Bible Study series: Matthew 14:13-21. This was a large-scale miracle. Its purpose was to help people.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I also comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21
13 When Jesus heard, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. And when the crowds heard, they followed him on foot from their towns. 14 When he left, he saw a large crowd and was moved with compassion for them and healed the sick among them. 15 As evening was coming, his disciples approached him, saying, “The place is deserted and the hour has already gone by; send the crowds away, so they can go out into villages to buy food for themselves.” 16 But he said, “They don’t have to depart; you yourselves give them something to eat.” 17 But they said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish. 18 He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 And ordering the crowds to recline on the grass, he took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke and gave the bread to his disciples, and then the disciples to the crowds. 20 And so everyone ate and was satisfied, and they took up an overflow of fragments, filling twelve baskets. 21 The men who ate were about five thousand, apart from women and children. (Matt. 14:13-21)
Comments.
“In the Exod 16 story God gave the manna to the people, and here Jesus does the same, becoming the giver of manna that satisfies the multitudes. In 2 Kgs 4, Elisha fed one hundred with twenty loaves of bread. Notice that Elisha multiplied bread fivefold (a loaf was enough for one person) while Jesus multiplied it a thousand times (a fact that would have been noticed by the early church)” (Osborne, p. 564).
13:
Jesus went first in a boat to a deserted place. Luke adds the detail that he went near the town Bethsaida (Julias), which was a town on the northeastern side of the Lake of Galilee (9:10). John 1:44 says that Philip, Peter and Andrew were originally from the town. Bethsaida was not a deserted or isolated place (v. 15), so we should understand that Jesus led the crowd away from the town.
14:
“was moved with compassion”: The verb could be translated as “felt compassion,” but this attribute which God shares with us cannot remain static or unexpressed. It has to be active, or else it cannot be compassion.
“heal”: the verb means to “make whole, restore, heal, cure, care for.”
15-17:
“disciples”:
Matthew explains why the twelve were thinking rationally (but not supernaturally or miraculously). There were five thousand men. They counted up the loaves and fish and reported back to him their natural calculations. They did not reckon on God intervening and making up the lack.
Luke adds the detail that Jesus has them sit down in groups of about fifty (9:14). Mark says fifties and hundreds (6:40) on green grass, indicating the spring or recent rains. Organization is not a bad thing. Sometimes the more fiery evangelists despise or at least ignore such earthly and ordinary matters. Their meetings are chaotic. Order and calm are not bad things (1 Cor. 14:40).
In any case, I have nicknamed Matthew, like John the Baptist is nicknamed: Matthew the Trimmer. He says five thousand but does not explain how he got to that number. Luke and Mark do clarify how they could calculate the crowds so easily. They sat down in companies.
When Jesus issued this challenge, the disciples must have thought he was detached from everyday reality. He was too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. It is true that he was heavenly minded, because he had a miracle in mind. He was in constant communication with his Father, and he expected a miracle. The twelve were not in such a deep and close communication.
The disciples doubted that the people had the money to buy loaves of bread to feed five thousand men, not counting women and children. Mark adds the comment that it would cost 200 denarii to buy enough bread (6:37). One denarius was a working man’s pay, but that amount is a little misleading because an agriculture worker had seasonal work, so he had to stretch what he got during the harvest. In any case, it would take 200 men to contribute one day’s wage to pay for enough bread. Perhaps not even Joanna and the other women (Luke 8:1-3) could buy that much in one day for one meal. But if they did so regularly, the community fund would have depleted fast, since Jesus spoke to many crowds, many times. And no doubt the twelve did send them away on other occasions. But not here, not now. Jesus would not allow it. A miracle was in the offing.
Matthew explains why the twelve were thinking rationally (but not supernaturally or miraculously). There were five thousand men. They counted up the loaves and fish and reported back to him their natural calculations. They did not reckon on God intervening and making up the lack.
19-21:
Matthew says they sat on the grass (v. 19), so it was spring, which John 6:4 confirms: it took place near the Passover. This indicates that the harvest was months away, so the grain stores would have been low (Osborne, comment on 14:15; Keener, p. 404).
“gave thanks”: BDAG, a thick Greek lexicon, defines the term, depending on the context, as follows: (1) “to say something commendatory, speak well of, praise, extol”; (2) “to ask for bestowal of special favor, especially of calling down God’s gracious power, bless”; (3) “to bestow a favor, provide with benefits.” Here it is the second definition. Some translations have “he gave thanks.” Being grateful even for food shows gratitude and an acknowledgement that God is the source.
The traditional Jewish blessing for bread: “Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the world, who bringest forth bread from the earth.” Jesus did not bless the bread, but blessed God” (Blomberg, comment on 14:19-21). They did not bless the bread, but they blessed God. Jesus did the same.
“satisfied”: I have heard too many miracle stories about food distribution. The kettle of soup could not seem to feed the surge of people who came into the soup kitchen, but the soup never ran out until the last person was fed. Apparently, the miracle was so great and powerful that the disciples picked twelve baskets full of fragments or leftovers, in abundance.
“overflow”: it comes from the Greek verb that means “abound” or “abundance.”
“twelve baskets”: These were wicker baskets for carrying provisions for traveling (Osborne, comment on 14:20). This number matches the number of disciples. The leftovers were for the disciple’s advantage and use. No doubt they used it for themselves, sold some of it and also gave some of it away. In your paycheck from work, it is good to give some, save some and spend some, like paying the bills or buying necessities and some luxury items.
“apart from”: this does not indicate that women and children ate apart from the men, but it means in this context “not counting” women and children. Capernaum and Bethsaida had 2000-3000 people in each. So if the number of those fed goes up to 10,000 to 15,000, then the people came from all over the area. This was truly a nature miracle, beyond parallel.
One last theological point: Jesus indirectly shows himself to be the bread of heaven—indirectly because he does not announce it, as he did in John’s Gospel (6:35), after he fed the five thousand (6:1-14). This refers to the manna from heaven that fed the ancient Israelites going through the wilderness (Exod. 16). Jesus is our bread of heaven. He is our sustenance.
GrowApp for Matt. 14:13-21
1. Jesus just worked a miracle of abundant provision, while the twelve disciples were thinking too small. Has he ever done this in your life, even though you were thinking too small?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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