being switched at birth and his crimes. And what she'd seen of and heard about Alsie, made her curious about how someone responsible for such horrors could be with someone so nice.

"..." Spencer watched his sister's face, recognizing her confusion and trepidation. It was the same look she gave over recent weeks as she started coming to grips with her diagnosis, and questioning her blackouts. His stomach clenched, understanding how accurate his and the team's hypothesis had been. If Alsie had shifted to an alter shortly after meeting James, it had to be because he'd attacked her. "Alsie, I..."

Alsie shook her head slightly and gave a small, demure smile. "I'm fine. Besides, the team called about a case while we were on our way here. You should go help. It has to be important if they called on your day off."

Spencer shook his head. "I'm staying here to help with Jemma. I wasn't called in."

Even as he lied, he could tell Alsie wanted to believe him but was confused. Joy too gave him an unbelieving look. He grimaced, thinking about the call Alsie had mentioned.

-"There's an unsub copying James' M.O. Unlike James though, this unsub is killing his victims." Hotch said, after Spencer assured him Alsie couldn't overhear. "This unsub is targeting James' rape victims. He hopefully doesn't know about Alsie, and even though she isn't a victim of James', it'd be best not to chance it. You should stick with Alsie and Jemma until we catch this unsub."-

"I'm not leaving you or Jemma. All right?" Spencer repeated, deciding it was best to stick with the truthful part rather than the false.

"...all right." Alsie replied, still giving her brother a slightly dubious stare.

0Tape:

-"Please! Stop!" The burgundy haired woman screamed, struggling to move though unable. Her legs were useless, unmoving and her wrists were rubbed raw from the plastic rope tied around them.

There were some muffled sounds, a question asked by the unsub off camera. Or a comment. Whatever it was, the woman's eyes widened.

"I don't...please...I don't know. I don't..." The woman stammered, each words punctuated by a sob. It was getting more and more difficult to stay conscious. What looked like a splotch of blood on her shirt was steadily growing larger.

There was a cold, unamused chuckle and then a man strode in front of the camera. He was obscured by shadow and the fact that his back was to the camera. In his hand was a long darning needle, sharpened to a point and with a makeshift hand-grip. It was designed so the needle wouldn't slide from the man's grip.

The man pushed the woman forward, and readied the darning needle at her spine.

x

Hotch stopped the video, saving the rest of the BAU, and especially Garcia, from having to see the unsub actually stab his victim's spine. It was only a modicum of relief, since the details were present in the case files each agent had.

"...this is from the tape the unsub sent to Rossi?" Morgan asked, reading over the autopsy report on the victim found in New Jersey.

"Yes. And facial recognition software confirmed this is the same victim whose body was found by New Jersey police. Who they've identified as Olivia Sutters. Aged 38. Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York." Garcia interjected before Hotch could. "I'm running a search on her, trying to see if I can figure out where she and the unsub may have crossed paths."

"What about the other thing the unsub sent to Rossi?" JJ inquired, refraining from mentioning the word 'eyes' in respect of the tech analyst's squeamishness.

"You mean the um..." Garcia faltered, the image of gouged out eyeballs flashing in his thought. "Well, um..."

"Preliminary DNA tests have confirmed them to be the victim's." Hotch replied in the tech analyst's stead.

"I'm curious why this unsub went from attacking women previously attacked by James, to attacking an unconnected woman." Tara spoke as she reread part of the file. "Especially since this unsub abducted his latest victim from New York. Some of James' most recent victims still live in the state, right?"

"Yes. And they're being brought into protective custody just in case." Hotch answered. He paused a moment. "Because of the possibility of James having known the unsub or come in contact with him, we should question him."

"...James is still refusing to speak to any of us though, right? Even after we found Jemma." JJ asked, her expression concerned. Rossi hadn't told them specifically what James had said the last time he visited James in prison, a few weeks after finding Jemma, but it had been enough to make the senior agent furious.

"Agent Fitzgerald has offered to interview him, since it's..." The sound of the door opening interrupted the unit chief. Before Hotch could continue, Rossi entered the room agitated. Cam Fitzgerald followed behind him. Hotch's eyebrows rose slightly, and then his eyes narrowed by the same amount. "Rossi...? Fitzgerald? Did James...?"

Rossi shook his head, his expression more livid than any of them thought it would be if James' had simply refused an interview.

"There was some incident at the prison, between James and a guard..." Cam started to explain, her heterochromatic gaze on Rossi.

"They threw him back in solitary, Hotch." Rossi seethed, shaking his head in disbelief. His mind filled with the not too distant memory of seeing his son unconscious in the prison's medical wing. The result of a psychotic break following being thrown in solitary. "Even after what happened last time, they still..." He trailed off, muttering a few choice words in English and Italian.

#Criminal Minds #fanfiction #spencer reid #OC #david rossi #aaron hotchner #derek morgan #jennifer jareau #case fic #crime drama #james rossi

[ramrodd]

32. Feeding the Four Thousand (Mark 8:1 - 13)

COMMENTARY: 

With the Powerball Jackpot at $700 million, this seems like a good moment to expand on the subject of number in the Bible.

Number is an a priori artifact in the mind of The One.  Before man was, number is.  

The purpose of the Bible is epistemological. It is designed to lead humans to the mind of The One and to validate the experience of the mind of The One.  This is not a particularly Presbyterian concept, but it is a Bible concept.  Number is a tool in that process of epistemological justification.  Faith, in the example of Bruce Gore as well as the centurion in Matthew 8:10, is the willingness to knock on the door to the mind of The One and number is a tool for navigating the interior of the mind of The One.

Number is deployed in at least 3 ways in the Bible (when I refer to "Bible", I am refering to the 66 books assembled in the Protestant canon, without regard to translation); Textual Numerology, which is part of the narrative arc; Mundane Numerology, which is literally the numbers of the chapeters and verses added by typesetters to simplify proofreading and corrections; and numerics, which is a profoundly technical examination of each letter in the Bible according to its Gematria context.  In order to truly absorb Kabala, you have to use the Gematria of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and live with those numbers every hour of the day.  Gematria is very organic in that regards and numerics takes it to the next level.

For example, each verse in Psalm 119 refers to a Hebrew letter,  It's the longest Psalm and it all sounds the same to me but my guess is, if I grew up learning my ABC's with Psalm 119, there would be a wealth of cultural associations I am missing without that experience.  

Regardless of cultural utilization, I tend to see the meaning of each number as an element or phase in a process and the elegant "Arabic" symbols, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, as the image each number projects.  In classic numerology, 0 doesn't exist, but it is so handy, most numerologists sneak it in to their system in some manner.

In this system, 5 refers to the architecture of the process design, in particular, the primacy of the interior line, which is a principle of warfare,  The Pentagon is designed around the interior line and, in spite of being the largest office building in the world, you can get from anywhere to anywhere in the building within a 15 minute walk.  During the Southern Rebellion, the southern states had the advantage of the interior line, which allowed them to shift armies back and forth in spite of a primative railroad network faster than the Union could.  

So, the point in terms of this video is that Bruce's characterization of the military nature of the crowd is right on point,  The Textual Numerology reflects this observation.

In terms of the feeding of the 4000, the number 4 refers to the purely physical elements of the process: in the formulation that the moral (mind) is to matter as 4  is to 1,   "matter" is symbolized by 4 and all other numbers are symbols of the moral (mind).  So, again, Bruce's characterization of the crowd as being "the salt of the earth" is exactly what 4 means in this particular pericope.  

That's the Textual Numerology of the crowd, but there is also the Textual Numerology of the elements of the two miracles, both of which is represented by  7.  In feeding the 5000, there were 5 loaves and 2 fish for a total of 7 elements (I just realized this mix may have been deliberately employed to amplify the 5 of the 5000), while, in feeding the 4000, the 7 loaves are specifically mentioned, with an aside of several small fish, THE LACK OF NUMBER IS IMPORTANT.  One of the things I have always noticed about Jesus in Mark is that His understanding of His mission is constantly expanding, the abrogation of all things kosher being just one example,  I have a different interpretation of the word play between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician Woman: this is not a lesson in humility but in connectedness. Jesus and the woman are doing The Dozens, a "yo mamma so fat...) kind of transaction.  This is viturally the only place in the Bible where I can hear Jesus laugh, a snort at being bested but enjoying the game as the reward in and of itself.  Jesus loved life: He lived large and dying was not His brand, Until He did. But from the time He was crowned by the Spirit in the Jordan until He gave up the ghost, He kept pushing the envelope farther and farther from where He started. Until He blew it up, entirely,  And this little detail of the 7 elements reveals not just the process of Jesus' legacy before the fact but the rigorous journalism required to capture these details from eyewitness testimony,  

Now, in terms of the Mundane Numerology, I personally find it significant that Bruce has organized this video around Mark 8:1 - 13.  This is what I see in this segment: in verse 5 (Mundane), "Seven" is introduced with emphasis.  The fact that it is written instead of symbolized is because it is meant to be read out loud, from your lips to The One's ear, 7, (textual). In verse six, 7 is repeated while, in verse 7, the fish are added as a footnote, not to be included in the Elements because Jesus was perfecting His training legacy for a universal audience,  After Mark 7, Jesus could have used Bar-B-Qued pork ribs or sushi, but those may be regional foods while bread is universal, So, He used 7 loaves of bread. And, in verse 8, the number of baskets of surplus bread is 7.  If you see verse 5 and verse 8 together, the 7's can be seen as "cosmic qoutation marks" to assure the modern reader that this is a true testimony, because 5 and 8, together, comes to 13 and 13 generally refers to the finger of God as a thunder bolt.  When you add 1 and 3, you get 4, which is what the thunderbolt leaves in its wake.  

This is not the only "cosmic quotation mark" in the Gospels: Acts 10: 34 - 43 is Peter's testimony and church doctrine coming into this encounter with Cornelius,  34 and 43 add up to 7's on either end of the phrase.  This occurs in 40. Cornelius and his house hold are the only people in the entire Bible who are baptized by the Holy Spirit before being baptized by water. Including Jesus.  Cornelius has the same professional relationship with Romans 11:22 that Jesus has and the Gospel of Mark is a report he writes for the Praetorian Guard to flesh out the portrait of Jesus that compelled Tiberius to propose elevating Jesus to Roman deity to the Senate. This was written immediately after his meeting with Peter and he was just buring up with the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, it is the appogee of the military arts in the field of observation and narrative.  Trey Gowdy wants to conflate intelligence and evidence and they aren't the same.

The Gospel of Mark originated as intelligence gathered by the Romans on Jesus before He was arrested as a routine function of force protection,  Jesus appears above the Roman Military Horizon and caugth the attention of Herod's spy networks when He was baptized.  Eventurally, the Q source became the combination of both these resources. Cornelius knew Jesus personally: he is the centurion in Matthew 8 and Luke 7. He is also a member, or alumni, of the Praetorian Guard (The Italian Cohort) and, therefore, a senior member of Pilate's staff, possible his Chief of Staff, like Kelly with Trump.  The Jews in Palestine, generally, were pretty ornery, and, in the Galilee, always bubbling just below the critical mass of general insurrection,  Pilate got the Martin Luther King version in Jerusalem over his eagles, but, well, the end of the 2nd Temple began in Galilee.

Before the resurrection, The Gospel of Mark is the product of a Roman military intelligence dossier. After the resurrection, it becomes the evidence TIberius needed to convince the Senate Jesus was the real thing, It was in the possession of the Praetorian Guards in Rome before Paul's first mission. As I say, Cornelius and Jesus have the same relationship with Romans 11:22 as the the core value of the Preatorian Guard,  What Cornelius is trying to describe is the connection that the resurrection makes between Romans 11:22 and Romans 3:21. All that Jewish Eschatology is wasted on the Romans, but they understand the authority of Romans 11:22, The issue is, what do you do with Romans 3:21.  

Remember, Mundane Numerology was added 1500 years after the canon was established. Number, in all its aspects, are like divine jewels in the fabric of the Biblical narrative.

As a part of a process, 7 is a liminal number. It's not really a location, but a Separatrix between the completion of one part of the process and the advent of a subsequent part. In baking bread, step 7 occurs after the yeast is added but before the dough begins to rise, Jesus gives up the ghost during the 7th hour on the cross, that part of His mission was done. The tomb is one of the few times when 7 both a place and a Separatrix.  According to the Gospel of Peter, the Romans put 7 seals on the stone cork in the tomb. When those 7 seals were broken, the next part of the new creation begins.  

In the final analysis, number are like huge neon signs on the narrative highway of the Bible,

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