But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Verse 16. They need not depart] He that seeks first the kingdom of heaven is sure to have every temporal requisite. When a man ensures the first, God always takes care to throw the other into the bargain. He who has an interest in Jesus has in him an inexhaustible treasure of spiritual and temporal good. Though the means by which man may help his fellows have failed, we are not to suppose that the bounty of God is exhausted. When we are about to give up all hope of farther supply, the gracious word of Christ still holds good – They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Give ye them to eat.] Should we say, Lord, how shall thy poor, feeble ministering servants feed so many hungry souls as attend thy word! Begin at the command of Jesus – make the attempt – divide what you have-and the bread of God shall be multiplied in your hands, and all shall eat and be satisfied.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
John relates the story thus: When Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him. Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peters brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
But Jesus said unto them,…. the disciples,
they need not depart; meaning so long as he was with them, who had power enough to provide a sufficient meal for them, as well as by a word speaking, to heal their diseases; however, to try their faith, and make way for the working of the following miracle, he says to them,
give ye them to eat; such provisions as you have along with you.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Give ye them to eat ( ). The emphasis is on in contrast (note position) with their “send away” (). It is the urgent aorist of instant action (). It was an astounding command. The disciples were to learn that “no situation appears to Him desperate, no crisis unmanageable” (Bruce).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But Jesus said unto them,” (ho de lesous eipen autois) “Then Jesus replied to them,” to His twelve disciples, and their repeated appeal to Him to dismiss the crowds.
2) “They need not depart;” (ou chreian echousin apelthein) “They do not have a need (that requires them) to go away.” Resources will be forthcoming, miraculously to meet the crisis as in Exo 14:15.
3) “Give ye them to eat.” (dote autois humeis phagein) “You all give (dole out) to them to eat,” or you all simply share charitably of what you have, a thing He had often asked them to do, Mat 10:8; 2Co 4:5; Mr 6:37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. Give you to them something to eat. As a fuller exposition of this miracle will be found at the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, instead of troubling my readers with a repetition of what I have said, I would rather send them to that exposition; but rather than pass over this passage entirely, I shall offer a brief recapitulation. Hitherto Christ had bestowed his whole attention on feeding souls, but now he includes within his duties as a shepherd the care even of their bodies. And in this way he confirms his own saying, that to those who
seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, all other things will be added, (Mat 6:33.)
We have no right, indeed, to expect that Christ will always follow this method of supplying the hungry and thirsty with food; but it is certain that he will never permit his own people to want the necessaries of life, but will stretch out his hand from heaven, whenever he shall see it to be necessary to relieve their necessities. Those who wish to have Christ for their provider, must first learn not to long for refined luxuries, but to be satisfied with barley-bread.
Christ commanded that the people should sit down in companies; and he did so, first, that by this arrangement of the ranks the miracle might be more manifest; secondly, that the number of the men might be more easily ascertained, and that, while they looked at each other, they might in their turn bear testimony to this heavenly favor. Thirdly, perceiving that his disciples were anxious, he intended to make trial of their obedience by giving them an injunction which at first sight appeared to be absurd; for, as no provisions were at hand, there was reason to wonder why Christ was making arrangements that resembled a feast. To the same purpose is what follows, that he gave them the loaves, in order that in their hands the astonishing increase might take place, and that they might thus be the ministers of Christ’s divine power; for as if it had been of small importance that they should be eye-witnesses, Christ determined that his power should be handled by them. (378) Two hundred pence, according to the computation of Budaeus, are worth about thirty-four French livres; (379) and so when the disciples speak of what is sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little, they calculate at the rate of a farthing for each individual. Forming so high an estimate of the sum of money that would be required to purchase bread barely sufficient for procuring a morsel to the people, they are entitled to no small praise for their obedience, when they implicitly comply with the command of Christ, and leave the result to his disposal.
(378) “ Car Christ ne se contentant point de leur faire voir de leurs propres yeux sa vertu, a voulu mesme qu’elle passast par leurs mains, et qu’ils la touchassent;”— “for Christ, not satisfied with making them see his power with their own eyes, determined even that it should pass through their hands, and that they should touch it.”
(379) The value of a livre was so much affected both by time and by place, that it is not easy to determine with exactness how it was rated by Budaeus or Calvin. Most probably, the reference is to la livre Parisis , which was three times the value of a franc , or about two shillings and sixpence sterling; and thirty-four of these would amount to four pounds, five shillings, sterling. Now reckoning the Roman denarius , or the eighth part of an ounce of silver, to be worth sevenpence halfpenny of our own money, une livre Parisis must have been equal to four denarii , and therefore two hundred denarii must have been worth—not thirty-four but fifty livres Parisis, or six pounds, five shillings, sterling. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
‘But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to go away. You give them to eat.”
Then Jesus quietly turned to the disciples and said, ‘There is no need for them to go away. You give them to eat.’ (The ‘you’ is emphatic). It is difficult to avoid the impression that Jesus has 2Ki 4:42 in mind, where Elisha says to his followers, ‘Give to the people that they may eat’, at a time when there was patently too little food for everyone. There it was followed by the insufficient becoming sufficient and to spare. Was Jesus then testing out His disciples to see what they would do, and how they would respond, as He will shortly test out Peter (Mat 14:29)? After all they had claimed that they had ‘understood’ about the coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Mat 13:51). Did they have sufficient understanding for this moment? There may have been a slight hope at the back of His mind that it would be so, but the more probable significance in what He is doing is that He wants His disciples to recognise that in following Him and being His Apostles they must take responsibility for believers, not leave them to themselves.
( In LXX Elisha says, ‘dote tow laow’ – ‘give to the people’. Here Jesus says ‘dote autois’ – ‘give to them’. LXX then uses esthio while Jesus uses phagein, but it should be noted that LXX then has phagomai in verse 43 where ‘the Lord’ says they shall eat. Matthew’s source may well have been distinguishing Jesus from Elisha by deliberately using the verb ‘the Lord’ used).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The miracle:
v. 16. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
v. 17. And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes.
v. 18. He said, Bring them hither to Me.
v. 19. 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.
v. 20. And they did all eat and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve basketfuls.
v. 21. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. Matthew has only a very brief account of the events leading up to the miracle. The other evangelists bring out the dramatic incidents with great vividness. The evident distress of the disciples stood out in such contrast to the calm dignity of the Lord. There were the people, standing and sitting about on the meadow-like expanse near the shore of the lake. There was the little band of disciples, with Christ in their center, arguing with great vehemence, telling Him what to do. And He coolly counters with the demand that they should provide the food for the multitude. He takes the opportunity of testing their faith in Himself and His power to help. They fail miserably. Philip, after some careful calculating, announces that they have not enough money to buy bread for all. Andrew supplies the information that there are but five loaves and two fishes available. Altogether, the helplessness of the disciples is almost ludicrous. But Christ now takes command of the situation. He gives the order that the multitude be seated on the grass of the meadow, in ranks, parties, or groups, by hundreds and fifties, to facilitate the distribution of the food.
Here the narrative becomes almost bare in its simplicity. Having taken the food and raised His eyes up to heaven. He pronounced the blessing upon the loaves and fishes. Then dividing them, He gave them to His disciples, who, in turn, distributed them to the multitude. Whether Jesus repeated the prayer of grace commonly used by the Jews: “Blessed art Thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest bread out of the earth,” is immaterial. It is sufficient to know that His blessing caused or accompanied the miracle, that the food multiplied under His hand, that they all ate, that they all had their fill, yea, more, that the fragments remaining overfilled twelve baskets of a very large size commonly used by the Jews. And all this, when the number of those that sat down to supper totaled five thousand, not including women and children.
Note: Food conservation has always been practiced where Christians were told of this miracle and heard how careful Christ was about saving the fragments. “When our Lord thus through His blessing appears to us, then we should, as He here commands the apostles, gather the fragments, and not permit them to perish. For just as our reason in time of want only wants to figure and not believe, thus, when the blessing of God is there in abundance, there the world cannot and will not accommodate itself to it. Some use the blessing for luxury. But such is not the meaning. God’s blessing should be saved and not squandered, but kept for future want. When the Lord bids us gather the fragments that remain, He does not want it understood as though we should be niggardly, but that thou shalt serve thy neighbor therewith in time of trouble, and that thou mayest the more easily help the poor people that are in need.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Ver. 16. They need not depart ] Whither should they go from the great housekeeper of the world, the all-sufficient God? Habet certe omnia, qui habet habentem omnia. Augustine. Christ hath a cornucopia, a horn of salvation, plenteous redemption, &c. And if he give us a crown, will he deny us a crust? “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” He feeds the ravens, and clothes the lilies. If meat be denied, he can take away our stomachs. He can feed us by a miracle, as he did Elias of old, and the Rochellers of late.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16, 17. ] ., which is common to the three first Evangelists, is considerably expanded in the more detailed account of Joh 3:1-36 ; Joh 4:1-54 ; Joh 5:1-47 ; Joh 6:1-71 ; Joh 7:1-53 ; it was Andrew who spoke in our Mat 14:17 , and the five loaves and two fishes were brought by a lad: Joh 6:8-9 . They were barley loaves and ( salt ) fish; ibid. And we have (perhaps, but see note there) the vast concourse accounted for in John by the fact that the Passover was at hand , and so they were collected on their journey to Jerusalem.
See a very similar miracle in 2Ki 4:42-44 ; only then there were twenty barley loaves and an hundred men. See also Num 11:21-22 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 14:16 . , etc.: even if, as some think, what happened was that under the moral influence of Jesus the people present generously made the provisions they had brought with them available for the company at large, the character of Jesus appears here in a commanding light. No situation appears to Him desperate, no crisis unmanageable. No need to go. Give ye them to eat, resources will be forthcoming ( cf. Exo 14:15 ). And they were , how we cannot tell. The story is a fact supported by the testimony of all four evangelists, not a baseless legend, or a religious allegory.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
16, 17.] ., which is common to the three first Evangelists, is considerably expanded in the more detailed account of Joh 3:1-36; Joh 4:1-54; Joh 5:1-47; Joh 6:1-71; Joh 7:1-53; it was Andrew who spoke in our Mat 14:17, and the five loaves and two fishes were brought by a lad: Joh 6:8-9. They were barley loaves and (salt) fish; ibid. And we have (perhaps, but see note there) the vast concourse accounted for in John by the fact that the Passover was at hand, and so they were collected on their journey to Jerusalem.
See a very similar miracle in 2Ki 4:42-44; only then there were twenty barley loaves and an hundred men. See also Num 11:21-22.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 14:16. , no need) We should not labour for that which is not necessary.-, you) significantly. The disciples already possessed the rudiments of miraculous faith.[670]
[670] In the original, Rudimenta fidei miraculorum apud discipulos-i.e. that special faith which is required for the performance of miracles.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
they: 2Ki 4:42-44, Job 31:16, Job 31:17, Pro 11:24, Ecc 11:2, Luk 3:11, Joh 13:29, 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:3, 2Co 9:7, 2Co 9:8
Reciprocal: 2Ki 4:43 – What Mat 4:4 – but Mar 6:37 – give Luk 9:13 – Give Jam 2:16 – one
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:16
This situation provided the occasion of one of the most noted of the miracles of Jesus. The faith of the disciples was to be tested, also they were to receive a lesson on the subject of cooperation; Jesus told them to feed the people.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 14:16. Give ye them to eat. Obedience seemed impossible, but they did obey through Christs power providing the means for them. Duty is measured by Christs command, not by our resources.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Our Saviour’s strange answer to the disciples motion: They need not depart, says Christ. Need not! Why? the people must either feed or famish. Victuals they must have, and this being a desert place, there was none to be had. Surely then there was need enough.
But, 2. Christ’s command was more strange than his assertion: Give ye them to eat. Alas, poor disciples! They had nothing for themselves to eat, how then should they give the multitude to eat? When Christ requires of us what of ourselves we are unable to perform, it is to shew us our impotency and weakness, and to provoke us to look to him that worketh all our works in us and for us.