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Mat_14:15 ff. Comp. Mar_6:35 ff.; Luk_9:12 ff.; Joh_6:5 ff. Ὀψίας ] means, in this instance, the first evening, which lasted from the ninth till the twelfth hour of the day. It is the second evening, extending from the twelfth hour onwards, that is meant in Mat_14:24. Gesenius, Thes. II. p. 1064 f.
ἡ ὥρα ] the time, i.e. the time of the day; comp. Mar_11:11. Some, like Grotius, understand: meal time; others (Fritzsche, Käuffer): tempus opportunum, sc. disserendi et sanandi. But the “disserendi” is a pure importation; and how far the suitable time for healing might be said to have gone by, it is impossible to conceive. Our explanation, on the other hand, is demanded by the context ( ὀψίας δὲ γενομ .), besides being grammatically certain. See Raphael, Polyb.; Ast, Lex. Plat. III. p. 580.
ἑαυτοῖς ] for we, as far as we are concerned, have nothing to give them.
According to Joh_6:5 ff., it was Jesus who first began to inquire about bread, and that not in consequence of the evening coming on. An unimportant deviation, which shows that even the memory of an apostle may sometimes be at fault. Of greater consequence is the fact that, according to John, Jesus puts the question whenever he sees the multitude,—a circumstance made to tell against John by Strauss especially; comp. also Baur and Hilgenfeld. And there can be no doubt that this little detail is an unconscious reflection of the Johannine conception of Christ, according to which it was but natural to suppose that Jesus had Himself intended to work a miracle, and that from the very first, so that in John the recollection of the order of proceeding, which we find recorded by the Synoptists with historical accuracy, had been thrust into the background by the preponderating influence of the ideal conception. Comp. note on Joh_6:5 f. John, on the other hand, mentions the more precise and original detail, that it was a παιδάριον who happened to have the bread and fish.
δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγ .] said in view of what the disciples were immediately to be called upon to do; therefore, from the standpoint of Jesus, an anticipation of that request, which the expectation of something in the way of miracle was just about to evoke on the part of the disciples. Bengel well observes: ὑμεῖς , vos, significanter. “Rudimenta fidei miraculorum apud discipulos.”