Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 15:35
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. Not regarding the smallness of the provisions, nor any further consulting with his disciples; but knowing his own power to increase this food, and determining to feed the multitude before he dismissed them, in an authoritative way ordered them to sit down upon the ground in rows, that they might be the better seen, and served.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
On the ground ( ). No mention of “grass” as in 14:19 for this time, midsummer, the grass would be parched and gone.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
On the ground [ ] . Compare Mr 8:6. On the occasion of feeding the five thousand, the multitude sat down on the grass [ ] , Mt 14:19. It was then the month of flowers. Compare Mr 6:39, the green grass, and Joh 6:10, much grass. On the present occasion, several weeks later, the grass would be burnt up, so that they would sit on the ground.
Gave thanks. According to the Jewish ordinance, the head of the house was to speak the blessing only if he himself shared in the meal; yet if they who sat down to it were not merely guests, but his children or his household, then he might speak it, even if he himself did not partake.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
(35) He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.Probably, with the same orderly precision as before, by hundreds and by fifties, the women and children, as we learn from Mat. 15:38, being in this instance also grouped together apart from the men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.’
Once again He commands the crowd to sit down, although this time not ‘on the grass’ but ‘on the ground’. They are to recognise that the food comes from Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The miracle:
v. 35. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
v. 36. And He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
v. 37. And they did all eat and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven basketfuls.
v. 38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
v. 39. And He sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala. Christ now took the situation wholly in hand, disgusted, probably, with the denseness of His disciples. He had the crowds sit down in an orderly manner to facilitate the distribution of the food; He took the bread and the fishes, pronounced the blessing upon them, broke them, gave them to His disciples, who, in turn, distributed both bread and fishes to the people. After all had been fully satisfied, the remaining fragments filled seven baskets. They bear a different name here than in chapter 14:20, either because they were made by a different process, or because they were exceptionally large containers to be carried on the back, or because Matthew gives them the name by which they were known among the people of that region, whose characteristic was predominantly Gentile. The number of people in the multitude is again recorded: four thousand, without women and children. Jesus now dismissed them, and crossed over the sea into the region called Magdala, which, as far as can be determined, seems to have bordered on the region of Gennesaret on the south, having the town of Dalmanutha as its metropolis.
Summary. Jesus gives a lesson concerning defilement, heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, performs other acts of healing, and feeds four thousand men.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
Ver. 35. To sit down on the ground ] He intended them not only a running banquet, a slight come off, but a full feast, a good meal, and therefore bade them sit down and feed their fill. It was indeed on the bare ground that they sat; but so do the greatest lords in Turkey to this day; they sit at meat, with their legs gathered under them, flat upon the ground; and their cheer, when they feast most sumptuously, is only rice and mutton, with fair water out of the river.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sit down = recline.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
to sit: Mat 14:19-21, Mar 6:39, Mar 6:40, Luk 9:14-16, Joh 6:10
Reciprocal: Mar 8:6 – to sit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:35
For the sake of orderliness the multitudes were told to sit down.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 15:35. And giving commandment. The correct reading joins this verse closely with Mat 15:36. In the other case the disciples arranged the multitude (Luk 9:14; Joh 6:10).
On the ground, not on the grass (chap. Mat 14:19); they were in a wilderness(Mat 15:33), a desolate region, in this case.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
15:35 And he commanded the multitude to {k} sit down on the ground.
(k) Literally, “to lie down backwards”, as rowers do in rowing, when they draw their oars to themselves.