Matthew 14:36

36. Hem of his garment The fringe directed by Moses to be worn as the distinguishing badge of an Israelite. Nor is it wonderful that these people, learning the miracle of feeding the thousands, hearing, perhaps, from the apostles his walking the sea, and beholding his manifold miracles of mercy, should reverence him as a Divine Being incarnate.

When from the plain of Gennesaret Jesus went to Capernaum, many of the multitude, as John informs us, from the other side, arriving, found him there to their astonishment. A conversation at length ensuing, is detailed by that evangelist. In it Jesus exposes to their own view their material and selfish motives. See note on Matthew 14:20. He endeavours in vain to awaken a purer faith and a more elevated view. Their stubborn unsusceptibility so manifests itself that Jesus wraps his truths in figure and parable, and leaves their hearts in their chosen hardness.