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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 15:35 - 15:39
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The miracle:
v. 35. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
v. 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.
v. 37. And they did all eat and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven basketfuls.
v. 38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
v. 39. And He sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
Christ now took the situation wholly in hand, disgusted, probably, with the denseness of His disciples. He had the crowds sit down in an orderly manner to facilitate the distribution of the food; He took the bread and the fishes, pronounced the blessing upon them, broke them, gave them to His disciples, who, in turn, distributed both bread and fishes to the people. After all had been fully satisfied, the remaining fragments filled seven baskets. They bear a different name here than in chapter 14:20, either because they were made by a different process, or because they were exceptionally large containers to be carried on the back, or because Matthew gives them the name by which they were known among the people of that region, whose characteristic was predominantly Gentile. The number of people in the multitude is again recorded: four thousand, without women and children. Jesus now dismissed them, and crossed over the sea into the region called Magdala, which, as far as can be determined, seems to have bordered on the region of Gennesaret on the south, having the town of Dalmanutha as its metropolis.
Summary.Jesus gives a lesson concerning defilement, heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, performs other acts of healing, and feeds four thousand men.