Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 6:52
For they considered not [the miracle] of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
52. hardened ] See note above, Mar 3:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 6:52
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves.
The miracle of the loaves
The disciples were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. Had the miracle of the loaves been duly considered, the inference from it must have been that He who had wrought it must be Lord over the whole system of nature, and could, therefore, whenever He pleased, bend the elements to His rule.
I. There was another occasion on which Christ miraculously fed a great multitude. We read of His sustaining four thousand men, besides women and children, with seven loaves and a few little fishes. There were only two occasions on which this was done. He showed Himself ready to heal all manner of sickness; but He showed no readiness to provide food miraculously. The reason is not far to seek. It was altogether one of the consequences of sin that men were afflicted with various maladies and pains, and that disease and death held sway in this creation. But it was not one of those consequences, that men had to labour for subsistence. Labour was Gods earliest ordinance, so that Adam, in innocence, was placed in paradise to keep it. Had He dealt with mens want as He dealt with disease, removing it instantly by the exercise of miraculous power, He would have pronounced it a grievance that labour had been made the heritage of man; whereas, by the course which He actually took, He gave all the weight of His testimony to the advantageousness of the existing appointment. Universal plenty, yielded without toil, would generate universal dissoluteness.
II. When He multiplied the scanty provision, and made it satisfy the wants of a famishing multitude, He designed, we may believe, to fix attention on Himself, as appointed to provide, or rather to be the spiritual sustenance of the whole human race. And how striking, in the first place, the correspondence between Christ, the multiplier of a few loaves and fishes, and Christ the expounder of the commandments of the moral law. It might almost have been excusable, had a man who lived under the legal dispensation, and had nothing before him but the letter of the precepts, imagined the possibility of a perfect obedience to the commandments of the two tables. It was a wonderful amplification. The statute books of a nation are numerous and ponderous volumes; various cases as they arise demand fresh laws, and legislatures are either busy in making new legislations, or modifying old. But the statutes of God, though intended for countless ages, contain only ten short commandments-the whole not so long as the preamble to a single act of human legislation, and these ten commandments, breathed on by Him who spake as never man spake, amplify themselves into innumerable precepts, so that every possible case was provided for, every possible sin, every possible duty enjoined; and who can fail to observe how aptly Christ represented His office as expounder of the law, when He fed a multitude with the slender provision which His disciples had brought into the wilderness? But have not the virtues of the single death, the merits of the one work of expiation, proved ample enough for the innumerable company which have gathered round Christ and applied to Him for deliverance? And are not-if we may use the expression-are not the basketfuls which still remain, sufficient to preclude the necessity for any fresh miracle, though those who should crave spiritual food for ages to come should immeasurably exceed those who have already been satisfied in the wilderness?
III. To the precise effect which a want of consideration produced in the case of the apostles and which it is just as likely to produce in our own. It is evident that the miracle of the loaves is referred to by the sacred historian, as so signal a display of Christs power that none who witnessed it ought to have been surprised at any other. The thing charged against the apostles is that they were amazed and confounded at Christ stilling the winds and the waves, though they had just before seen Him produce food for thousands; and the thing implied is-for otherwise there would be no ground for blame-that the miracle of the loaves should have prepared them for any further demonstration of lordship over nature and her laws. Thus the miracle of the loaves should have sufficed to destroy all remains of unbelief, and should have furnished the apostles with motives to confidence under the most trying circumstances, and a simple dependence on the guardianship of the Saviour, whatever the trials to which they were exposed. And why is it that we ourselves adopt not His reasoning? Why is it that we do not similarly argue from the loaves to the storm-from the mighty works of the atonement to the manifold requirements of a state of warfare and pilgrimage? Ah, if we did, could there be that anxiety, that mistrust, those fears, those tremblings, which we too often manifest when pains and troubles come thickly upon us? No, no; it is because we look not on the cross, because we forget the agony and bloody sweat and passion of the Redeemer, that we shrink from the storm and are terrified by the waxes. We consider not the miracle of the loaves, and then, when the sky is dark, and the winds fierce, we are tempted to give ourselves up for lost. (H. Melvill.)
Forgotten mercies
Hard hearts and painful unbeliefs spring up in the waste places where we bury our forgotten mercies. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Consider the past
Neither earth nor heaven, time nor eternity, yields choicer gems of thought than the achievements of our Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Hast action an index to future help
Since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, what He did at one time ought to be well top, sidereal, because it is the index of what He is prepared to do again should need arise. His accomplished wonders have not spent His strength, He has the dew of His youth still upon Him. Our Samsons locks are not shorn, our Solomon has not lost His wisdom, our Immanuel has not ceased to be, God with us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The inconsideration of the disciples
They considered not the miracle of the loaves.-At first sight this may seem almost as marvellous as the miracle itself.
I. It is by no means difficult to discover a very satisfactory reason why the disciples should be much less affected by the feeding of the five thousand, than by the walking upon the water and the sudden stilling of the tempest.
1. The former was a miracle wrought in the open day, when there was nothing to disturb the imagination, or to awaken fear. It was, moreover, not a sudden effect, but a gradual operation; not a shock upon the senses, but a gentle and continuous appeal to them; and would thus be far too calm and quiet in its general character to produce anything like that turbulence of emotion which the latter miracles would excite, aided as they were by the presence of danger, the confusion of the storm, the horror of darkness, and all that sublimity of circumstance with which they were accompanied. This, however, though it may afford an explanation of their excessive amazement, is far from explaining their total inadvertency to that great miracle at which they had so recently been present; and which, had it occurred to their memory, as it manifestly ought, would speedily have recalled them from their transport.
2. The evangelist accounts for this, by saying that their heart was hardened. They had become so accustomed to the sight of their Masters mighty works that they had ceased to regard them with any peculiar interest, or to attach to them any peculiar importance. Everyone is aware of the influence of familiarity with the great and astonishing, in abating the impressions they originally produce. How little, for instance, are any of us affected by the sublime spectacle of the universe around us! Even the conclusion which, beyond all others, one would have thought it impossible to escape-the conviction of His omnipotence-they seem far from having practically realized. Some exception from the full weight of this censure may perhaps be made in favour of Peter, who, on various occasions, discovered a certain boldness and force of apprehension, which we look in vain for in his fellow disciples.
3. Our Lord knew all this, and felt the necessity of reviving their early feeling of wonder, in order to rouse them from that mental inactivity, that slumberous inconsideration, into which they had fallen. Hence He sent them away, etc. Astonishment opens the eyes of their understanding to at least some temporary recognition of His greatness, for now, says St. Matthew, they came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth, Thou art the Son of God! But they speedily relapsed into their old habit of inconsideration. To this, accordingly, He frequently addressed Himself, and sometimes in a tone of the strongest expostulation and reproof (Mar 8:15-21).
II. The practical import of the subject in application to ourselves.
1. We ought to derive a strong corroboration of our faith in the gospel. How unfit were the disciples for the great work for which, nevertheless, they were set apart. What can we say to the story of their success, etc, but This is the hand of God.
2. Their heedlessness of mind ought to come directly home to our own bosoms, and awaken us to the necessity of earnest and serious reflection. Familiarity has produced the same effects upon many of us. So with respect to the volume of Scripture generally.
3. There are methods in the order of Divine grace by which we are at times roused from that insensibility and heedlessness to which we are prone, and the remedy which the Lord adopted in the case of the disciples is strikingly symbolical of the manner in which He still condescends at times to deal with us. Affliction and fear, under the gracious direction of the Divine Spirit, are at times the most efficient of all interpreters of Scripture.
4. The gospel, when it does not soften the heart, hardens it, etc. (J. H. Smith.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 52. Their heart was hardened.] See this explained Mt 14:33.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
52. For they considered not themiracle of the loaves; for their heart was hardenedWhat asingular statement! The meaning seems to be that if they had but”considered [reflected upon] the miracle of the loaves,”wrought but a few hours before, they would have wondered atnothing which He might do within the whole circle of power andgrace.
Incidents on Landing (Mr6:53-56).
The details here are given with arich vividness quite peculiar to this charming Gospel.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves,…. Which they had seen but the day before; they did not attend to it, nor learn from it, as they might, the wonderful glory of Christ, and the greatness of his power; which was as much an act of omnipotence, as either his walking upon the water, or causing the wind to cease, or more so.
For their heart was hardened; or “blinded”; not by sin, or against Christ, much less in a judicial way: but there was a great deal of dulness and stupidity, and want of attention in them. The glory of Christ, which he manifested, and showed forth in his miracles, was not so clearly and fully discerned, attended to, and acknowledged by them, at it might reasonably be thought it would; for notwithstanding these miracles, which they daily saw, they stood in need of divine illuminations, that the darkness of their minds being removed, they might behold the glory of Christ, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For they understood not ( ). Explanation of their excessive amazement, viz., their failure to grasp the full significance of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, a nature miracle. Here was another, Jesus walking on the water. Their reasoning process ( in the general sense for all the inner man)
was hardened ( ). See on 3:5 about . Today some men have such intellectual hardness or denseness that they cannot believe that God can or would work miracles, least of all nature miracles.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Peculiar to Mark.
The miracle of the loaves [ ] . Rev., concerning the loaves. Lit., upon; in the matter of. They did not reason from the multiplying of the loaves to the stilling of the sea.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves(ou gar sunekan epi. tois artois) “For they did not understand (grasp the miracle lesson) concerning the loaves.” They let the lesson of His care and compassion shown on the Northwestern shore of the last evening slip so soon from their grasp, Heb 2:1.
2) “For their heart was hardened.” (all’ en auton he kardia peporomena) “But their heart was having been hardened;” They seemed to have resented the Lord’s having fed the crowd the five loaves and two fishes, Mar 8:17-21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(52) For they considered not.This is peculiar to St. Mark, and may fairly be received as representing St. Peters recollection of what had been the mental state of the disciples at the time. They had not drawn from the miracle of the Loaves the conclusion which they might have drawn, that all natural forces were subject to their Masters sovereignty. The personal connection of the Evangelist with the Apostle may, perhaps, also account for his omission of the narrative which St. Matthew gives of his rashness and failing faith.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
52. Their heart was hardened A clear passage in which obtuseness or unimpressibility of intellect is called hardness of heart; or at least the dullness of perception is attributed to the moral insensibility.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mar 6:52. For they considered not, &c. ‘ : they had not a properideaof his miraculous power, demonstrated in that wonderful miracle; because if they had, his walking on the sea, and making the storm to cease, would not have affected them with so great a surprise; as the former was a more certain and glorious miracle, demonstrating even a creating power, which is plainly hinted by the evangelist in this place. Besides, they ought to have been so convinced of Christ’s omnipotence by the miracle of the loaves, which had been wrought but a few hours before, that no new instance should have so surprised them. Dr. Heylin in this view renders the verse, for they had not been sufficiently affected by the miracle of the loaves through the insensibility of their hearts.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
52. ] Peculiar to Mark.
. ] They did not, from the miracle which they had seen, infer the power of the Lord over nature.
, hardly as Kuinoel, alli [24] ., post , but rather denoting, as usual, close superposition of the preceding on the following: there was no intelligent comprehension founded on the miracle of the loaves.
[24] alli= some cursive mss.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 6:52 reflects on the astonishment of the Twelve as blameworthy in view of the recent feeding of the multitude. One might rather have expected a reference to the stilling of the storm in crossing to Decapolis. But that seems to have appeared a small matter compared with walking on the sea. The evangelist seems anxious to show how much the Twelve needed the instruction to which in the sequel Jesus gives Himself more and more.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
For &c. Verse 52 is a Divine supplement, here.
the miracle of the loaves = concerning (Greek. epi. App-104.) the loaves.
hardened. Referring to the habitual state.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
52.] Peculiar to Mark.
.] They did not, from the miracle which they had seen, infer the power of the Lord over nature.
, hardly as Kuinoel, alli[24]., post, but rather denoting, as usual, close superposition of the preceding on the following: there was no intelligent comprehension founded on the miracle of the loaves.
[24] alli= some cursive mss.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 6:52. , for) They ought to have inferred from the miracle of the loaves as to [His power also over] the sea. The more exercised that faith is, the more it becomes accustomed to the spectacle of [to seeing and discerning] the marvellous works of God. [Comp. Mat 14:33.]- , for was) Not only is that particular time denoted, but the habitual state of their heart during their then pupillage [early training].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
they: Mar 7:18, Mar 8:17, Mar 8:18, Mar 8:21, Mat 16:9-11, Luk 24:25
their: Mar 3:5, Mar 16:14, Isa 63:17
Reciprocal: Mat 15:16 – General Mar 8:4 – From
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
Heart was hardened means it was stunned to the extent of inaction, forgetting for the time being that Jesus had only a few hours before fed the thousands.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 6:52. For they understood not concerning the loaves, lit, on the loaves. There was no intelligent comprehension founded on the miracle of the loaves. They did not from the miracle they had seen, infer the power of the Lord over nature (Alford).
But their heart was hardened. Had been hardened is equally near the meaning. Not in the sense in which we now use these terms, but meaning rather slowness of intellect. Yet there is a tone of censure in the verse. This state of mind was in keeping with their character as portrayed throughout the Gospels, and true to human nature.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
6:52 For they {z} considered not [the miracle] of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
(z) Either they did not perceive, or had not well considered that miracle of the five loaves, to the point that the virtue of Christ was just as strange to them as if they had not been present at that miracle which was done just a little before.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Here is the reason the disciples reacted as they did in this series of miracles. Mark alone recorded it, probably as a result of Peter’s preaching. The disciples had not learned from the feeding of the 5,000 that Jesus was God. Their collective mind was not open to this possibility.
Healings near Gennesaret 6:53-56 (cf. Matthew 14:34-36)
Jesus returned to the northwest area of the Sea of Galilee coast from the predominantly Gentile area where He had been recently.