He said, Bring them hither to me.
Verse 18. Bring them hither to me.] No creature of God should be considered as good or safe without the blessing of God in it. If thou have but even a handful of meal and a few herbs, bring them to Christ by prayer and faith, and he will make them a sufficiency for thy body, and a sacrament to thy soul. Let the minister of the Gospel attend also to this-let him bring all his gifts and graces to his Maker – let him ever know that his word can be of no use, unless the blessing of Christ be in it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He said, bring them hither to me. The loaves and the fishes, signifying that they were sufficient; or that he would make them so: this he said, to try their faith in him, their obedience to him, and their liberality to others: and indeed, the best way to have an increase of temporal supplies, is to bring what we have, and put it into Christ’s hands; whereby not only good is done to others, but that with an overplus is returned to the giver.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And he said ( ). Here is the contrast between the helpless doubt of the disciples and the confident courage of Jesus. He used “the five loaves and two fishes” which they had mentioned as a reason for doing nothing. “Bring them hither unto me.” They had overlooked the power of Jesus in this emergency.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “He said,” (ho de eipen) “Then he said,” to them, to the disciples who were holding on to the loaves and fishes for themselves.
2) “Bring them hither to me.” (pherete noi ode autous) “Bring them here to me.” Num 11:23; Mat 12:13. You see it was now the disciples in need, to meet the orders of the Lord, to feed the crowd. And He commanded them to simply bring the food they had to Him, Luk 6:38; Mat 28:18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Then the command was given which made all the difference. Jesus commanded that they be brought to Him. In His hands they would prove totally sufficient. No one present could have even imagined what was about to happen. It had been one thing for Elisha to feed a hundred men, but here were well over five thousand people, and Jesus had far less than Elisha had to start with.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
18 He said, Bring them hither to me.
Ver. 18. Bring them hither to me ] Bring we all we have and are to Christ, that he may take off the curse and add the blessing. What the apostle saith of meat and marriage, is true of the rest, “all things are sanctified by the word and prayer,” 1Ti 4:3 . To teach the people this it was, that the fruit of the trees was not to be eaten till the trees were circumcised, Lev 19:23 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 14:18 . , etc.: Christ’s imperial way in critical situations often arrests attention.” Stretch forth thine hand” (Mat 12:13 ). “Bring them hither to me.”
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Reciprocal: Mar 6:38 – General Mar 8:6 – to sit Joh 6:10 – Make
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:18
The amount of supplies the disciples had would not have been even a taste for the crowds, but the lesson was that whatever man has, whether little or much, must be contributed to the cause if he expects the Lord to make the project effective.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 14:18. Bring me them hither. The store, so scanty, is first given to Christ; thus it becomes valuable and sufficient.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe, 1. How the master of the feast marshals his guests, he commands them all to sit down: none of them reply, “sit down, but to what? Here are the mouths, but where is the meat? We can soon be set, but whence shall we be served?” Nothing of this; but they obey and expect.
O how easy is it to trust to God, and rely upon Providence, when there is corn in the barn, and bread in the cupboard! But when our stores are all empty, and nothing before us, then to depend upon an invisible bounty, is a true and noble act of faith.
Observe, 2. The actions performed by our blessed Saviour, He blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples and they to the multitude.
1. He blessed. Teaching us by his example, in all our wants to look up to heaven for a supply, to wait upon God for his blessing, and not to sit down to our food as a beast to his forage.
2. He brake the loaves. He could have multiplied them whole, why would he rather do it in the breaking? Perhaps to teach us, that we are to expect his blessing in the distribution, rather than in the reservation of what he gives us.
Scattering is the way to increasing: not grain hoarded up in the granary, but scattered in the furrows of the field, yields increase. Liberality is the way to riches, and penuriousness the road to poverty.
3. Christ gave the bread thus broken to his disciples that they might distribute it to the multitude. But why did not our Lord distribute it with his own hand, but by the hands of his disciples? Doubtless to win respect to his disciples from the people.
The same course doth our Lord take in spiritual distributions. He that could feed the world by his immediate hand, chooses rather by the hands of his ministers to divide the bread of life to all hearers.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Jesus’ acts of looking heavenward, thanking God, and then breaking the loaves were normal for the head of any Jewish household. [Note: Moore, 2:216-17.] Jesus then performed the miracle, namely, creating enough bread and fish to feed the assembled throng. With 5,000 men present, the total size of the crowd may have been 10,000 to 20,000. Counting only the males had Old Testament precedent (cf. Exo 12:37). Everyone had enough to eat and felt satisfied (Mat 14:20). Jesus’ provision was so abundant that there were 12 large wicker baskets of scraps left over, even after many thousands had eaten all they wanted. Evidently each of the 12 disciples had a large basket (Gr. kophinos) and circulated among the crowd until his basket was full (cf. Joh 6:12-13).
"This sign was very important to three groups-the disciples, the believing remnant, and the wonder-watching unbelievers. From now on the miracles are primarily for the benefit of the disciples in that they are designed to instruct them. But in addition they confirm the faith of those who believe and the unbelief of the unbelieving masses. That they are for the disciples’ training is seen in the fact that the rejection of the Lord is evident. The cities in which He had performed most of His mighty works had already indicated their apathy and opposition. He had left the masses so that He could be apart with the disciples." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 190.]
Jesus’ training of the disciples is evident in His questioning them and His using them as His agents.
"The significance of this miracle was intended primarily for the disciples. Jesus was illustrating the kind of ministry they would have after His departure. They would be involved in feeding people, but with spiritual food. The source for their feeding would be the Lord Himself. When their supply ran out, as with the bread and fish, they would need to return to the Lord for more. He would supply them, but the feeding would be done through them." [Note: Barbieri, p. 54.]
The Jews had a tradition that when Messiah came He would feed the people with bread from heaven as Moses had done (Deu 18:15). [Note: Plummer, p. 206.] Elisha also had miraculously fed 100 men (2Ki 4:42-44). This miracle proved Jesus’ ability to provide for Israel as her King. It probably reminded the spiritually perceptive in the crowd of the messianic banquet that the Old Testament predicted Messiah would provide (Psa 132:15; cf. Mat 6:11).