Matthew 14:19

Mat 14:19-21. He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass — Mark says, by companies, as we render the phrase συμποσια, συμποσια, which is literally, companies, companies, that is, in separate companies. These, as appears by comparing Mar 6:39 with Luk 9:14, consisted some of fifty persons, some of a hundred, according as the ground would admit. Our Lord probably ordered them to be ranged in this manner that they might sit compactly, that their numbers might appear, that the meat might be divided among them with ease, and that none might be neglected in the distribution. And no sooner did Christ signify his will to the disciples, and they intimated it to the multitude, than they all instantly did as they were ordered: so great an opinion had they of Christ’s wisdom and power! Though they thus sat on the ground, under no canopy but the sky, and had only barley bread, and, as it seems, cold or dried fishes to eat, and probably nothing but water to drink; yet, as Mr. Henry truly and beautifully observes, there was more real grandeur displayed by the Master of this feast than by Ahasuerus, in that royal feast which was intended to show the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the honour of his excellent majesty. And took the five loaves, &c. — Thus acting like the master of a family among the Jews, who was wont to take the bread into his hands and to give thanks to God, before any at the table was permitted to eat any thing: And looking up to heaven — With great reverence and affection; he blessed — That is, says Dr. Whitby, with whom agree many other commentators, he blessed, or gave thanks to God, the liberal giver of all good, for his infinite beneficence in furnishing food to all flesh, and for the power he had conferred on him of relieving mankind by his miracles, particularly that which he was about to work, and which perhaps he prayed for, to raise the attention of the multitude, as we find him doing before the resurrection of Lazarus, Joh 11:41. They apprehend that his looking up to heaven when he blessed, shows that his blessing was directed to God, and that it imported a thanksgiving for his great goodness. Accordingly John expresses it by ευχαριστησας, having given thanks, he distributed, &c. It must be observed, however, that most commentators refer the expression, he blessed, to the loaves and fishes, because Luke says expressly, ευλογησεν αυτους, he blessed them; that is, he commanded upon them that singular blessing by which they were multiplied in the distribution. Thus God is said to bless the springing of the corn, Psa 65:10. And gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude — “It is not to be supposed,” says Macknight, “that twelve persons could put first a piece of bread, and then a piece of fish, into the hands of five thousand men, besides the women and children, who were all fed with such expedition, that, notwithstanding the thing was not so much as proposed to the disciples till about three, all was over by five o’clock in the afternoon, as may be gathered from Joh 6:16, where see the note. It is natural, therefore, to conclude, that, in distributing the meat, the disciples used the most expeditious method, putting, by their Master’s direction, the bread first, and after that the fish, into the hands of those only who sat at the ends of the ranks, with orders to give it to their companions. On this supposition, the meat must have extended its dimensions, not in our Lord’s hands only, but in the hands of the multitude likewise, continuing to swell till there was a greater quantity than they, who held it, could make use of; so that breaking off what was sufficient for themselves, they gave the remainder to the persons next them, who, in like manner, saw the bread and fish swell in their own hands till they also had enough and to spare. The meat being thus created among the hands of the multitude, and before their eyes, as long as there was a single person to be fed, they did all eat, and were filled, to their unspeakable astonishment. In this manner did he who is the Bread of Life feed about ten thousand people, (for doubtless the women and children were as numerous as the men,) with five loaves and two small fishes, giving a magnificent proof, not only of his goodness, but of his creating power. For after all had eaten to satiety, the disciples, at Jesus’s command, (see note on Joh 6:12,)

took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces of meat, each disciple a basket, in which there must have been much more than the quantity at first set before the Lord to divide. The stupendous miracle, therefore, without all doubt, was conspicuous, not to the disciples only, who, carrying each his basket in his hand, had an abiding, sensible demonstration of its truth, but to every individual guest at this divine feast, who had all felt themselves delighted, filled, refreshed, and strengthened by the meal. This being one of the most astonishing, and at the same time the most extensively convincing of all the miracles Jesus performed during the course of his ministry, every one of the evangelists has recorded it; and, which is remarkable, it is the only one found in each of their histories.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:19. Ἀνακλιθῆναι, to be seated) The faith of the people is thus exercised.—τοὺς ἄρτους, the loaves) sc. whatever was there.—ἀναβλέψας, looking up) Jesus referred everything to the Father (see Joh 11:41; Joh 17:1) with the most entire confidence: far different from the practice of sinners; see Luk 18:13.—οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ, but His disciples) A prelude to their future administration.[671] See Act 4:35.

[671] Sc. of the charities distributed to the needy brethren.—ED.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_14:19. Ἐπὶ τ. χόρτ.] upon the grass, Mat_13:2.

Participle following upon participle without conjunctions, and in logical subordination. See Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol. p. 27 A; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1. 18; Dissen, ad Dem. de cor. p. 249.

κλάσας] The loaves were in the form of cakes, a thumbs breadth in thickness, and about the size of a plate. Winer, Realwörterbuch, under the word Backen. Robinson, Pal. III. pp. 40, 293.

In saying grace Jesus did what was done by the father of a family. In John it is expressed by εὐχαρισατήσας, because the meaning of the grace was the giving of thanks (comp. notes on Mat_26:26 f.; 1Co_10:16; 1Co_14:16); Luke again says: εὐλόγησεν αὐτούς, where we have the idea of a consecrating prayer, as in the case of the Lords supper.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:19 . κελεύσας , λαβὼν , ἀναβλέψας , participles without copula all leading up to εὐλόγησεν , the central chief action: rapid, condensed narrative, briefly, simply, recounting an amazing event. εὐλόγησεν with accusative ( ἄρτους ) understood. He blessed the loaves and fishes. καὶ κλάσας ἔδωκεν , then dividing them gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave to the multitude. τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῇ εὐλογίᾳ αὔξων καὶ πληθύνων αὐτούς , Origen.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 19. And took the five loaves, c.] This was the act of the father of a family among the Jews-his business it was to take the bread into his hands, and render thanks to God, before any of the family was permitted to taste of it.

Looking up to heaven] To teach us to acknowledge GOD as the Supreme Good, and fountain of all excellence.

He blessed] The word God should, I think, be rather inserted here than the word them, because it does not appear that it was the loaves which Christ blessed, but that God who had provided them and this indeed was the Jewish custom, not to bless the food, but the God who gave it. However, there are others who believe the loaves are meant, and that he blessed them in order to multiply them. The Jewish form of blessing, or what we term grace, before and after meat, was as follows:-

BEFORE MEAT.

ברוך אתה אלהינו מלך העולם המוצא לחם מן הארץ

Barnuc attah Elohinoo melec haolam hamoise lechem min haarets:

Blessed art thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest

bread out of the earth!

AFTER MEAT.

ברוך אלהינו מלך העולם בורא פרי הגפן

Barnuc Elohinoo melec haolam bore peri hagephen:

Blessed art thou, our God, King of the universe, the Creator

of the fruit of the vine!

And brake] We read often in the Scriptures of breaking bread, never of cutting it: because the Jews made their bread broad and thin like cakes, and to divide such, being very brittle, there was no need of a knife.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass.—This, too, was done with a calm and orderly precision. They were to sit down in companies of fifty or a hundred each, and thus the number of those who were fed became a matter of easy calculation. St. Mark, with a vivid picturesqueness, describes them as presenting the appearance of so many beds of flowers in a well-ordered garden. The bright colours of Eastern dress probably made the resemblance more striking than it would be with a like multitude so arranged among ourselves.

Looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake.—The act was natural and simple enough, the “saying grace” (St. John uses the word, “giving thanks”) of the head of a Jewish household as he gathered his family around him. The formulæ in such cases were commonly short and simple, like our own, such e.g. as, “May God, the ever-blessed One, bless what He has given us.” Looking, however, to the teaching which followed the miracle, as in John 6, and to our Lord’s subsequent use at the Last Supper of the same words and acts, with others which gave them a new and higher meaning, we can hardly be wrong in thinking that as He now distributed the earthly bread to the hungering crowd, through the agency of His Apostles, there was present to His mind the thought that hereafter He would, through the same instrumentality, impart to souls that hungered after righteousness the gift of communion with Himself, that thus they might feed on the true Bread that cometh down from heaven.

It lies in the nature of the case, as a miracle of the highest order, that the process of multiplication is inconceivable in its details. Did each loaf, in succession, supply a thousand with food, and then come to an end, its place taken by another? Was the structure of the fishes, bone and skin and head, reproduced in each portion that was given to the guests at that great feast? We know not, and the Evangelists did not care to ask or to record. It was enough for them that the multitude “did all eat, and were filled.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. to sit down on the grass] Rather, grassy places. St Mark and St Luke mention that they sat in companies “by hundreds and by fifties” (Mark), “by fifties” (Luke). St John notes the time of year; “the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they did all eat,.... Christ and his twelve disciples, and the five thousand men, with the women and children, of the five loaves and two fishes; everyone had their portion,

and were filled; they were satisfied, they had a full meal, they had enough, and to spare; see Ch2 31:10 which the Targumist paraphrases thus.

"And Azariah said unto him, who was appointed chief over the house of Zadok, and said, from the time that they began to separate the offering, to bring it into the sanctuary of the Lord, , "we have eat and are filled", and have "left much"; for "the word of the Lord" hath blessed his people, and what is left, lo! it is this plenty of good.''

The Jews used not to reckon it a meal, unless a man was filled, and account it an ill sign, if nothing was left: but here was fulness, and more left than was first had; which was gathered up, either for the use of the poor, or reserved for after service; teaching us liberality to the needy, and frugality, not to waste that which is left.

And they took up of the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full; according to the number of the disciples, every man had his basket full. It may be inquired, where they could have so many baskets in the wilderness? It is not likely, that everyone of the apostles had a basket with him; it is indeed not improbable, but that they might be furnished with them from some in the company, who might bring provisions with them, either for their own use, or to sell; see Joh 6:9 but perhaps the reason why they were so easily supplied with such a number of baskets in a desert place, might be a custom which the Jews (h) had of carrying baskets with hay and straw, in commemoration of what they did in Egypt; when they were obliged to carry bricks in baskets, and to go about and pick up straw in baskets to make bricks; hence the (i) Epigrammatist calls a "Jew", "cistifer", a "basket bearer", or "carrier"; and Juvenal (k) laughs at these people, as if all their household goods lay in a basket, and a little hay, or straw: it is said of R. Siraeon, that when he went to the school, , "he carried a basket" on his shoulders (l); the gloss suggests, it was to sit upon; but a basket is not very proper for a seat; very likely it was for the above reason: such a custom will account for it, how such a number of baskets could be come at in the wilderness.

(h) Nicholas de Lyra, in Psal. lxxxi. 6. (i) Nubere: nupsisti Gellia Cistifero. Martial. Epigram. 1. 5. ep. 17. (k) Judaeis: quorum Cophinus foenumque supellex. Juvenal. Satyr. 3. cum dedit ille locum, Cophino, foenoque relicto. ib. Satyr. 6. (l) T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 49. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Ver. 19. And looking up to heaven, he blessed] Heathens consecrated their cares before they tasted them, as appears by many passages in Homer and Virgil. Some say that the elephant, ere he eats his food, turns up with his trunk the first sprig towards heaven. The Scripture, we are sure, says, that "men eat to God when they give thanks," Rom 14:6. To whom then do they eat that give none?

And the disciples, to the multitude] They grudged not of their little to give others some, and it grew in their hands, as the widow’s oil did in the cruse. Not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive. Nothing was ever lost by liberality.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Commanded the multitude to sit down.[3] Lit. to lie down, as it was then the custom of the Jews, and of other nations, at meat. See Mark vi, and John vi. &c. --- He blessed. St. Luke (ix. 16.) says, he blessed them. St. John (vi. 11,) says when he had given thanks: some think this blessing and giving thanks, for the same; but blessing them, must be referred to the loaves, and giving thanks, must be to God. The loaves miraculously increased partly in the hands of Christ, when he broke them, partly in the hands of the disciples, when they distributed them about. (Witham) --- He blessed and brake. From this let Christians learn to give thanks at their meals, begging of God that his gifts may be sanctified for their use. From this miracle it appears, that it is no impossibility for bodies, even in their natural state, to be in many places at the same time; since, supposing these loaves to have been sufficient for 50 persons, as there were a hundred such companies, the loaves must have been in a hundred different places at one and the same time. It cannot be said, as some pretend, that other loaves were invisibly put into the apostles’ hands, since it is said that they filled 12 baskets of fragments of the five barley loaves; and again, he divided the two fishes among them all. If God could cause bodies, in their natural state, to be in many places at one and the same time, how much more easy would it be to do the same with spiritual bodies, with the properties of which we are entirely unacquainted; so that from this it appears, that the objection that Christ’s body cannot be in many different places in the holy Eucharist, is nugatory. But, who are we, to ask such a question of the Almighty, who know not what is possible, and what is not possible for him to do! (Bp. Hay, Sincere Christian.)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Benedixit. St. Luke, (ix. 16.) benedixit illis, Greek: eulogese autous, which is not the same as Greek: eucharistein.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

19. On the grass — It is called a desert as being uninhabited, not as being barren. It seems to have been a grassy plain. Sit down — In parties, or as we may say, in separate tables, as Mark informs us. Thus the whole was more orderly.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he commanded the multitude; the multitudes (Revised Version). Here also the plural (ver. 15), because they are thought of as grouped over the ground. To sit down; i.e. to recline as at a meal ( anakliyhnai). On the grass (epi tou crtou). The addition of "green" (clwrov) in Mark suits the time of the Passover (ver. 13, note), but hardly of any later feast, for the grass would have been dried up. And took the five loaves, and the two fishes. He used all the means there were. And looking up to heaven. So also Mar_7:34 Joh_17:1. He blessed. He may well have used the blessing that is still used over bread ("Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, King of the world, that causest bread to come forth from the earth"); for this can be apparently traced to the second or third century A.D., and is probably much older still (cf. Edersheim, "Life," 1:684; Zunz, "Gottesdienstliche Vortrage," p. 371, edit. 1832). (For the habit of saying grace before meals, cf. Mat_15:36 Mat_26:26 Rom_14:6 1Co_10:30 1Ti_4:5; see also 1Sa_9:13) And brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. That the people received the bread at the hands of the disciples is not mentioned by St. John. Perhaps because his chapter dwells so much on the need of direct contact with Christ. But Christ"s work through his agents, both before and after his time on earth, is an important point with the synoptists.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. He commanded the multitude to sit down. We learn from Mark that they sat down in companies. On the grass. John says, “there was much grass there.” It was in the spring season, in Nisan, “the month of flowers,” and the slopes were rich with the spring grass. Looking up to heaven. In prayer we should use such outward gestures as may most fitly serve to express the inward disposition and holy affections of our heart and soul. He blessed. He either gave thanks or asked the Father's blessing on the food.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

This concludes the account of Jesus feeding five thousand people.

sit down

"lie down." Use the verb for the position people in your culture usually are in when they eat.

He took

"He held in his hands." He did not steal them. (See: Idiom)

broke the loaves

"tore the loaves"

loaves

"loaves of bread" or "whole breads"

Looking up

Possible meanings are 1) "While looking up" or 2) "After looking up."

and were filled

This can be translated in active form. AT: "until they were full" or "until they were no longer hungry" (See: Active or Passive)

they took up

"the disciples gathered up" or "some people gathered up"

twelve baskets full

"12 baskets full" (See: Numbers)

Those who ate

"Those who ate the bread and the fish"

five thousand men

"5,000 men" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Jesus

heaven

bless

disciple

basket

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

19. τοῦ χόρτου. The plural τοὺς χόρτους (‘grassy places’) has the support of the late MSS.: the gen. sing. is the reading of אBC*.

19. ἀνακλιθῆναι ἐπὶ τοῦ χόρτου. St John has ἦν δὲ χόρτος πολὺς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ. St Mark and St Luke mention that they sat in companies, ἀνὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ ἀνὰ πεντήκοντα (Mark), ἀνὰ πεντήκοντα (Luke); to this St Mark adds the picturesque touch, καὶ ἀνέπεσαν πρασιαὶ πρασιαί. (ch. Mar 6:40). St John notes the time of year: ἦν δὲ ἐγγὺς τὸ πάσχα ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

ἔδωκεν. In Mark and Luke ἐδίδου: ‘continued to give,’ ‘kept giving.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. ηὐλόγησεν] Luke supplies αὐτούς, the loaves and fishes: John has for it εὐχαριστήσας. Both are one. The thanks to heaven is the blessing on the meat. ὁ Σωτὴρ πρῶτον ἀνέβλεψεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ οἱονεὶ καταβιβάζων δύναμιν ἐκεῖθεν τὴν ἀνακραθησομένην τοῖς ἄρτοις καὶ τοῖς ἰχθύσι μέλλουσι τρέφειν τοὺς πεντακισχιλίους, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ηὐλόγησε τ. π. ἄρτους κ. τ. δ. ἰχθ., τῷ λόγῳ κ. τῇ εὐλογίᾳ αὔξων κ. πληθύνων αὐτούς. in loc. This miracle was one of symbolic meaning for the twelve, who had just returned from their mission, as pointing to the δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε of ch. 10:8 in a higher sense than they then could have understood it:—but see the symbolic import of the miracle treated in the notes to Joh_6.

Meyer well remarks that the process of the miracle is thus to be conceived:—the Lord blessed, and gave the loaves and fishes to the disciples, as they were; and then, during their distribution of them, the miraculous increase took place, so that they broke and distributed enough for all.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. And He commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the grass.] Mt. summarises Mk 39.

And took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looked up into heaven, and blessed, and brake, and gave to the disciples the loaves, and the disciples to the multitudes.] The editor slightly alters Mk.—ἔδωκεν] For Mk.’s ἐδίδου, see Introduction, p. xx.—ἐπὶ τοῦ χόρτου] see Introduction, p. xxviii.

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Brake. As the Jewish loaves were thin cakes, a thumb's breadth in thickness, and more easily broken than cut.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.