(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 formulae 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."
Verse 19. - And hecommanded 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 (ἀνακλιθῆναι). On the grass (ἐπὶ τοῦ χ´ρτου). The addition of "green" (χλωρός) 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 fiveloaves, and the two fishes. He used all the means there were. And looking upto heaven. So also Mark 7:34; John 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. Matthew 15:36; Matthew 26:26; Romans 14:6; 1 Corinthians 10:30; 1 Timothy 4:5; see also 1 Samuel 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.
14:13-21 When Christ and his word withdraw, it is best for us to follow, seeking the means of grace for our souls before any worldly advantages. The presence of Christ and his gospel, makes a desert not only tolerable, but desirable. This little supply of bread was increased by Christ's creating power, till the whole multitude were satisfied. In seeking the welfare of men's souls, we should have compassion on their bodies likewise. Let us also remember always to crave a blessing on our meals, and learn to avoid all waste, as frugality is the proper source of liberality. See in this miracle an emblem of the Bread of life, which came down from heaven to sustain our perishing souls. The provisions of Christ's gospel appear mean and scanty to the world, yet they satisfy all that feed on him in their hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass,.... The other evangelists say, that he ordered the disciples to cause the people to sit down; both no doubt were done: the multitude were commanded to sit down by Christ, which, without his orders, they would never have done; and the disciples were enjoined to place them in form, by companies, in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties, that their number might be the better taken, and the food more orderly distributed by the apostles:
and took the five loaves and the two fishes: into his hands, lifting them up, that they might be seen by the whole company; and they be fully convinced of the miracle going to be wrought by him:
and looking up to heaven; to his Father in heaven, who is the Father of mercies; and from whom every mercy and blessing of life comes; and giving thanks to him for the same, as was usually done by him,
he blessed the five loaves and the two fishes;
and brake the loaves, and divided the fishes;
and gave the loaves, and fishes also,
to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude; who were the ministers and servants of Christ, employed by him in this manner, for the more orderly and quick dispatch of this business: and which was an emblem of their spiritual work and office: who received all their food from Christ, which they distributed to the churches, and fed them with.
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 formulae 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."
and took the five loaves and the two fishes: into his hands, lifting them up, that they might be seen by the whole company; and they be fully convinced of the miracle going to be wrought by him:
and looking up to heaven; to his Father in heaven, who is the Father of mercies; and from whom every mercy and blessing of life comes; and giving thanks to him for the same, as was usually done by him,
he blessed the five loaves and the two fishes;
and brake the loaves, and divided the fishes;
and gave the loaves, and fishes also,
to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude; who were the ministers and servants of Christ, employed by him in this manner, for the more orderly and quick dispatch of this business: and which was an emblem of their spiritual work and office: who received all their food from Christ, which they distributed to the churches, and fed them with.