And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
15. And when it was evening ] In the Jewish division of the day there were two evenings. According to the most probable view the space of time called “between the evenings” (Exo 12:6) was from the ninth to the eleventh hour. Hence the first evening ended at 3 o’clock, the second began at 5 o’clock. In this verse the first evening is meant, in Mat 14:23 the second.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 14:15-21
They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Christ feeding the multitude
The miracles of Jesus were:
(1) public;
(2) beneficent.
I. The nature and circumstances of the miracle.
1. When was it wrought? In the evening. The evening of a day that had been well spent.
2. Where was it performed? In a desert place. The miracle as to time and place encourages our confidence in Christ in the most trying and destitute situations.
3. What was the order of its performance.
(1) Christs tenderness to the people-They need not depart.
(2) The all-sufficiency which He possessed in Himself.
(3) The plainness of their provision, as well as the scantiness of the supply.
(4) However little you have bring it to Jesus, and He will make it more.
(5) His devotion-looking up to heaven.
(6) Our Lord employed the disciples as the dispensers of His bounty.
(7) A lesson of frugality-They took up the fragments.
II. Reflections.
1. In this provision see an emblem of Jesus Christ. He is the true Bread.
2. In the distribution of this provision learn the office and work of Christian ministers.
3. In the apparent deficiency of this provision we are reminded of the treatment of the Saviour and His gospel by an unbelieving world. Five loaves and two fishes appeared nothing to the supply of such an assembly.
4. In the real sufficiency of this provision we are instructed in the glorious ability of Christ to complete the happiness of all that believe. The multitude did all eat and were filled. (T. Kidd.)
The five barley loaves in the desert
I. Christs retreat into the desert. He sought retirement; multitude intruded, yet Christ was not disappointed or annoyed.
II. The men sitting down to the barley loaves.
1. There is the want of bread for the congregation in the desert.
2. Jesus asks the disciples what supply they have.
3. Jesus orders the disciples to bring the loaves to Himself. Christs way of giving us more is to begin with what we have.
4. Jesus next commands the multitude to sit down in order. The multitude needed great faith. We cannot first eat and then believe; must believe and eat. The disciples need faith and courage; sent by Christ on a trying errand-Give ye them to eat. The foolishness of preaching becomes the power of God.
III. The bread blessed end multiplied.
1. Jesus gave thanks to God for the bread in the face of all the multitude.
2. Jesus blesses the bread before he breaks and gives to the people; and His blessing breathed upon it fills the bread with an infinite fulness. Christ is the Bread of Life to the sinner dying for want; sweet to the soul in the desert.
3. Jesus breaks the bread and multiplies in the using; He breaks and distributes to the apostles, and they break and distribute to the people; and probably the people break and distribute to each other. Christ breathes upon and blesses the Word.
IV. The fragments remaining.
1. After the feast is finished there are many fragments over.
2. Jesus and His disciples live upon these fragments. The fragments are more than the entire supply for the feast. The more we feed on Christ, the more always is there of Christ to feed on; He increases to us. (A. M. Stuart.)
The food of the worm
I. Christ feeds the famishing world by means of His Church.
1. The food, though supernaturally provided, is carried to the hungry by the ordinary means.
2. The disciples were prepared for their work. They had to learn the absolute disproportion between the means at their command and the needs of the crowd.
3. We must carry our poor and inadequate resources to Christ.
II. The bread is enough for all the world-They did all eat and were filled.
III. The bread that is given to the famishing is multiplied for the future of the distributors. (American Homiletic Review.)
The miracle of the loaves and fishes
I. Explain and illustrate the various circumstances connected with the miracle.
II. The spiritual lessons which the miracle affords. In the people we see a striking representation of the moral condition of the human family. In the provision we see a true exhibition of the blessing of the gospel. In its distribution we see the nature of the office of the Christian ministry. In the abundance remaining we see the boundlessness of gospel supplies. What personal participation of gospel blessing is necessary to our happiness and satisfaction? (Dr. J. Burns.)
The food of the world
Scripture miracles are not merely wonders, but signs. This one is a symbolic revelation of Christ supplying all the wants of this hungry world. Three points-the distribution, the meal, the gathering up.
I. Christ feeds the famishing world by means of his church.
1. Economy of power. God does not interfere supernaturally, any further than is necessary. Christs incarnation and sacrifice are the purely supernatural work of the Divine power and mercy; but, after their introduction into the world, human agency is required for the diffusion of the new power. Christian people are henceforth Christs instruments.
2. Preparation of the disciples for this work. Looking at their own resources, they felt utterly inadequate to the work. Humility and self-distrust are necessary if God is to work with and in us. He works with bruised reeds, and out of them makes polished shafts, pillars in His house. In His hands our feeble resources are enough.
3. The disciples seem to have partaken first. Those only can distribute and impart, who have themselves found sustenance and life in Christ. And an obligation lies on them to do so. Power to its last particle is duty.
II. The bread is enough for all the world. The gospel addresses itself to universal wants, brushing aside all surface distinctions, and going right down to the depths of our common nature. The seed of the kingdom is like corn, an exotic nowhere, for wherever man lives it will grow-and yet an exotic everywhere, for it came down from heaven. Other food requires an educated palate for its appreciation; but any hungry man in any land will relish bread. For every soul on earth this living, dying love of Jesus addresses itself to and satisfies his deepest wants. It is the bread which gives life to the world.
III. The bread given to the famishing is multiplied for the future of the distributors. To impart to others is to gain for oneself. If you would learn, teach. If you would have your own spiritual life strengthened and deepened, remember that not by solitary meditation or raptures of silent communion alone can that be accomplished, but by these and by honest, manful work for God in the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The work of the Church in a starving world
An emblem of the whole work of the Church in this starving world. The multitudes famish. Tell Christ of their wants. Count your own small resources till you have completely learned your poverty: then take them to Jesus. He will accept them, and in His hands they will become mighty, being transfigured from human thoughts and forces into Divine words, spiritual powers. On that bread which He gives, do you yourself live. Then carry it boldly to all the hungry. Rank after rank will eat. All races, all ages, from grey hairs to babbling childhood, will find there the food of their souls. As you part the blessing, it will grow beneath His eye; and the longer you give, the fuller handed you will become. Nor shall the bread fail, nor the word become weak, till all the world has tasted of its sweetness, and been refreshed by its potent life. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The miracle of the loaves
I. The urgency of the need.
1. What is wanted-food.
2. The urgency of the want-in the wilderness.
II. The abundance of the supply-He openeth His hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness.
1. Like the five loaves the word is, in the letter of it contemptible and mean.
2. The miracle instructive on account of its typical character; the disciples received the food they set before the people from the hands of Jesus. We should determine:
(1) To eat the food ourselves;
(2) To distribute it to others. (C. Clayton, M. A.)
Compassion for the multitude
I. Our mission and our weakness. Hungry men around us. To feed them, superstition offers stones instead of bread. Infidelity tries to persuade that they are not hungry. You say Who are we that we should feed this multitude, who can count them? Do not let the magnitude of the work dispirit you. The supply is scant you say. There is a tendency to shift responsibility. Let us send them away into the villages to buy meat.
II. Our line of duty and the masters strength.
1. In immediate obedience to Christs commands.
2. In consecrating what we have to Christ.
3. In prayer.
4. In active service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Communication begets plenty
I. The productions of the earth and of the earths industry, outward possessions and benefits, the things that are consumed in the using. Shut up your bread-corn in a granary, and though it may not rot, it cannot grow; but strow it Abroad over the furrows of the ground, and it will swell into a harvest. Lock up your piece of silver or gold, and it is no better than dead; but send it out into the worlds free commerce, and the rusty solitary shall become a glittering host. An avaricious policy is dull-sighted and thriftless. It saves, but to be barren. Modern science teaches us that public wealth is born of trust and free communications.
II. Intelligence and knowledge, the power of learning and the treasures of learning, are multiplied by distribution. The human mind is not less ready than the soil to render back with interest what is sown in it. Jesus gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. That is the way in which instruction is imparted. It passes from one to the many. It finds companions. Truth begets truth; and you must have a company to show the supply. What would have seemed inconsiderable if left by itself, grows into great account as it is sent forward among those who apprehend it, and transmit it in new and manifold forms. It is manifested, it is accumulated, by travelling down among the sympathies and wants of those whose hearts love it, whose natures crave it, and whose ability and experience reproduce and recommend it to all men.
III. Joy, hope, and all cheering influences are increased by being sent round from a single mind among the ranks of the worlds poor sojourners. Nothing is more heightened by communication than just such impulses as those we here require. Joy and hope are social; they ask for companionship; they spread by contact and mutual encouragement. He who has awakened them in his own breast, finds them greatly enhanced by expressing them; and their expression is caught up and repeated by numberless voices that had till then slept. (L. N. Frothingham.)
Sitting on grass
The tall grass which, broken down by the feet of the thousands there gathered together, would make as it were couches for them to recline upon. (Dean Stanley.)
Multiplied by giving
From whence God multiplies the crops of corn from a few grains, from thence He multiplied the loaves in His own hands. For the power was in the hands of Christ. For those five loaves were, as it were, seed, not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied by Him who made the earth. (Augustine.)
When you give a loaf or a coin to a poor man, you do not lose it, but you sow it; for, as from one grain of seed many grains grow, so it is likewise with loaves and money. (Lapide.)
Increase by distribution
Christ could as welt have multiplied the loaves whole; why would He rather do it in the breaking? Perhaps to teach us that in the distribution of our goods we should expect His blessing, and not in their entireness and reservation. There is no man but increaseth by scattering. (Bishop Hall.)
Strong charity, weak faith
Send them away, that they may buy victuals. Here was a strong charity, but a weak faith: a strong charity, in that they would have the people relieved; a weak faith, in that they supposed they could not otherwise be so well relieved. As a man, when he sees many ways lie before him, takes that which he thinks both fairest and nearest, so do they: this way of relief lay openest to their view and promised most. (Bishop Hall.)
Baskets for fragments
The Roman poet Juvenal describes a large provision-basket, together with a bundle of hay, as being part of the equipment of the Jewish mendicants who thronged the grove of Egeria at Rome. The motive for this custom was to avoid ceremonial impurity in eating, or in resting at night. (A. Cart.)
Our Lord in prayer
Likely he was weary in body, and also worn in spirit for lack of that finer sympathy which His disciples could not give Him being very earthly yet. He who loves his fellows and labours among those who can ill understand him will best know what this weariness of our Lord must have been like He had to endure the world-pressure of surrounding humanity in all its ungodlike phases. (George Macdonald.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Send the multitude away, that they may go – and buy] The disciples of Christ are solicitous for the people’s temporal as well a spiritual welfare: and he is not worthy to be called a minister of Christ, who dues not endeavour to promote both to the uttermost of his power. The preaching of Christ must have been accompanied with uncommon power to these people’s souls, to have induced them to leave their homes to follow him from village to village, for they could never hear enough; and to neglect to make use of any means for the support of their lives, so that they might still have the privilege of hearing him. When a soul is either well replenished with the bread of life, or hungry after it, the necessities of the body are, for the time, little regarded.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The following miracle being an evident confirmation of the Godhead of Christ, is recorded by all the evangelists: by Matthew here; by Mark, Mar 6:35, &c; by Luke, Luke 9:10-12, &c.; by John, John 6:1-3, &c. These words lead us to it, and show us the occasion of it. Our Saviour was withdrawn to a more private place, which, because little inhabited, is called
a desert place. Luke saith it was near Bethsaida, Luk 9:10. The people, as it seemeth, had been together some time. It was now afternoon, and the time of dining was past. It was evening in the Jewish sense (who called it all evening after the sun was turned, and therefore had two evenings, as those skilled in their writings tell us, betwixt which the passover was to be killed). The disciples therefore pitying the multitudes, who, they presumed, might be hungry, come to our Saviour, and move him to dismiss them, that they might get something to eat in the villages of the adjacent country.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when it was evening,…. Mark says, “when the day was now far spent”; and Luke, “when the day began to wear away”; it was upon the decline of the day. The Jews, as Grotius rightly observes, had two evenings; the one began when the sun declined at noon, and the other at sun setting: now it was the former of these, and not the latter, that was now come; for after this, you read of another evening that was come, Mt 14:23 between which two evenings Christ made the multitude to sit down, and he fed them in a miraculous manner; and the disciples reason for the dismission of the multitude, that might go into the neighbouring villages, and buy provisions, shows that it could not be the last, but the first of these evenings, that is here meant.
His disciples came to him; the twelve, whom he had left in that part of the desert he retired to; or on the mount, where he had sat down with them for their rest and refreshment:
saying, this is a desert place; where no food was to be had; where were no houses of entertainment:
and the time is now past; not the time of the day, but of dining: the usual dinner time was past, which, with the Jews, was the fifth hour of the day, and answers to eleven o’clock with us, or at furthest six; which, with us, is twelve at noon; concerning which, the Jewish doctors thus dispute f.
“The first hour, is the time of eating for the Lydians, or Cannibals; the second for thieves, the third for heirs, the fourth for workmen, and the fifth for every man: but does not R. Papa say, that the fourth is the time of dining for every man? But if so, if the fourth is the time for every man, the fifth is for workmen, and the sixth for the disciples of the wise men.”
Which is elsewhere g delivered with some little variation, thus;
“the first hour is the time of eating for Lydians; the second, for thieves; the third, for heirs; the fourth, for workmen; the fifth, for scholars; and the sixth, for every man: but does not R. Papa say, c.”
But supposing the usual time of dining to be, at the furthest, at the sixth hour, at twelve o’clock, this time must be elapsed, since the first evening was commenced so that the reasoning of the disciples is very just,
send the multitude away. Christ was preaching to them, the disciples move that he would break off his discourse, and dismiss them; in the synagogue the manner of dismissing the people was, by reading the
, or “dismission”, which was some passage out of the prophetic writings.
That they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals; the little towns which lay nearest the desert, where they might be supplied with suitable provisions.
f T. Bab. Sabbat. fol. 11. 1. g T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 12. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When even was come ( ). Genitive absolute. Not sunset about 6 P.M. as in 8:16 and as in 14:23, but the first of the two “evenings” beginning at 3 P.M.
The place is desert ( ). Not a desolate region, simply lonely, comparatively uninhabited with no large towns near. There were “villages” () where the people could buy food, but they would need time to go to them. Probably this is the idea of the disciples when they add:
The time is already past ( ). They must hurry.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Desert [] . In the Greek order standing first as emphatic. The dominant thought of the disciples is remoteness from supplies of food. The first meaning of the word is solitary; from which develops the idea of void, bereft, barren.
Both meanings may well be included here. Note the two points of emphasis. The disciples say, Barren is the place. Christ answers, No need have they to go away.
Give [] . The disciples had said, “Send them away to buy for themselves.” Christ replies, Give ye.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE FIVE THOUSAND FED V. 15-21
1) “And when it was evening,” (opsias de genomenes) “Now when evening had come,” the first of the two Jewish evening periods, about 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The second was reckoned from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
2) “His disciples came to him, saying,” (proselthon auto hoi mathetai legontes) “The disciples approached him, repeatedly saying,” Mr 6:35.
3) “This is a desert place, and the time is now past;” (eremos estin ho topos kai he hora ede parelthen) “The place (here) is a desert and the hour (of daily work) has already passed,” or gone by Luk 9:12. And the time of their finding food, before I night is past, in this uninhabited area.
4) “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages,” (apoluson oun tous ochlous hina apelthontes eis tas komas) “So dismiss the crowds at once, in, order that they may go away into the villages,” to rest and to sleep and to eat, Mr 6:36.
5) “And buy themselves victuals.” (agorasosin heautois bromata) “That they may buy food for themselves,” to satisfy their actual needs, Luk 9:12; Joh 6:3-7 recounts our Lord’s raising the “how” question of feeding them.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. When the evening was drawing on. The disciples had now lost their object, and they see that Christ is again absorbed in teaching, while the multitudes are so eager to receive instruction that they do not think of retiring. They therefore advise that for the sake of attending to their bodily wants, Christ should send them away into the neighboring villages. He had purposely delayed till now the miracle which he intended to perform; first, that his disciples might consider it more attentively, and might thus derive from it greater advantage; and next, that the very circumstance of the time might convince them that, though he does not prevent, and even does not immediately supply, the wants of his people, yet he never ceases to care for them, but has always at hand the assistance which he affords at the very time when it is required.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) And when it was evening.The narrative that follows is, in many ways, one of the most important in the Gospel narratives. (1.) It is the only miracle recorded by all the four Evangelists, and thus is practically one of the chief data for interweaving the supplemental narrative of St. John with that of the other three. (2.) It was the fullest manifestation of the sovereignty of the Son of Man over the world of nature. The act was distinctly, if we accept the facts of the case, one of creative power, and does not admit. as some of the works of healing might seem to do, of being explained away as the result of strong faith or excited imagination on the part of those who were its objects. The only rationalising explanation which has ever been offeredviz., that our Lord by His example, in offering the five loaves and the two fishes for the use of others than His own company of the Twelve, stirred the multitude to bring out the little store which, till then, each man in his selfish anxiety had kept concealedis ludicrously inadequate. The narrative must be accepted or rejected as a whole; and if accepted, it is, as we have said, a proof of supernatural, if not absolutely of divine, power. (3.) No narrative of any other miracle offers so many marks of naturalness, both in the vividness of colouring with which it is told, and the coincidences, manifestly without design, which it presents to us. It is hardly possible to imagine four independent writersindependent, even if two of them were derived from a common sourcereproducing, in this way, a mere legend. (4.) The nature of this evidence will be seen in all its strength by combining the facts of the four records as we proceed. (5.) The miracle was important, as we see from John 6, on account of its dogmatic symbolism. It became the text of the dialogue at Capernaum in which (not to anticipate the Notes on the fourth Gospel) communion with the life of Christ was shadowed forth under the figure of eating the flesh of Him who is the true Bread from heaven.
His disciples came to him.In St. Johns narrative, Philip and Andrew are prominent as speakers, and our Lord puts to the former the question, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? As Philip and Andrew both belonged to one of the Bethsaidas, their local knowledge made the question natural. It was apparently after this private conversation that the main body of the disciples came to their Master beseeching Him to dismiss the multitude that they might buy food in the nearest villages. They were met by what must have seemed to them the marvellous calmness of the answer: They need not depart, give ye them to eat. Philips rough estimate having been passed on to the others, they answer that it would take two hundred pennyworth of bread (the Roman penny, as a coin, was worth 7d. of our money, but its value is better measured by its being the average days wages of a soldier or labourer, Mat. 20:2) to feed so great a number (Mar. 6:37; Joh. 6:7). Then Jesus asks them, How many loaves have ye? and Andrew (Joh. 6:8), as the spokesman of the others, replies that they have found a lad with five loaves (barley loaves, in St. John, the food of the poor) and two fishes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
63. MIRACLE OF FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND, Mat 14:15-21 .
The fullest account is given in Mar 6:34-44; and some additional particulars are furnished in Joh 6:1-14.
The precise spot where this miracle was performed is not certainly known; but the most reliable opinion, we think, is that of Dr. Thomson, who, in view of all the facts detailed 15-33, is very sure that it was at Butaiha, an appendage to Bethsaida lying to its southwest, along the shore of the lake. He says, speaking of Butaiha:
“This bold headland marks the spot, according to my topography, where the five thousand were fed with five barley-loaves and two small fishes. From the four narratives of this stupendous miracle we gather: 1st. That the place belonged to Bethsaida; 2d. That it was a desert place; 3d. That it was near the shore of the lake, for they came to it by boats; 4th. That there was a mountain close at hand, 5th. That it was a smooth grassy spot, capable of seating many thousand people. Now all these requisites are found in this exact locality, and nowhere else so far as I can discover. This Butaiha belonged to Bethsaida. At this extreme southeast corner of it the mountain shuts down upon the lake bleak and barren. It was doubtless desert then as now, for it is not capable of cultivation. In this little cove the ships (boats) were anchored. On this beautiful sward at the base of the rocky hill the people were seated.” See our map, p. 62.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15. Disciples came saying Previously to this, (as we are informed by John,) the Saviour had asked Philip, (for the purpose, as we say, of drawing him out,) “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” To which Philip returns a dubious answer. Soon after the disciples put the question of supply to the Lord. This reconciles the evangelists, one of whom seems to make the apostles speak first, and the other, Jesus. There was a natural propriety in asking this question of Philip, who was a native of Bethsaida.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when even was come, the disciples came to him, saying, “The place is a wilderness, and the time is already past. Send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.’
The crowds spent the day listening to Jesus, and as evening approached, the disciples became concerned. The crowds had come a long way and would be hungry. And they were a long way from home. The usual mealtime had already passed. So they were going to need provision, and here they were in ‘a wilderness’. The only hope for them therefore was to scatter among the surrounding villages in order to buy some food, however little. So they called on Jesus to dismiss the crowds for this purpose. It was an act of compassion towards the crowds, being carried out by men who could see no other option.
Note the reference to villages. They are well away from the larger cities and towns. It was to avoid them that Jesus had come here.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The threatening necessity:
v. 15. And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now passed; send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. In the excitement attending the healing, time sped away; late afternoon was there before they realized it, the sun was sinking over the lake when the disciples felt constrained to interfere. They were in an uninhabited country, not exactly a desert waste, but no towns in the immediate neighborhood. The time of day was far advanced, night even now was near. The people should be dismissed, summarily sent away into the nearest villages to buy food for themselves. The disciples seem more concerned about their own relief and rest for the Lord than about the needs of the multitude.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 14:15. When it was evening When Jesus was come ashore, he taught the multitude with his usual goodness, and healed their sick (Mat 14:14.), spending several days in these charitable offices. The words of the text lead us to this supposition; for the disciples came and told him, that it was time to dismiss the people:And when it was evening,that is to say, at three o’clock in the afternoon, for the Jews had two evenings, one of which commenced when the sun had declined and the greater part of the day was spent, and the other when the sun was set. The first evening, which began at three, is here meant, as appears from Mat 14:23 where another evening is said to have come after the people were fed and dismissed; namely, the second evening, which began at sun-setting. See ch. Mat 28:1.At this time his disciples came to him, saying, &c. which implies, that the people had now no meat remaining; and therefore, as it was the custom in those countries to have two or three days’ provisions with them when they travelled (see on Luk 10:34.), we may reasonably presume, that the multitude had been with Jesus several days before the disciples had any thought of dismissing them. The time is now passed, is interpreted by some, the time of dining. The Greek word , denotes the season of doing any thing, and here it seems to signify the season of the people’s attending on Christ, which was now passed, because theyhad continued with him till their provisions were consumed. See Macknight, and Beausobre and Lenfant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 14:15 ff. Comp. Mar 6:35 ff.; Luk 9:12 ff.; Joh 6:5 ff. ] means, in this instance, the first evening , which lasted from the ninth till the twelfth hour of the day. It is the second evening , extending from the twelfth hour onwards, that is meant in Mat 14:24 . Gesenius, Thes. II. p. 1064 f.
] the time , i.e. the time of the day; comp. Mar 11:11 . Some , like Grotius, understand: meal time; others (Fritzsche, Kuffer): tempus opportunum , sc. disserendi et sanandi. But the “ disserendi ” is a pure importation; and how far the suitable time for healing might be said to have gone by, it is impossible to conceive. Our explanation, on the other hand, is demanded by the context ( .), besides being grammatically certain. See Raphael, Polyb.; Ast, Lex. Plat. III. p. 580.
] for we , as far as we are concerned, have nothing to give them.
According to Joh 6:5 ff., it was Jesus who first began to inquire about bread, and that not in consequence of the evening coming on. An unimportant deviation, which shows that even the memory of an apostle may sometimes be at fault. Of greater consequence is the fact that, according to John, Jesus puts the question whenever he sees the multitude, a circumstance made to tell against John by Strauss especially; comp. also Baur and Hilgenfeld. And there can be no doubt that this little detail is an unconscious reflection of the Johannine conception of Christ, according to which it was but natural to suppose that Jesus had Himself intended to work a miracle, and that from the very first, so that in John the recollection of the order of proceeding, which we find recorded by the Synoptists with historical accuracy, had been thrust into the background by the preponderating influence of the ideal conception. Comp. note on Joh 6:5 f. John, on the other hand, mentions the more precise and original detail, that it was a who happened to have the bread and fish.
.] said in view of what the disciples were immediately to be called upon to do; therefore, from the standpoint of Jesus, an anticipation of that request , which the expectation of something in the way of miracle was just about to evoke on the part of the disciples. Bengel well observes: , vos , significanter. “Rudimenta fidei miraculorum apud discipulos.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Chapter 61
Making Suggestions to Christ
Mat 14:15-21
One cannot but be struck by the infinite ludicrousness of the situation. It is sadly comical. Jesus Christ did not receive much help in the way of suggestion from his disciples; and when they had come forward for the purpose of making propositions I know not of any figures more strikingly grotesque and pitiable. We, however, have been in the same position with the disciples sometimes. In those hours when lucky ideas have occurred to us, and very bright suggestions have been welcomed as if they were angels from heaven, we have gone to supreme minds, to the great burning and leading intellects of the age, and have laid before them our neat little plans for meeting urgent circumstances, and to our humiliation and bitterness we have found that the suggestions which we considered startling in their originality were dismissed twenty years ago as sophisms that would not bear looking into, It is dangerous to meddle with some minds. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It is infinitely impertinent to make suggestions to Omniscience.
Look at the disciples. A happy idea has occurred to them, and their faces are flushed by its fire. They are benevolent men, they have been measuring the situation with their calculating eyes, they have seen the sun westering, they have felt the evening chill in the wind, and they have thought very kindly of the numerous people who were in the desert place, and as if their Master had been absorbed in contemplations supernal, having in them nothing of care for the present life, they go up and tell him what to do. They will be snubbed. I wonder what his answer will be: certainly it will turn their counsel upside down, whatever it be.
What was the proposition of the benevolent men? Surely they spoke one word for the multitude and twenty for themselves. It was evening, and they, perhaps, were getting tired, and they thought to hide their desire for rest under pitying sympathy for the weariness of other men. Now they take the case into their hands what will they do? Let us hear them. Perhaps they may speak revelations. “Send the multitudes away into the villages that they may buy themselves victuals.” That is the world’s benevolence, that is the conception of charity in many cases and in nearly all cases in the absence of the inspiration of the love of Christ. Pause awhile. Look at these benevolent men; admire their superlunar benevolence and kindness of heart. We are glad to hear them speak now and again: when they do speak they make history. They spake about the children, and said, “Send them away;” and Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Hear them speak about the multitudes, and they say, “Send them away.” This O, hear it this is the grand suggestion of the servant: what will the command of the Master be? O, little moth, silly, silly moth, take care of the candle or thy wings will be scorched. Theological suggesters and preaching men, and persons who have theories to propound, take care lest the Master overhear you and account you the children of folly.
How much better to have gone to him and have left the case in his hands. It is always wise to trust Omniscience. It is a continual mistake to be making suggestions to Divine Providence. Remain where you are: Jesus knows when the sun is going down, and when your hunger becomes a distress. I will not leave the ground until he bid me go. In his presence I have no hunger, no pain, no weariness: I stand here till he says, “It is now time to arise and go hence.” I pray you, with a beseeching of the heart, not to be making suggestions to Divine Providence, but to remain in your situations, houses, businesses, and present relations until he give the sign to go. Let us be thankful that we are not left to the devices of the disciples: let us gladden ourselves with the holy and inspiring thought that the Master still lives.
How will Jesus receive this suggestion? Deferentially? He never did receive a suggestion from the disciples with the slightest token of respect. Once one of them said to him, “This be far from thee, Lord,” and he said, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Another time they said, “Take the children away,” and he said, “Suffer the children to come.” Now they say, “Send the multitude away, that they may buy victuals for themselves in the villages,” and he says, “They need not depart give ye them to eat.” How musical his voice sounds after their rough tones. Put the two expressions together, and see the infinite discrepancy. “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.” It is not a suggestion, it is the rudest, vulgarest proposition that the lowest and coarsest minds could have made. Now hear the voice that holds in it all heaven’s music “They need not depart.” That was the revelation, and that is true of human life in all its points, aspects, bearings, and necessities.
You need not go out of the Church for anything that is really good for you. When will the Church arise to this conception of her responsibility, and to this realization of her unsearchable riches? The idea which presses itself upon us as a trouble is that people imagine the Church is a measurable quantity, set up for the purpose of dealing out a specific article. Is there bread in the Church? There is bread enough and to spare. Has the Church a music hall, a picture gallery does the Church afford opportunities for recreation, for intellectual culture, for social progress, for the consideration of ethical commerce? If the Church fail in these particulars it is because the Church has been misread, not because the Master occupies a solitary point and leaves the rest of his universe to be occupied by other persons.
What do you most need? I will find it for you in the Church. You need not depart from Christ, for whatever you want he has the key of the library, he keeps a great bread-house, he knows how he has made you, your love of art, your passion for music, your delights and your comforts, every one of them he is accountable for, as to their control and supply. Let me, therefore, protest against any theory that would narrow the Church and dwarf it into one amongst many, instead of making it many in one. I am aware that we have driven away so many people from the Church into the villages to buy victuals for themselves that we shall have a good deal to do to get back terms and phrases which ought never to have been divorced from the altar, and when they do come back they will be so distorted in image, and so vitiated in use, that for a long time some persons will protest against their being used within the walls of the sanctuary.
Where are our hosts of young people now? We have sent them into the villages to buy bread. Where those that were weak and faithless of heart, weak and trembling in soul, doubtful, troubled by infinite unrest of heart? We have sent them into the villages to buy bread. We were only too glad to get clear of them. Jesus never sent them away: as they were going he said, “You need not depart.” The Church, therefore, must bestir herself to a realization of her true call of God. I want the Church to have many mansions. If you please, the mansions need not, so to speak, overlap one another, or encroach upon each other’s position and special meaning but in my Father’s house there should be many mansions, and no man should be allowed to go away because there is not enough for him at home. Build the Church ten times the size, stretch its hospitable roof over all things that can feed the best nature, and charm the noblest instincts and impulses of human nature, and do not narrow and impoverish and dwarf yourselves.
You are called upon, Christian Churches, to supply all the necessities of the world. We may have to alter old habits and modernize ancient methods and do a great many things that appear to be revolutionary, but I would write upon every church front, as an appeal to the whole public, these sacred words “Ye need not depart.” Everything that man can need for his healthy instruction, edification, culture, and perfecting is within the boundaries of Christ’s conception of his own Church. The time will come when we shall not need to modify any of the great grand words ever spoken by Jesus Christ. The mischief is that a cold age wants to drag down the reading to its own coldness. I say concerning this Book of marvels and most astounding miracles let every line stand. There are coming men who can read the Book in all its apocalyptic wondrousness of suggestion, colour, pomp, and music. We may not be able to read it; our ears are filled with unholy noises, our eyes are divided so that we cannot focalise our vision and fix it with intensity enough upon the object to see its real beauty, but in the coming time there are generations that will be able to read the Book in all its breadth, and we must not spoil it for their using. Fear not, the lion of the tribe of Judah hath power to open the Book, and in an infinitely less degree, but not wanting in healthy and noble suggestion, is it true that hearts are coming, brighter minds, nobler souls, who will be able to open the Book in its true sense and read it with all its magic and power and grandeur of suggestion.
Do not drag down the Book to your present coldness. Do not imagine that the Book is about to accommodate itself to the impoverishment which you have inflicted upon yourselves. The miracles stun us because we have lost the power of grasping them, but when materialism goes down and faith rises to its proper position the miracles will be easy reading to all believing souls. You must enlarge the idea of the Church.
“They need not depart give ye them to eat.” You never know how much you have till you begin to give. The thing given with the right spirit grows in the giving. You will find after you have withdrawn some donation from your store, with a good motive and a right intent, that when you go back again to the store it will have returned, and in your secrecy you will say, “What mystery is this, when I have given the money? It was taken out to be given, but I must have forgotten to convey it.” This is the ministry of the angels, to go to the secret drawer and put the money back, to watch your face when you return to count what you expected to be the diminished amount. We have proved this: we must not be accounted foolish men by those who have not entered into the same experience. If I were my own treasurer I should be poor in a month: I would not know what had been done with the money. But taking it always from him, in the act of giving it to him it grows in the giving.
Let us hear those wonderful men talk again. And they say unto him, “We have here but five loaves and two fishes.” Did they tell the truth? No. Did they distort the facts? No. Is it possible to state a fact and yet to keep back the truth? Perfectly possible, and done every day. Let us hear how much they had. Five loaves and two fishes and no more. Sure? What had the fools forgotten? What we forget in all our misreckoning. Give me the inventory of their property, will you; it will then read thus: “We have here but five loaves and two fishes, and God and Christ, and the Miracle worker and the Creator.” What poor inventories we return. The stationer could give us paper enough for our inventories ten thousand times over. We give the material side only when we add up our riches; we put down the loaves and the fishes, and the water and the gold, and the silver and the stones but what about ideas, impulses, thoughts, purposes, burning desires, imperishable capacities? What about the immortality that stirs within us? With such omissions your inventory is not worth the paper it is written upon. When you reckon up your little stock to-night do not forget to add at the foot of the roll “and Christ, and Providence, and my Father in heaven,” and you will lay down your weary head as a millionaire, multiplied by innumerable millions as to store and value.
Jesus said, “Bring them hither to me.” He was not disturbed by the number, as the disciples were. In their hands the loaves would have been only five and the fishes would have been only two, but in Christ’s hands the stock will be multiplied into a great feast. It is the same with everything we have. Let us take up our two talents to Christ we shall bring them back two hundred. Let us take up our resources to Christ, and we shall come back multiplied into an army that cannot lose a battle. This accounts for your non-success, my friends: you are using your little store without passing it through the all-multiplying fingers: if you were more religious you would be more successful.
Now this is a miracle which does not appeal to the imagination. Sometimes the rationalists have told us that the people upon whom the miracle was wrought were simply operated upon by a magnetic will, by a higher power of mind than their own, and they for the time being became the happy subjects of a kind of magnetic action. I imagine the bread had no imagination to be wrought upon: it would appear to me that the five loaves and the two fishes were not subjects for the operation of any magical art. Moreover, the whole story is so constructed as to make it sternly literal. “Jesus commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” Jesus did not personally give the bread to the multitude he passed it, as he passes all his bread, through the medium of ministries and servants of his own appointing.
It was more than a mere miracle: it was a sacrament. He made a religious feast of it. He never did anything secularly, as we use that cold term his whole life was religious, his very breath was a prayer, the opening of his eyes was a revelation. He did nothing without his Father. We should have larger comforts if we had more religion in the using of them. Your unblest bread will soon be done. If you eat animally you will be choked, if you eat sacramentally you will have bread enough and to spare. Eat with contentment of heart, with a sense of gratitude and thankfulness to God, as the guest of God, and the host will see that you have enough. Do not spread an atheist’s table that you may put upon it venison and wines of all fanned vineyards: you will only get up a glutton and a winebibber, flushed with a bad heat and satisfied but for an hour. On the poorest meal, on the simplest engagement of life, ask the heavenly blessing secretly or audibly, but mean it and sitting down to your little table, say, “I am here as God’s guest: he asked me to sit here,” and the feast will be a holy sacrament.
There are eternal meanings in this bread-giving. This is the miracle of the ages. It is the only miracle which all the evangelists have told, and there may be a purpose in this unanimity of record, for this is the miracle we must all partake of or we cannot live we must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God. “Except a man eat my flesh and drink my blood he hath no life in him.” This is the true bread which cometh down from heaven, of which if a man eat he will hunger no more. Now we come with our little dwarfing expositions, and take all the sap, the juice, the wine out of this holy growth. We will ask little questions about transubstantiation, and we will set up little enigmas and miserable riddles which are unworthy of the Christian imagination, and our religious liberties and privileges. This is not a question of transubstantiation: the bread does not pass into any other body or substance: the wine is wine at the last as at the first, and no magic can change its nature. And yet as in the letter I feel the spirit, so in these elements of bread and wine my heart feels that it is feasting upon the living Lord. Do not ask for this gospel to be reduced to words: I ask you to enlarge your words to receive this gospel.
Have you eaten of the bread sent down from heaven have you drunk of the blood of the Son of God? If not, you have no life abiding in you. Lord, evermore give us this bread. This is the bread that endureth unto life everlasting. In my Father’s house is bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger: I will arise and go to my Father, and I will say unto him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Have you challenged him with a speech so eloquent in contrition? He will shake the heavens that he may reply to you with the enthusiasm of his whole house; his angels and his firstborn will consider it no humiliation to gather around you and clothe you and make you rich with all heaven’s wealth.
Return, return, thou hungry wanderer in the wilderness: thou needest not depart: in thy Father’s house are all mansions, and there is a resting-place even for thee.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
Ver. 15. His disciples came to him ] Not the multitudes. They forgat their bodily necessities to attend upon Christ, to hang upon his honey lips, preferring his holy word before their necessary food, as did Job, Job 23:12 . Not only before his dainties and superfluities, but his substantial food, without which he could not long live and subsist. These hearers of our Saviour came out of their cities, where they had everything at full, into the desert, where they thought nothing was to be had, to hear him. I had rather live in hell, with the word, said Luther, than in paradise without it. Our forefathers gave five marks, some of them (which is more money than ten pounds is now), for a good book: and some others of them gave a load of hay for a few chapters of St Paul or St James in English. To hear a sermon they would go as many weary steps as those good souls did,Psa 84:7Psa 84:7 , or as these in the text; and neglect or hazard their bodies, to save their souls. How far are they from this that will not put themselves to any pain or cost of heaven! and if held awhile beyond the hour at a sermon are as ill settled as if they were in the stocks, or in a fit of an ague: they go out of the church as out of a jail.
This is a desert place, &c. ] Christ knew all this, better than they could tell him; and to take upon them to tell him, was as if the ostrich should bid the storks be kind to her young ones, Ac si struthiocamelus ciconiam admoneret. Cartuo.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] This was the first evening, the decline of the day, about 3 p.m.; the in Mat 14:23 , after the miracle, was late in the night.
] the time of the day is now late , , Xen. Hell. vii. 2. 22.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 14:15-21 . The feeding .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 14:15 . : might mean sunset as in Mat 8:16 , but from the nature of the case must mean afternoon from 3 to 6, the first of the “two evenings”. , comparatively uninhabited, no towns near. : the meaning not clear. Mk. has: = already the hour is advanced. Various suggestions have been made: eating time (Grot.), healing and teaching time (Fritzsche), daytime (Meyer) is past. Weiss, with most probability, takes = time for sending them away to get food. : though late for the purpose, not too late; dismiss them forthwith.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 14:15-21
15When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” 17They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18 And He said, “Bring them to Me.” 19Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, 20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
Mat 14:15 “When it was evening” See Mat 14:23. Matthew presents this chapter as one day in the life of Jesus (cf. Mat 14:23). It is assumed that the Jews of Jesus’ day had an early evening and a late evening. The early one would occur at 3 p.m. in the afternoon when the offering of the evening sacrifice occurred in the Temple. The later one would be sometime just after sunset.
“this place is desolate” This idiom meant that there was no large town or village close by, not that it was an uninhabited desert region.
Mat 14:16 Jesus apparently told the disciples to provide for these people (cf. Mar 6:37). “You give them something to eat” is emphatic in the Greek text. They were stunned. This was a training opportunity for them, as was the storm (cf. Mat 14:32).
Mat 14:17 “We have here only five loaves and two fish” This was one boy’s lunch (cf. Joh 6:9). Commentators who are nervous about miracles (William Barclay and other logical positivists) try to say that what happened was that this young boy shared his lunch and others who had brought their lunches shared them, which provided enough food for everybody. This is an obvious example of one’s presuppositions misinterpreting the biblical author’s obvious meaning. Where did the twelve full baskets that were left over come from if this was simply a sharing of lunches? Also notice that Jesus supernaturally multiplied the bread; but did not waste any of it because the disciples picked up the small pieces to eat later. This multiplication of food was the exact temptation of the evil one in Mat 4:1-4, to get Jesus to feed the needy humanity. One of the reasons why Jesus may have wanted to get alone to pray was this previous temptation. The people wanted to make Him the “bread king” (cf. Joh 6:15).
Mat 14:18 “Bring them to Me” Jesus was doing this not only to feed the crowd, but to teach the disciples and to build their faith. This was the true purpose of many of His miracles. Compassion for the needy and the desire to build the faith of His disciples were the twin motivations of the miracles.
This feeding would also have had Jewish Messianic implications. The Jews expected the Messiah to perform acts like Moses. This new manna may have been one such act (cf. John 6).
Mat 14:19 “ordering the people to sit down on the grass” Literally this says “to recline on the grass.” This was the normal eating posture in Palestine. They were in groups of hundreds and fifties (cf. Mar 6:39-40). The presence of this lush, green grass meant that it was probably in the spring time.
“looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food” The normal position of prayer for the Jews was with the eyes and hands lifted up to heaven. It was unusual for them to kneel to pray. Our modern practice of bowing our heads and closing our eyes comes from the parable of the Pharisee and the sinner. If we are going to bow our head and close our eyes, to be truly biblical we should also beat our breasts (cf. Luk 18:9-14)!
Mat 14:20 “twelve full baskets” See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NUMBER TWELVE
Mat 14:21 “There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children” This being a somewhat isolated place, there were probably not too many women or children present unless they were sick and had been brought to be healed. The full number may have been somewhere around six or seven thousand but this is uncertain.
Since the Gospel of Matthew is directed to Jewish readers, this may have addressed the cultural issue of men eating separately from women and children (cf. NASB Study Bible, footnote, p. 1389).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
time = hour.
now = already.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] This was the first evening, the decline of the day, about 3 p.m.; the in Mat 14:23, after the miracle, was late in the night.
] the time of the day is now late, , Xen. Hell. vii. 2. 22.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 14:15. , evening) The evening has various degrees; see Mat 14:23.- , the hour) sc. for dismissing the people, of taking food and rest, or of going to search for food.- for themselves) The disciples seem sometimes to have bought food for them.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
his: Mar 6:35, Mar 6:36, Luk 9:12
send: Mat 15:23, Mar 8:3
Reciprocal: Mat 15:33 – to fill Mar 8:5 – How Luk 10:40 – dost Joh 6:1 – these Joh 6:5 – saw Jam 2:16 – one
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:15
It was getting on towards the close of day and the crowds were lingering in the presence of Jesus. Thinking they might not realize the hour and thus would let darkness find
them without provisions, the disciples suggested that Jesus send them into the villages for food.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 14:15. Evening. The first evening, i.e., from three to six P.M. (ninth to twelfth hour of the day); Mat 14:23 refers to the second evening, which began at six P.M. (the first watch of the night).
The time, lit., hour, is already past. Either the time of day is late, or the time for the evening meal is past. The disciples probably interrupted His discourse with this suggestion. Our Lord had continued His work of teaching and healing, until He had an opportunity to show how He could supply other wants. Those who wait on Him shall be fed! John tells us He knew what he would do, inserting a question our Lord put to Philip (who was probably the spokesman) to try him. (See Joh 6:5-7.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Note here, 1. The disciples pity towards the multitude that had been long attending upon Christ’s ministry in the desert; they presuming the people hungry, having fasted all the day, requested our Saviour to dismiss them, that they may procure some bodily refreshment.
Learn hence, that it well becomes the ministers of Christ to respect the bodily necessities, as well as to regard the spiritual wants of their people. As the bodily father must take care of the soul of his child, so must the spiritual Father have respect to the bodily necessities of his children.
Observe, 2. The motion which the disciples make on behalf of the multitude, Send them away that they may buy victuals. Here was a strong charity, but a weak faith. A strong charity in that they desire the people’s relief: but a weak faith, in that they suppose that they could not be otherwise relieved, but by sending them away to buy victuals; forgetting that Christ, who had healed the multitude miraculously, could as easily feed them miraculously, if he pleased: all things being equally easy to omnipotency.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 14:15-18. And when it was evening his disciples came to him That is, the first evening, which began at three in the afternoon. That this is the meaning is plain from Mat 14:23, where another evening is said to have come after the people were fed and dismissed. Accordingly, Mark says, they came when the day was now far spent; and Luke, when the day began to wear away: saying, This is a desert place Where there is neither food nor lodging to be had; and the time is now past The word , here translated time, denotes the season of doing any thing. Here it seems to signify the season of the peoples attending on Christ, which was now past, because they had continued with him as long as they could without receiving some refreshment. Send the multitude away, that they may go, and buy themselves victuals Thus the disciples manifested their concern for the temporal as well as spiritual relief of the people: and it be comes all ministers of Christ to imitate them herein, and regard the bodily necessities of their hearers, as well as those of their souls. But Jesus said, They need not depart Namely, in order to procure victuals. He would neither dismiss them hungry, as they were, nor detain them longer without food, nor put them to the trouble and charge of buying victuals for themselves, but orders his disciples to provide for them: Give ye them to eat Alas, poor disciples! they had nothing for themselves: how then should they give the multitude to eat? Observe, reader, when Christ requires of us what of ourselves we are unable to perform, it is to show us our weakness, and to excite us to look to him that worketh all our works in us and for us. They said, We have here but five loaves and two fishes Provision certainly very insufficient to satisfy the hunger of five thousand men, and a great multitude of women and children. It must be observed, that Christ had not yet shown his power in any such way as that in which he was now about to manifest it, and the proofs he had given of it in other instances were not now recollected or adverted to by the disciples. Christs ordering them, therefore, to give food to this immense multitude of men, women, and children, seems to have greatly surprised them. But, as John observes, Joh 6:6, he himself knew what he would do. He said, Bring them hither to me That I may bless them. Observe, reader, the way to have our temporal blessings, blessings indeed, is to bring them to Christ; for they can only be sanctified by his word, and by prayer to him. That is likely to prosper, and be a comfort to us, which we put into the hands of our Lord Jesus, that he may dispose of it as he pleases, and that we may receive it back from his hand, and then it will be doubly sweet to us. And what we give in charity, we should bring to Christ first, that he may graciously accept it from us, and graciously bless it to those to whom it is given.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 15
The time is now past; the day is gone; night is at hand.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
In view of the context (Mat 14:23) and the meaning of "evening" (Gr. opsios), the time must have been late afternoon. [Note: See ibid., 1:681.] There were several small towns within walking distance of this region where the people could have bought their own suppers.
Jesus directions (Mat 14:16) turned the disciples’ attention to their own resources. By urging them to consider these, Jesus was leading them to recognize their personal inadequacy and to appeal to Him as the only adequate resource (cf. Joh 2:1-11). There is nothing in the text or context that suggests the number of the loaves and fishes had symbolic significance, though many of the commentators have thought so.