And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Verse 14. Jesus-was moved with compassion] , he was moved with tender compassion, so I think the word should in general be translated: See Clarke on Mt 9:36. As a verb, it does not appear to have been used by any but ecclesiastical writers. It always intimates that motion of the bowels, accompanied with extreme tenderness and concern, which is felt at the sight of the miseries of another.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And Jesus went forth,…. Either from the mountain where he sat with his disciples, Joh 6:3 or out of the desert, where he had retired for secrecy; or out of the ship, which seems best, the company having got thither before his landing:
and saw a great multitude; for, there were about five thousand men, beside women and children, Mt 14:21
and was moved with compassion toward them: partly on account of their bodily infirmities, which were very many and great; and partly on account of the bad situation they were in, through want of spiritual pastors to feed them with the bread of life; for Mark gives this as the reason, moving his compassion, “because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd”: all which shows the truth of Christ’s human nature; proves him to be a merciful high priest, and one truly concerned for both the bodies and souls of men:
and he healed their sick; which they brought along with them, and that without the use of any medicine, by a word speaking: so that as the former phrase gives proof of his humanity, this attests his divinity: but this was not all he did, he not only healed their bodies, but he taught them the doctrines of the Gospel; and spake to them concerning the kingdom of God, for the good of their souls, as the other evangelists relate.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Their sick ( ). “Without strength” ( and privative). is a deponent passive. The verb gives the oriental idea of the bowels () as the seat of compassion.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude,” (kai ekselthon eiden polen ochlon) “And upon going forth (from the place or private retreat) he saw a huge crowd,” Mr 6:34. A multitude that had learned of His location, a searching, soul-hungry throng, the kind He had come, to seek and to save; He saw their need, Luk 19:10.
2) “And was moved with compassion toward them,” (kai esplagchnisthe ap’ autois) “And he was filled with pity or emotional tenderness over them,” over their needs and their interest in Him on this occasion, Mr 6:34; Mat 9:36 states that Jesus beheld such crowds as sheep bereft of a shepherd, forlorn, wandering, meandering, crying, bleating.
3) “And he healed their sick.” (kai etherapeusen tous arrostous auton) “And he healed their sick ones,” that they brought to Him, as an expression of His care for the whole of man, his physical, mental, and spiritual needs, Luk 9:11. Our Lord’s popularity with the masses was near its height of His ministry, though it soon began to decline.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. He was moved with compassion towards them. The other two Evangelists, and particularly Mark, state more clearly the reason why this compassion ( συμπάθεια) was awakened in the mind of Christ. It was because he saw famishing souls, whom the warmth of zeal had carried away from their homes and led into a desert place This scarcity of teaching indicated a wretched state of disorder; and accordingly Mark says that Jesus was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd Not that, as to his Divine nature, he looked upon them all as sheep, but that, as man, he judged according to the present aspect of the case. It was no small manifestation of piety that they left their own homes, and flocked in crowds to the Prophet of God, though he purposely concealed himself from them. Besides, it ought to be remarked, that Christ was mindful of the character which he sustained; for he had been commanded to discharge the duties of a public teacher, and was therefore bound to look upon all the Jews, for the time being, as belonging to the flock of God and to the Church, till they withdrew from it.
So strongly was Christ moved by this feeling of compassion, that though, in common with his disciples, he was fatigued and almost worn out by uninterrupted toil, he did not spare himself. He had endeavored to obtain some relaxation, and that on his own account as well as for the sake of his disciples; but when urgent duty calls him to additional labor, he willingly lays aside that private consideration, (377) and devotes himself to teaching the multitudes. Although he has now laid aside those feelings which belonged to him as a mortal man, yet there is no reason to doubt that he looks down from heaven on poor sheep that have no shepherd, provided they ask relief of their wants. Mark says, that he began to teach them MANY things; that is, he spent a long time in preaching, that they might reap some lasting advantage. Luke says, that he spoke to them concerning the Kingdom of God, which amounts to the same thing. Matthew makes no mention of any thing but miracles, because they were of great importance in establishing Christ’s reputation; but it may naturally be concluded that he did not leave out doctrine, which was a matter of the highest importance.
(377) “ Mettant arriere ceste consideration particuliere de donner repos au corps;”— “setting aside that private consideration of giving rest to the body.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH AND THE HUNGRY
Mat 14:14-21.
Compare Mar 6:34-44; Luk 9:12-16; Joh 6:5-13.
ONE time when Hugh Price Hughes had pled with his East London congregation to go to the polls and cast their votes for vestry-men of character, he received on the succeeding Monday morning a letter from a man who said that he had gone from the hall very much grieved. Pie had been delighted to see so great a congregation assembled, and rejoiced at Hughes opportunity to present the Gospel, but disappointed that Hughes, instead of preaching the Gospel, had only talked upon the duty of citizens to elect vestry-men who would faithfully perform their public functions, and added that it was only too possible that some who had heard Mr. Hughes, and might have been saved, had he used his opportunity of preaching the Gospel, were lost for evermore, destined to suffer the torments of the damned.
In referring to the letter, Mr. Hugh Price Hughes said, The gentleman speaks throughout his letters of souls, dealing with souls, saving souls, and so on; but I have to answer that I have no disembodied souls in my congregation, but souls incarnate, souls attached to bodies, and he added further, If I had a congregation of disembodied souls who had no physical wants and no connection with London, I might take a very different course, but there is too much truth in the saying, I have often quoted of late, that some very earnest Christians are so diligently engaged in saving souls that they have no time to save men and women.
Now I cannot imagine anyone of my auditors supposing me to be indifferent to the salvation of souls, and yet I must express my entire sympathy with Hugh Price Hughes in his endeavor to save men and women, to save the entire man, the entire woman, body, soul, and spirit. Christs ministry measured that whole field. When He found one sick, the first thing He did was to save his body. When He found one in darkness, the first thing He did was to enlighten the soul; when He found one in unregeneracy, He talked to him of a new spirit begotten by the Holy Spirit; and, on the occasion to which our text refers, He ministered to body, soul, and spirit by meeting the demands of hunger. One studying this text with its context ought to get from it two or three very clear and very practical suggestions. First of all we see
CHRIST COUNSELLED BY THE CHURCH.
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.
That was the Church assuming to counsel Christ. The result was what might be expecteda mistake. The disciple who attempts to counsel his Lord, does that which is not right. And, when the Church undertakes to counsel Christ, it is guilty of the greatest folly. We remember how, on one occasion, when Jesus had told His disciples of His coming sorrow, His sufferings, and death at Jerusalem, that Peter attempted to take control of affairs and said, This shall not he unto Thee, Lord, and Jesus said, Get thee behind Me, Satan. And we remember how, on one occasion, when they brought to Him young children that He should put His hands upon them and bless them, that the disciples rebuked those that brought them, and Jesus replied, Suffer the little ones to come unto Me and forbid them not.
And now, when the multitudes are hungry, the disciples again attempt to tell Jesus what He ought to do with them. But who shall instruct God? Who shall counsel the Almighty? One of the troubles with the Church is that Peter has so many successors in office. I do not refer to the 200 and more Popes who are paraded of Rome as his successors, for Peter never knew anything of popery; but I refer to that great crowd of Christian men and women, including more of us than we have imagined, who take it on them to counsel Christ; who make up their minds what ought to come to pass, and set doggedly about bringing Jesus to see eye to eye with them, consent to their propositions, and cooperate in the execution of their plans. Suggestion is not the business of the disciple. It is his to listen to his Lord instead. Counsel is not the business of the Church of God; her right and her only right is to execute her Captains commands. And whenever the disciple, or the congregation of disciples come up to a hard question, up to a large proposition, up to a difficult problem, it is theirs to wait what the Master will speak; to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
The Church in this text also attempts to shift personal responsibility. The speech sounds like an unselfish suggestion. The holy tone of it impresses the auditor with the consideration these Christians are showing for the multitude. They practically say, We dont want to see them spend a night in a desert place. We dont want them to suffer hunger. But it is just possible that another consideration plays a part in this plan. It is growing late. The disciples are weary and want to sleep, and hungry, and have whispered it from one to another that a lad present had five loaves and two fishes, and if the multitudes were gone, with Jesus blessing, this might meet their own demand. One of the difficult things in the Christian life is to keep ourselves free from that Satanic deception which makes us half believe that a scheme of self-advantage is benevolent toward others. This deception is the fly in the ointment of much of so-called Christianity. Men get together to organize a church whose mission it shall be to reach the needy and the sinful, and help, and save; and by and by officers are to be elected and ambition rises within the breast, and one comes to the conclusion that his selection is for the public good; and, if it does not fall out so, he forgets all his plans for the public and pouts as injured, and he may even try to tear the whole to pieces.
Churches confederate their forces to organize missionary societies, and purpose through these institutions to give the Bread of Life to a hungry world, and, by and by, the organization overlooks some courtesy it owes to the local church, or forgets to express its obligation to the tireless pastor, and the church reduces its gifts, and the pastor ceases from his endeavors, all of which only means that self-love has come in to crowd aside Christ; it has come in to send away the multitudes; it has come in to disprove the professed Christianity. We need to sound our hearts well at this point and watch them carefully, for it is the very point at which Judas was probably deceived and by which he was destroyed. Most students of the Word are agreed, you know, that Judas never expected Jesus Christ to go to the Cross, but thought to send Him to the Throne instead, by forcing on Him the declaration of His Divinity and the manifestations of His power, while making himself thirty pieces of silver richer by the process. And it was that spirit of self-advancement that sent Judas to the gallows and Christ to the Cross, and wherever it has existed since that day, it has meant spiritual suicide for its subject, and a fresh crucifixion for Christ.
The Church here also favored forcing on the world self-support.
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.
One of the charges laid by the world at the door of the Church is that she is indifferent to the worlds needs; that she demands of the world that it take care of itself. Personally I do not believe that the Church is open to that charge, broadly made. I think the disciples of Jesus have shown more unselfishness than any other class of men the world has ever seen. They have given more without hope of return than others have ever done. And yet, no sincere mind will deny that the churches come short of meeting their Masters demands in dealing with the multitudes. If she had fed them more often, she had made more converts. If her ears had been the more sensitive to the cries of the starving, the saints in heaven and the saints on earth had been a greater company. If her heart had responded to the appeals of poverty, and her hand had remained ever open, to provide bread, clothing, and home for those who are unable to provide it for themselves, her millennium would be nearer at hand. One of the troubles of the Church has been her disposition to make the world support her, instead of her Masters Spirit of giving all to and for the world. She has often gone with hat in hand to the unregenerate, and today she is doing the same, pleading for the small sums that represent a ticket of admission to a church entertainment in which the worldlian has no interest, all the way up to the hundreds of thousands, gotten from the same unregenerate, with which to endow a so-called Christian college.
An editorial in a leading religious paper once called attention to the fact that a certain man, after ten years of noble service, has been compelled to retire from the presidency of a great denominational university because he lacked the golden touch, namely, the ability to extract thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars as an endowment fund for that institution, from the pockets of men whose consciences had never stood in the way of moneymaking.
I often wonder if one of the secrets of George Muellers life is not to be discovered in the second article of the series of principles adopted on the occasion of the inauguration of what he termed, The Scriptural Knowledge Institution, for that article read, The Lord helping us, we do not mean to seek the patronage of the world; that is, we never intend to ask unconverted persons of rank or wealth to countenance this institution, because this, we consider, would be dishonorable to the Lord! In the Name of our God we set up our banners (Psa 20:5). He alone shall be our Patron, and if He helps us, we shall prosper; and if He is not on our side, we shall not succeed. And, as everybody knows, while Mueller and his associates asked nothing from the world, they gave everything to the world. Never once did they send the multitudes away that they might go into the villages and buy themselves victuals; but, gathering waifs and orphans by the thousands, they invoked the Masters blessing, and then gave out their last fish and their last loaf.
In the second place we see
THE CHURCH COMMANDED BY CHRIST.
He calls upon them to attempt the apparently impossible.
You remember that in Johns report of this miracle, Philip is recorded as saying, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little (Joh 6:7), by which he meant to tell the Master how impossible it was for them to feed the multitude. And yet, when He commanded it, there is nothing left for His disciples to do but to attempt it. I wish that I could properly impress that lesson today, the lesson long since voiced in the couplet,
It is not ours to reason why,Ours but to do or die.
My revered teacher, Dr. Basil Manly, speaking to some students in the East years since, sought to impress this thought upon them, by a story brought from his service in the Confederate Army. He related how, in one of the severest battles of the Civil War, a little squad of men stood among their slain on a commanding position, a mere fragment left. The storm of battle had just swept beyond them. A general officer came riding up and asked, Where is your colonel? Dead! Where is your Captain? There he lies, they said, pointing to the prostrate form of Dr. A. M. Poindexters son. What are you doing here? He told us to hold this point, and we are just doing what he said. And, beloved, when, as I have thought upon the worlds needs, upon the extent of it, the dreadful appalling degree of it, and Satan has come with his whispers, It is too great for you! Your little gift, or even the greater one of your church, would be but a drop in the bucket! What are a few hundred dollars when millions of men are dying, I have found adequate answer to his argument by listening afresh for my Masters commands,
The poor ye have always with you and whensoever ye will ye may do them good.
My Masters teaching,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me;
my Masters assertion,
Whosoever hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Help, is His command. He is saying to us today, as clearly as He ever said it to His disciples, Give ye them to eat, and it is ours to attempt what He tells us.
His commands commonly compass self-sacrifice. Only when the Church is willing to make herself poor for the sake of the world, is she able to make herself rich by saving the world. You have heard the story, have you not, of how a famous Roman prelate, looking one day upon the splendid appointments of a cathedral, and counting over the money in the church treasury, said, Brother Thomas, the church can no longer say, as Peter said at the Gate Beautiful, Silver and gold have I none , and Aquinas answered, No, neither can she say, In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk, and take the cripple by the hand and lift him up. It is not when the Church of God accumulates that she comes to power, but when she distributes instead. It is not when by withholding, she grows rich, that miracles come to pass at her word, but rather when for the redemption of others she parts with all she has.
There is that scattereth and yet increaseth. There is that withholdeth more than is mete and it tendeth to poverty.
One of the noble men of modern times was Mazzinibroad-minded, big-hearted, public-spirited, and yet he deliberately rejected the religion of Jesus Christ. And, when asked to assign his reasons, he replied that it seemed to teach men to be selfish, absorbed them in the thought of their own salvation, and so far wrapped them up in concern of the future, that they neglected their duties here on earth. But we know that while this charge may be made against the Christian, it is only when he fails to represent Christ, who laid down His life for others, whose concern was wholly in behalf of His fellows, and who, when in the world, gave as much of His ministry to the present and pressing needs of mens bodies and minds as He gave to instruction touching the way of salvation for their souls. Beloved, if ever the Christians of America are to take hold of the hand of the heathen millions, and help them to Heaven, it can only come to pass when we release our hold upon the silver and gold for which their bodies are at times starving, and without the use of which their souls may remain forever in spiritual destitution.
When Christ said, Give ye them to eat, He expected it to cost something, but sacrifice is the sine-que-non of Christianity.
And, finally, Christs command stimulates the Church to the consciousness of her ability. Personally, I do not believe that Christ ever gave a command, the execution of which was not possible to His Church. It is written in the Word, With God all things are possible. But, is it not also asserted, All things are possible to them that believe? There are few illustrations in the New Testament of conscious ability comparable to this of the text where the disciples deliberately start in to feed thousands of people with five loaves and two fishes. That they should submit to have them seated in companies; that they should receive the bread at Jesus hands, and set about its distribution, is proof positive that they had come to feel the possibilities under the blessing of the Son of God. Oh, I would that modern believers might feel the same; I would that we might see that with Christs blessing, nothing is beyond the power of the Church! She could evangelize the world in a year, if she would.
Dr. Pierson has told us that if we but stripped our persons of needless adornmentgold and jewelsand our homes of the needless silver-ware, we could send a teacher to every fifty, and a preacher to every 500 of the worlds population with the result. I would that the Church of God might see her ability to give a Christian education to every child of the world; if only the billions of dollars which are hoarded today by church-members in America alone, were contributed to that cause, what child need to remain in ignorance, or pursue his studies in heathen or skeptical school? If today, the Church of God presented in its every member, a living epistle of righteousness, known and read of all men, within ten years, she could make every immorality of the age ashamed, and establish righteousness in conduct from sea to sea. I protest against any excuse for our failure that suggests our inability. We could feed the world, body, mind and soul. We could, if we were willing, satisfy Indias hunger, and bring to a speedy end her terrible famines. We could, if we were willing to make the sacrifice, meet Chinas mental wants, and stay her degradation, her threatened dissolution and her death. We could, if we were willing, answer Africas cry, Come over and help us, and bring her dark sons under a beneficent scepter as much better than that which now seeks control, as Heaven is above Old England, and the Son of God above the Christian king.
One time, years ago, at our dinner table, I told my little boys the story of Indias suffering, (she was then in a famine) emphasizing, of course, the hunger of the little children, and the baby boy, Herbert, left his meal unfinished, to bring three pennies, his entire moneyed possessions, and putting them into my hands, he said, Send them to the little hungry children, daddy; and I wonder today, if it may not be that those of us who are older have not retained so much of that same tenderness, that same milk of human kindness, even in our maturer years, as that we are willing to cut a meal in two, if need be, or make such other sacrifice as our God may suggest, that starving bodies and souls may live.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(14) And Jesus went forth.The words imply that our Lord, from the height to which He had withdrawn, saw the crowds drawing near, and then, instead of retiring still further, went forward, moved by the touch of pity which the sight of an eager and suffering multitude never failed to rouse in Him (Mat. 9:36), to meet them and relieve their sufferings. St. Mark (Mar. 6:34) adds that the source of His compassion was (as in Mat. 9:36) that they were as sheep having no shepherd.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Jesus went forth From the boat. Saw a great multitude He desired retirement and rest, when lo! a crowd and new labour. His fame is not only disturbing the court of the king, but stirring the masses of the people. Our Lord is soon after compelled to retire to more distant parts, and to enjoin secrecy and silence upon the subjects of his miracles, and even upon the apostles in their ministry.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he came forth, and saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.’
And when Jesus left the boat, He saw the great crowd and had compassion on them. Compare here Mat 9:36. ‘Because they were as sheep without a shepherd’ has therefore to be read in, as it is expressly in Mar 6:34. He knew that He was their Shepherd, and ‘He healed their sick’. Compare ‘those who are whole have no need of a physician, but those who are sick’ (Mat 9:12), and ‘Himself bore our afflictions and carried our diseases’ (Mat 8:17). He was thus as the Servant bearing the burdens of these crowds, and as a physician was making them whole. Mark says that ‘He taught them many things’, and Luke has it that ‘He welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingly Rule of God’ and healed (Luk 9:11). Matthew intends his description therefore to be all encompassing. Here are the new people of God being tended by the Shepherd.
We should note here the supreme patience and compassion of Jesus. He had headed off across the water in order to seek solitude and safety. Yet here the crowds had come together, disturbing His solitude, and drawing attention to His presence. But there is not even the hint of impatient concern in His behaviour. He accepts them for what they are, and welcomes them, patiently teaching and healing. The tenacity of the crowds comes out in that they had clearly watched the progress of the boat on the small Lake as it bore Him off, and had recognised that by going round the northern end of the Lake they could head Him off, which was what they had done.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The kindness of Jesus:
v. 14. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them; and He healed their sick. So eager were the crowds to come to Jesus that they actually out-went Him, Mar 6:33, arriving at the eastern shore before His boat came to that point. When He was ready to disembark, a great multitude was assembled. The sight moved Him deeply; He was filled with extreme tenderness and concern, not only for the physical infirmities of the sick people who were thrust forward by their friends and relatives, but by the spiritual misery and want of all the members of the great assembly, of which very few, if any, were aware. For the time being, He was busy with the many sick people, whom He healed. It might be the entering wedge for a few words of spiritual healing, of which the Galileans stood in great need.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 14:14 . ] that is to say, from the solitude into which he had retired . In opposition to Mat 14:13 , Maldonatus and Kuinoel, following Mar 6:34 , interpret: out of the boat .
. .] refers not merely to the sick (Fritzsche), but, like below, to the , which, however, became the object of compassion just because of the sick that the people had brought with them. Not so in Mar 6:34 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2. The First Miraculous Feeding. Mat 14:14-21
14And Jesus [he]13 went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15And when it was evening, his [the]14 disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time [hour, ] is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
17, 18And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. 19And he commanded the multitude to sit down [recline, ] 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 [the] disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20And they did all eat [all ate],15 and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve [travelling] baskets full. 21And they that had eaten [ate]16 were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat 14:14. And when He went forth, .According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Christ had gone ; according to John, also . He now went forth upon the ground covered by the multitudes who had followed Him; and, moved with compassion, His first occupation was again to heal their sick.
Mat 14:15. And when it was evening, .This refers to the first evening which lasted from the ninth to the twelfth hour of the day [according to the Jewish mode of counting from sunrise to sunset]; while Mat 14:23 refers to the second evening, which commenced at the twelfth hour [at six oclock P. M.]. See the word in Gesen. Lex. Meyer
The hour is now past.Fritzsche and Kuffer: tempus opportunum, sc. disserendi et sanandi.De Wette, Meyer: The day-time. Why not more definitely, in view of what follows: the hour of the evening meal?De Wette and Meyer have erroneously supposed that the account of this event, as recorded by John, where Jesus Himself is represented as introducing the question as to the bread, is incompatible with the narrative in the other gospels. But as John evidently intended to relate merely the fact of the miraculous feeding, we must not press his words as if he meant that the Saviour had put this question when first beholding the people. According to the account in John, it was a lad who had the five loaves and the two fishes.
Mat 14:18. To recline on the grass.In Palestine, spring commences in the middle of February. If, therefore, the festival of Purim occurred that year on the 19th of March, the miraculous feeding must have taken place in the second half of March, or during the middle of spring in the holy land.
[Green grass ( , as Mar 6:39 has it), or pasture, which, according to Joh 6:10, abounded in that region, was a delightful resting-place at that season of the year in Palestine. Mark adds a graphic touch concerning the manner in which the Saviour commanded the multitude to recline on the pasture ground, viz., in ranks (better, by parties, or in groups, Greek: , = areolatim, in square garden plots), by hundreds, and by fifties (Joh 6:40; comp. Luk 9:14 : by fifties, in a company). They probably formed two semicircles, an outer semicircle of thirty hundreds, and an inner semicircle of forty fifties. This was a wise, symmetrical arrangement, which avoided all confusion, and facilitated an easy and just distribution of the food among all classes by the disciples.P. S.]
Mat 14:19. He took the five loaves.Baked according to Jewish fashion; bread-cakes, in the shape of a plate.
He blessed.Literally, He gave praise, . John expresses it: . Luke uses the terms , indicating the consecration of the bread, as in the Eucharist, 1Co 10:16. According to Jewish custom, at the commencement of every meal the head of the house gave thanks while he broke bread. This prayer was called a blessing. According to Mark, the disciples distributed the bread among the people, who were arranged in groups, Mar 6:40.
Mat 14:20. Of the fragments.Broken pieces,17 not crumbs. [Olshausen: With the God of nature, as with nature herself, the most prodigal bounty goes hand in hand with the nicest and exactest economy. This notice of the Evangelist is an additional mark of the truthfulness of the narrative, and the divine character of the miracle. The gathering of the fragments was also for the purpose of impressing the miracle more vividly on the memory, and perpetuating its effect, as well as for teaching a lesson of economy.P. S.]
Twelve travelling-baskets full, .The number twelve seems to refer to that of the Apostles, although it by no means implies that the baskets belonged to them. The Apostles gathered these fragments, when each brought his basket full. All the second miraculous feeding, the seven baskets are called , the term employed for the round plaited baskets commonly used for bread and for fishes. De Wette: The narrative clearly conveys the fact, that more fragments were left than would have constituted the five loaves. Paulus [the rationalist] attempts to paraphrase the language of the text: they took there twelve baskets full. Of course, that would destroy the miraculous character of the event. But this clumsy device may now be regarded as only a historical curiosity.
Mat 14:21. And they that had eaten.As the feast of Passover was at hand, the people had already collected in larger numbers.
General Remarks. 1. On the relation of this miracle to the other miraculous feeding related in Mat 15:32.The critical conjecture of Schleiermacher, Strauss, and others, that the first and the second miraculous feeding were, in reality, two different and incorrect narratives of one and the same event, is evidently untenable. Irrespective of the confusion which is presumed to exist in the account of the Evangelists, even a slight consideration of the differences in point of time and circumstances will convince us of its groundlessness The provision, the number of the people, and the fragments left on each occasion, were entirely dissimilar. Besides, in the first instance, the miracle was wrought on the evening of the first day; in the second, after the people had remained for three days with the Saviour. Lastly, there is an equal difference between the events which preceded and succeeded each of these miracles. In the one instance, Jesus had passed over from the western shore, and the feeding of the multitude was succeeded by His walking on the sea. In the other instance, Jesus had arrived at the eastern shore, after His journey through the Phnician territory, and the district around the sources of the Jordan, while the miracle was succeeded by His last conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees of Galilee. Again, the people which were fed on each occasion were, as might readily be supposed, those who had just listened to his teaching, and who followed Him from the places which He had visited. Accordingly, on the first occasion they were chiefly gathered from the cities along the western shore of the lake; while, on the second, they assembled from the mountains on the eastern side. Lastly, as the place where the miracle took place was different, so the time also,the first occurring in spring, and the second a considerable time after Easter, or in summer.
2. The miracle itself.Different theories on the subject have been current. 1. It has been attempted to explain it away: (a) By exegetical devices , or attempts to represent it as a natural event. Thus Paulus suggests that those who sat down at this meal were induced by the example of Christ to give up their provisions, etc. Similarly, Gfrrer, Ammon, etc. (b) On the mythical theory; it being supposed that it was an imitation of Old Testament models (Exodus 16; 1Ki 17:8-16; 2Ki 4:1; 2Ki 4:42), with the view of meeting the popular notions concerning the Messiah (Strauss).18 (c) By viewing it symbolically.19 This may be characterized as a combination of the theory of Paulus with the mythico-poetical theory of Strauss. It is supposed that, with special reference to certain analogous passages, a natural event had assumed in the mind of the Church a symbolical bearing; the truth thus conveyed being simply, that Jesus had broken the bread of life, or the bread of Christian fellowship (de Wette). (d) By regarding it as a parable (i.e., as mythical only so far as its form is concerned); the narrative being supposed to have arisen from what was originally intended as a parable (Weisse).2. The miracle has been fully admitted, but it has been viewed,(a) as an abstract miracle, or simply as the result of omnipotence, no attempt being made to account for it either in a mental or moral sense; nay, these intermediate links of connection being intentionally ignored or denied. (b) An attempt has been made to account for the manner in which the miracle was brought about by what Olshausen calls a quickening and accelerating of the natural processan explanation which we frankly confess our inability to understand.20 (c) Christ effected the increase of the provision (Origen, Meyer). Everybody admits this; but the difficulty is, what we are to understand by the expression in Luke. (d) We regard it as a concrete and moral, manifestation of the miraculous power of Christ. This miraculous feeding may be viewed as a parallel to the miraculous production of wine at the marriage in Cana, and both as foreshadowing the Eucharist. In His capacity as glorified Redeemer, Christ is here working and acting upon His creatures, quickening, so to speak, and infinitely enlarging the qualities inherent in bread; while, at the same time, He awakens a corresponding disposition in those who sit down to partake of the meal. It is a heavenly meal where hearts and minds as well as bodies are fed, and where the inner man is not dead, or standing without, like a beggar, but where, for the time, all are treated as members of Jesus in the house of the Lord. Viewed in this light, the increase of quantity is just the blessing of God the Son, as Creator of the kingdom of bliss and of love. This explanation, we venture to say, has not yet been sufficiently understood and appreciated. However, it must not be regarded as implying that the result produced was merely moral and religious. As in the production of the wine, power went forth from the Logos, by which earthly water was converted into heavenly winereal wine, though not of earthly vintage; so, in the present case also, power went out from Him which increased the natural quality of the breadenlarged itjust as, to some extent, the leaven does. Even the operation of leaven shows that bread is thus capable of having its powers increased.21 Something of this kind seems to have been present to the mind of Olshausen, who also aptly remarks, that throughout the gospel history we never read of any purely creative work on the part of the Saviour. Just as nature forms a new creation from the seed, so Christ transforms water into wine, or increases the five loaves; but without some substratum He creates neither wine nor bread.22 In thinking of similar miracles under the Old Testament, we specially recall to mind the provision of manna and of quails; while we regard as a parallel case what is recorded of Elijah in 1Ki 19:8 : And he rose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
[The English and American interpreters generally pass by in silence, or expressly reject, all attempts to make this and similar miracles intelligible, and resort to an act of divine omnipotence on the part of Him who was the Eternal Word of God, similar to the original act of creation, with this difference, however, that in our case there was a material substratum to work on in the five loaves and two fishes, so that it was not a creation out of nothing, but an act of creative accretion; the bread growing and multiplying in the hands of Christ (so J. A. Alexander, and Owen), or of the distributing apostles (so Alford, following Meyer), or of the eaters, or of all, at all events in such a manner that the whole multitude were abundantly fed, and much more remained and was gathered in the twelve travelling-baskets, than the whole original provision. Trench, Notes on the Miracles, p. 267 (6th ed., Lond., 1858): Here, too, even more remarkably than in the case of the water changed into wine, when we seek to realize to ourselves the manner of the miracle, it evermore eludes our grasp. We seek in vain to follow it with our imaginations. But this is the wisdom of the sacred narrator, to leave the description of the indescribable unattempted. His appeal is to the same faith which believes that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear (Heb 11:3). J. A. Alexander, on Mat 14:21 : The greatness of the miracle consists not merely in the vast increase of nutritive material, but in the nature of the process which effected it, and which must be regarded as creative, since it necessarily involves not merely change of form or quality, or new combinations of existing matter, but an absolute addition to the matter itself. The only rational alternative is either to refute the overwhelming proof of authenticity and inspiration, or to accept the passage as the literal record of a genuine creative miracle, the first and greatest in the history [is the raising of Lazarus not equally great if not greater?], and therefore perhaps fully detailed in all the Gospels. Even the German commentator H. A. W. Meyer, so often quoted in this work (Com. on Matt., p. 298 sq. of the 4th ed.), in view of the unanimous testimony and circumstantial agreement of the evangelists, fully admits the miracle, but, in view of its transcendent creative character, renounces all attempts at a rational explanation. He derives the interpretations of Paulus, Strauss, Weisse, de Wette, from a denial of the possible creative working on dead matter, a power which is not explained by the heterogeneous idea of a hastened process of nature (Olshausen), but which stands historically so firm, that we must rest satisfied with its absolute incomprehensibleness (dass man sich bei der vlligen Unbegreiflichkeit dieser mglichen schpferischen Einwirkung beruhigen muss, auf Veranschaulichung des Processes durch natrliche Analogieen verzichtend). But compare the forcible second doctrinal reflection of Dr. Lange, which follows.P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The holy feast spread in the wilderness for the upbuilding of the spiritual Israel is evidently intended as a contrast to the bloody festivities enacted in the palace of Herod, which may be said to have accelerated the ruin of the nation. Here, the curse of sin destroys the enjoyment of the choicest gifts, and the guests at the rich banqueting table are still thirsting for the blood of the prophet. There, heavens blessing converts a few barley loaves and fishes into a spiritual feast. Thus the holy desert realm of Christ rises in all its beauty and majesty by the side of the crumbling kingdom of the old world, sinking through moral decay. Israel in the wilderness, fed by the manna, may be regarded as the Old Testament type of this history;as its counterpart, David in the wilderness and in the cave of Adullam, when all who were distressed gathered around him. There is the same contrast, as here, between Saul the persecuting tyrant, and David the anointed of the Lord,only the excellency, as always, is of the New Dispensation; for if David had to ask the shew-bread from others, Christ gives it to all the people around Him. Nor are similar instances in the history of Christs people wanting. Severinus, Columbanus, and others, remind us of the miraculous provision (das Wunderbrod); while the Waldenses, the Hussites, the Huguenots, [the Puritans], and other of Gods persecuted people, have often partaken in the wilderness of such miraculous food. Nor let us forget that since so large a portion of the gifts of earth is devoted to selfishness, luxury, and sin, it is the more incumbent on Gods people to devote the remainder to the Lord, in order that, by the blessing of Christ, it may be converted into the miraculous provision of the kingdom of love. Thus is it at all times true, that Jesus, while poor Himself, feeds the hungering people of rich Herod.
2. The Church has rejected the doctrine of Patripassianism as a heresy. We would add a warning against a parallel error which we might call Patrimessianism, in reference to the miracles of Christ. The distinction between the economy of the Father and of the Son must ever be kept in mind: creation being ascribed to the Father, and redemptionwhich, however, also includes transformationto the Son. Hence it is a confusion of these economies to represent as strictly (or rather abstractly and magically) creative acts what really are manifestations of this transforming power. Besides, we must not forget that when the Church repudiated Monophysite views in reference to the person of Christ, the same principle also applies to the manifestation and the economy of the Son. Hence we must always view Him as the God-Man, and all His working as thean-thropic. He is the Creator in a moral and religious sense, who above all influences the heart, and who, by and with the heart, transforms all old things into new. Under His word the withered hand moves and extends, along with the withered heart. Perhaps the idea, that a ban of miscarriage and of barrenness rests on our earthly bread, which Christ removed by this miracle, showing the positive fulness which it contains when His blessing descends upon it, may, in some measure, help us to understand the grand mystery which awaits us at the final transformation of this world (the transformation of what is mortal, the renovation of the earth, the setting free of its fulness, and the restoration of the tree of life).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The tidings of the death of the Baptist an indication to the Lord to prepare in retirement.Infinite riches of Christ even when a fugitive.The wickedness of Herod could not embitter the heart of Christ.Despite the opposition of the great of this world, the people were drawn after Him.How the Lord still rewards with His miracles the confidence that leadeth after Him into the wilderness.The Lord, who withdrew into the wilderness from the intrusiveness and presumption of the great, is drawn out again by the confidence of the poor and the needy who look up to Him for help.The compassion of the Lord ever new, and ever assuming new forms.How the disciples closed the days work, and how the Master closed it.The old and the new time as represented by these two sayings: Send the multitude away, and, Give ye them to eat.It is not necessary for them to go away.It is not necessary to go away from Jesus for anything.The feast of Herod and the feast of Christ (the former at first a meal of pleasure, then of guilt, and lastly of anxiety and of sorrow; the latter at first a meal of necessity, then of the Spirit, and at last of heavenly transport).The desert realm of Christ founded in love a figure of His heavenly kingdom.The Lord gives everything in His kingdom without price: 1. Healing; 2. teaching; 3. provision. The grace before the meal and its effects.How those around the Lord enter into spiritual fellowship with Him by faith: 1. The Apostles, by inviting to the meal; 2. the people, by gathering around Him.The miraculous feeding at meeting, and that at parting.Trust entirely to the blessing of Christ.Throw open the secret springs of blessing.Gather the fragments; or, the superabundance of the kingdom of heaven is always combined with the greatest carefulness of its resources.How the Lord of glory watcheth over His gifts and husbandeth them: 1. In nature (life from death); 2. in grace (Christ made poor); 3. in glory (every thing converted into good).How the Lord converts the wilderness from a dwelling-place of evil spirits into a well-spring for the kingdom of heaven: 1. In a literal sense; 2. in a figurative sense.
Starke:Quesnel: The further Christ appears to remove from us, the more closely should we endeavor to follow Him.Jesus has never been idle, but has always wrought with His Father, Joh 5:17; 2Th 3:8.It is often unseasonable to listen to the dictates of reason, when we should rather think of the goodness and the omnipotence of God.Still it is right to use all ordinary and prudent means, since God always honors their employment.Hedinger: Christ can create bread even in the wilderness, Psa 78:19.It matters not with the Lord whether the provision be great or small, Psa 107:36.It is the Lord who addeth the blessing.We should bring back to the Lord the bread which we have got from His hand, in order that He may bless it.Let us not think of the smallness of our provision, but rather of the blessing of God.Cramer: Why weepest thou? the Lord reigneth, Psa 145:15.Let us not preserve anything from covetousness, but for future use.To bestow alms on the needy will never make us poorer.God can nourish those who have many children quite as readily as those who have none.
Gerlach:Meat is sanctified by the word of God and prayer, 1Ti 4:5.Hence the wicked first defile and corrupt the meat, and then, by the meat, themselves.Those who are desirous of witnessing this glorious miracle must be willing to be content with barley loaves and dry fishes.Heubner: Christ never continued late meetings with a large multitude. His example may therefore be rightly quoted in reference to protracted conventicles at night (still, a Christian congregation can scarcely be placed on the same level with this multitude, comp. Act 20:7).Jesus as the Head of a house.Grace before meat enjoined by the example of Christ.Similarly, carefulness, preservation, order, and arrangement taught by His example.The daily miracle of the feeding of the millions who people our earth.
[Prudentius:Tu cibus panisque noster, Tu perennis suavitas; nescit esurire in vum, qui Tuam sumit dapem.Trench: Christ proclaims Himself in this miracle the true bread of the world, that should assuage the hunger of man, the inexhausted and inexhaustible source of all life, in whom there should be enough and to spare for all the spiritual needs of all hungering souls in all ages.D. Brown: (Com. on Mar 6:35-44): The Bible, so little in bulk, like the five barley loaves and the two fishes, what thousands upon thousands has it fed, and will it feed, in every age, in every land of Christendom, to the worlds end!P. S.]
Footnotes:
[13] Mat 14:14, is wanting in Codd. B., C, etc., as also in Mat 14:22 [and Mat 14:25]. Probably in both [all] cases inserted from the beginning of Scripture-lessons. [So Meyer. Cod. Sinait. likewise omits in Mat 14:14; Mat 14:22; Mat 14:25.P. S.]
[14] Mat 14:15.[The critical editions omit after . Lange, however, translates: seine Jnger, and takes no notice of this difference of reading.P. S.]
[15] Mat 14:20.[ , lit: they all ate. It is the simple past tense, while the C. Vers.: did all eat, is in modern English an emphatic expression, the auxiliary did implying a doubt or denial of the fact.P. S.]
[16] Mat 14:21.[Lit.: the persons eating, . The present participle means the time present, asusual, but with reference to a past act of numbering the persons fed.P. S.]
[17][ from , to break, as fragments from frango, Bruchstcke from brechen.P. S.]
[18][In his new and more popular work on the Life of Jesus, which has just appeared (Leipzig, 1864, p. 496 sqq.), Strauss takes the same mythical view of this miracle, as in his larger work, and states that the account of the evangelists contains no feature which may not be satisfactorily explained from the Mosaic-prophetic precedent of the twofold miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16 and Numbers 11). and from the antitype of the Christian eucharist.P. S.]
[19][Hase. and de Wette.]
[20][Olshausens idea of a divinely hastened process of nature (ein beschleunigter Naturprocess), by which Christ brought about in a moment, what comes to pass by the slow process of growth in several months, does not suffice in the case without the additional hypothesis of a hastened process of art (Kunstprocess), or the combined labor of mowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, and baking, by which wheat is changed into bread. Nor does the form of the miracle favor this attempt to explain the inexplicable. We should rather expect in this case that the Saviour had cast a few grains of wheat into the ground and made them germinate into a rich harvest at once. But this would have been rather an unnatural miracle, such as the apocryphal Gospel of St. Thomas really ascribes to the child Jesus, at least as regards the quantity of wheat produced from a single grain for the benefit of the poor. (Thilo: Cod. Apocryph., p. 302.)P. S.]
[21][As, indeed, Gods creatures should not be viewed as dead abstractions, but as possessing living powers and principles, on which the Creator may breathe, giving them new, or rather enlarged capacities; thus working what to the carnal onlooker may seem a miracle, in the sense of being an interference with the course of nature, while the deeper thinker, or the devout believer, sees in it only a higher order of nature, the setting free of qualities and powers, bound down by sin. through the operation of an ever-present, almighty, and all-gracious Sovereign.The Edinb. Translator.]
[22][Olshausen adds, however (vol. i., p. 520, in Kendricks edition): In these remarks I refer only to the recorded facts; how far it is conceivable that Christs miraculous powers might have been put forth in a different form, is another question. According to the gospel history, the Saviour constantly appears as the restorer of creation. He creates no new men but He transforms the old; He makes no new bodily members formerly wanting, but He restores the old that were useless.But on the other hand He raised the dead to life, and is literally and truly the Resurrection and the Life. He brought life and immortality to light. The regeneration of the Spirit, too, is a new birth, a new creation, by which we become new creatures in Christ Jesus.P. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Ver. 14. Was moved with compassion, and healed their sick ] Christ’s mercy was not a mouth mercy: such as was that of those in St James’s time, that said to their necessitous neighbours, Depart in peace, be warmed: but with what? with a fire of words. Be filled: but with what? with a mess of words. For they gave them not those things that were needful to the body, Jas 1:22-27 . But our Saviour, out of deep commiseration, both pitied the people, and healed them on both sides, within and without. Oh, how well may he be called a Saviour, which in the original is a word so full of emphasis, that other tongues can hardly find a fit word to express it by. a
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14. ] , from his place of retirement.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 14:14 . , in this place, naturally means going forth from His retreat, in Mk. (Mar 6:34 ) going out of the ship, the crowd having arrived on the spot before Him. To escape from the people always difficult, now apparently more than ever. Evidently a time of special excitement, popularity at its height, though according to Fourth Gospel about to undergo a speedy decline. , deponent passive, pitied; Hellenistic, and based on the Hebrew idea of the bowels as the seat of compassion; used by Symmachus in translation of Deu 13:9 . : Mark gives prominence to the element of instruction; healing alone mentioned here.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
went forth. From His solitude, Mat 14:13.
toward. Greek. epi.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14.] , from his place of retirement.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 14:14. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Different persons take different views of multitudes, according to the state of their minds. Many an officer when he sees a multitude considers how long it would take to march them from a certain place. Another man begins calculating how much food they will all need. Another begins to estimate their wealth, another to calculate how many per cent will die in the year. But the Lord Jesus Christs heart was full of pity and mercy, that the thing for him to do as he looked upon them was to have compassion upon them. He healed their sick, and helped them in their sorrows.
Mat 14:15. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
This really meant Get us out of the difficulty. There was no hope that so many of them could get victuals in the villages; but the disciples as good as said We cannot bear to see them starving. Help us to forget it.
Mat 14:16. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
You do not know what you can do, seeing I am with you, the Lord answered. You can feed them all. O Christian church, never give up the most difficult problem. It may be worked out. The city may be evangelized, crowded as it is; the nations may to brought to Christ superstitious though they be; for he is with us.
Mat 14:17-18. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me.
He will not work without us. Whatever little gift or ability we have must be consecrated. Christ could easily have made loaves and fishes without taking their little stock, but that is not his way of working. Bring what you have hither to me. Whenever we have a church that brings all its store to Christ (when shall we ever see such a church?) then he will be pleased to make sufficient for the multitude.
Mat 14:19-21. And he 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. And they did all eat and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
A wonderful evening that must have been. Just as the suns slanting rays would fall upon the mighty mass of people, Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness, was scattering his beams of mercy over them at the same time. To him it is nothing to feed five thousand nothing to do it with five loaves. Where he is present we may expect wonders, unless indeed our unbelief should hamper him, for sometimes it is too sadly true he could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. O my soul, chide thyself if thou hast ever thus hampered the hands of Christ.
Mat 14:22-23. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
It was a very busy day that he had had. If you read the narrative for yourself you will be astonished at the number of miracles which he wrought that day, and all of them in addition to the preaching, so he must have been well worn with weariness, but he sought rather the rest and refreshment of prayer than that of sleep.
Mat 14:23-24. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
It did not matter however. For if his disciples be in a storm, so long as Christ is praying for them all the storms in the world are unable to sink them. They had a good protector. From the outlook of that hill his eyes, which could see through the distance, observed and regulated every breath of wind, and every wave upon the lake.
Mat 14:25-26. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit;
A phantom! Having all the superstition so natural to sailors, they thought that this was something quite supernatural and boded ill to them.
Mat 14:26-28. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Strange impulse! It showed genuine faith mixed with that imperfection and presumption which was so common a feature in Peters character.
However, his master admired the confidence.
Mat 14:29-30. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
When he began to be afraid he began to sink. As long as his confidence in his Master lasted he could walk the waves.
Mat 14:31-33. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, of a truth thou art the Son of God.
Well might they worship, for they had seen abundant proof of his deity. They worshipped him, saying, of a truth thou art the Son of God. They could not have meant by this, Thou art a superior person, an excellent character. They would not, if they were Jews, have worshipped a mere man; for of all things you ever saw in this life, you never saw a Jew that would worship any form that was visible to the eye. The captivity of Babylon delivered the Hebrew race from idolatry altogether. They may fall into superstition of another sort, but never into idolatry. Mark that. There has not been since that time a man of Jewish race who would have worshipped Christ if he had not believed him to be God.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Mat 14:14. , having come forth) sc. from His retreat into public.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
and was: Mat 9:36, Mat 15:32-39, Mar 6:34, Mar 8:1, Mar 8:2, Mar 9:22, Luk 7:13, Luk 19:41, Joh 11:33-35, Heb 2:17, Heb 4:15, Heb 5:2
Reciprocal: 2Sa 12:7 – Thou art Mat 8:16 – and healed Mat 20:34 – Jesus Mar 3:10 – he had Luk 4:42 – and the Luk 6:17 – which Luk 9:11 – when Luk 14:13 – call Joh 6:2 – General Joh 6:5 – saw
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:14
The patience and love of Jesus knew no bounds. He went out to this place for a little relaxation from the press of the multitudes, but when they came on after him his compassion asserted itself and he healed their sick.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 14:14. Had compassion on them. All had followed Him so far and were in a state of spiritual destitution; many of them were sick. His compassion manifested itself in healing their sick, and in giving them instruction (Mar 6:34). The approach of the Passover season (Joh 6:4), accounts for the greatness of the multitude; many of them were probably on their way to Jerusalem.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, with what condolency and tender sympathy the compassionate Jesus exercised acts of mercy and compassion towards the miserable and distressed.
He was moved with compassion; that is, touched with an inward sense and feeling of their sorrow;
And he healed their sick. Those that came to Christ for healing, found three advantages of cure, above the power and performance of any earthly physician; to wit, certainty, bounty, and ease.
Certainty, in that all comers were infallibly cured; bounty, in that they were freely cured, without charge; and ease, in that they were cured without pain.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
14:14 {2} And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
(2) Christ feeds a great multitude with five loaves and two little fish, showing by it that they will lack nothing who lay all things aside and seek the kingdom of heaven.