Matthew 14:19 - Exposition

And he commanded the multitude; the multitudes (Revised Version). Here also the plural ( Matthew 14:15 ), 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 χόρτου ) . The addition of "green" ( χλωρός ) in Mark suits the time of the Passover (verse 13, note), but hardly of any later feast, for the grass would have been dried up. And took the five loaves, and the two fishes. He used all the means there were. And looking up to 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. (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.