Matthew 15:36

And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:29-39 Whatever our case is, the only way to find ease and relief, is to lay it at Christ's feet, to submit it to him, and refer it to his disposal. Those who would have spiritual healing from Christ, must be ruled as he pleases. See what work sin has made; what various diseases human bodies are subject to. Here were such diseases as fancy could neither guess the cause nor the cure of, yet these were subject to the command of Christ. The spiritual cures that Christ works are wonderful. When blind souls are made to see by faith, the dumb to speak in prayer, the maimed and the lame to walk in holy obedience, it is to be wondered at. His power was also shown to the multitude, in the plentiful provision he made for them: the manner is much the same as before. All did eat, and were filled. Those whom Christ feeds, he fills. With Christ there is bread enough, and to spare; supplies of grace for more than seek it, and for those that seek for more. Christ sent away the people. Though he had fed them twice, they must not look for miracles to find their daily bread. Let them go home to their callings and their own tables. Lord, increase our faith, and pardon our unbelief, teaching us to live upon thy fulness and bounty, for all things pertaining to this life, and that which is to come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The miracle recorded here - the feeding of the four thousand - took place on a mountain near the Sea of Galilee. The same account is recorded in Mark 8:1-10. The circumstances of the miracle are so similar to the one recorded in Matthew 14:14-21, as to need little additional explanation.

Matthew 15:32

Three days, and have nothing to eat - This is not, perhaps, to be taken literally, but only that during that time they had been deprived of their ordinary or regular food.

They had had only a very scanty supply, and on the third day even that began to fail.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mt 15:29-39. Miracles of Healing—Four Thousand Miraculously Fed.

For the exposition, see on [1313]Mr 7:31; [1314]Mr 8:10.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 15:39".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he took the seven loaves and the fishes,.... Into his hands, and lifted them up, that it might be seen, and observed, that there were no other food than these, that so the miracle might appear in its true light:

and gave thanks; to God for the provision, though it was so small, in the name of the whole company, according to the usage of the Jewish nation; who, if there were ten thousand (r), one for the rest used to say,

"let us bless the Lord our God, the God of Israel, the God of hosts, that sitteth between the cherubim:

teaching us to do so likewise, and to be thankful for, and content with our portion, be it more or less:

and brake them; which also was the custom of the master of the family to do:

and gave to his disciples: as a fresh trial of their faith, to reprove their unbelief, to put them in mind of the former miracle, and that they might be witnesses of this, and, in order to distribute to the people, which they accordingly did:

and the disciples to the multitude; in doing which they obeyed their master's orders, though before they could not persuade themselves, that such a multitude of people could be filled with so small a quantity,

(r) Misn. Beracot, c. 7. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 15:36. εὐχαριστήσας, a late Greek word (“does not occur before Polybius in the sense of gratias agere”—Camb. N. T.), condemned by Phryn., who enjoins χάριν εἰδέναι instead (Lobeck, p. 18). Elsner dissents from the judgment of the ancient grammarians, citing instances from Demosthenes, etc.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 15:36. Εὐχαριστήσας, having given thanks) It is right to give thanks even before food (see Acts 27:35), and there it is the same as εὐλογία, or benediction, for it is an acknowledgment of the Divine blessing for the past and the future. Jesus referred everything to the Father, and here gave thanks for the loaves, and for the approaching satisfying of the people; cf. John 11:41.—εὐχαριστεῖν is a verb found fault with by Phrynichus,[703] but used also by Diodorus Siculus.[704]

[703] PHRYNICUS, a rhetorician and sophist of Bythinia, who flourished in the second century of the Christian æra.—(I. B.)

[704] DIODORUS SICULUS, an ancient Greek historian. Born at Agyrium in the first century after Christ.—(I. B.)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - He took. The account differs little from that on the former occasion. Gave thanks (εὐχαριστήσας). This represents the blessing of the viands. Thanksgiving was a specially enjoined accompaniment of meals. The Talmud said, "He that enjoys anything without an act of thanksgiving is as one that robs the Almighty." The blessing here was the efficient cause of the multiplication of the food. Without any fresh creation Jesus used the materials ready to his hands, and only increased them by his Almighty power. Brake them, and gave (ἔκλασε καὶ ἐδίδου). Looking to the tenses used, we should say that Jesus brake the viands once, and then kept continually giving of them to the twelve for the purpose of distribution. We do not read how the multitude was arranged in the present case. Possibly the locality did not admit of methodical division into ranks and companies, or, on the other hand, its natural terraces may have obviated the necessity for any such formal arrangement, the company falling naturally into convenient sections. Matthew 15:36