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unto them, They need not depart, because they have no victuals, give ye them to eat. At the same time, to prove what notion Philip had of his power, he asked him, where a sufficient quantity of meat could be bought for them. John vi. 5. When Jesus then lift up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, i. e. gather round him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6. (And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do.) 7. Philip answered him, *Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. Mark vi. 37. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? Philip and the rest of the apostles were exceedingly surprized to hear their Master insinuate, that they could any how furnish food for such a multitude in a desert, where they had nothing but five loaves and two fishes. It seems they did not think on the proofs which he had formerly given of his power, or did not form a just notion thereof. Mark vi. 38. He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. Mat. xiv. 17. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes. (John, One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes. But what are they among so many?) 18. He said, Bring them hither to me. The evangelists do not tell us whether the fishes were salted and dried, a kind of food greatly in request among the Jews, and which needed no preparation; or whether they were fresh and already prepared. Either kind was a subject equally proper for the miracle.

When the loaves and the fishes were brought, he commanded his apostles to make the whole multitude sit down by companies, each consisting of two rows, † with their faces opposite, and their backs

* Ver. 7. Tavo hundred pennyworth.] The Roman denarius, or penny, was equal to about sevenpence half-penny of English money. Two hundred of such pence therefore made above five pounds sterling.

With their faces, &c.] This disposition appears from the words of the text, Mark vi. 39. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies (ovezova oyμtoria) on the green grass. 40. And they sit down in ranks, the original has it, in oblong squares, by hundreds and by fifties, πρασια πράσια, ανα έκατον ανα πεντακοντα. Luke represents it thus, ch. ix. 14. And be said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company; κατακλίνατε αυτές κλισίας ανα πεντακοντα. Συμποσιον, the word used by Mark, significs a company of guests at table, but xλicia, the word in Luke, denotes properly as many of them as lie on one bed, according to the anciert eastern manner of eating. By Christ's order therefore the people were to sit down to this meal in companies, consisting some of fifty persons, some of an hundred, according as the ground would admit. The members of each company I suppose were to be placed in two rows, the one row with their faces towards those of the other, as if a long table had been

between

backs turned to the backs of the next companies. Mark vi. 39. And he commanded them to make all (Matt. the multitude) sit doron by companies (Luke, by fifties in a company) on the green grass. No sooner did the disciples intimate Christ's intention to the multitude, than they sat down as they were ordered. For although what he proposed seemed in the opinion of all next to an impossibility, both the disciples and the multitude cheerfully obeyed; so great an opinion had they of Christ's wisdom and power. He ordered them to be ranged in the manner mentioned above, that they might sit compactly, that their numbers might appear, that the meat might be divided among them with ease, and that none might be neglected in the distribution. 40. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. John vi. 10. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Now there as much grass in the place. This circumstance of the grass shews that the miracle of the loaves happened in the month of February or March, when the grass is at its perfection in Syria. See Jewish Antiq. Disc. vi. and to this agrees likewise what John tells us, ver. 4. That the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. The multitude therefore being placed, Jesus took the meat in his hands, and looking up to heaven, returned thanks to God, the liberal giver of all good, for his infinite beneficence in furnishing food to all flesh, and for the power he had conferred on him of relieving mankind by his miracles, particularly that which he was about to work, and which perhaps he prayed for, to raise the curiosity and attention of the multitude, as we find him doing before the resurrection of Lazarus, John xi. 41. John vi. 11. And Jesus took the leaves, (Luke, the five loaves and the trvo fishes) and when he had given thanks, (Luke, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and) he distri

buted

between them. The first company being thus set down, the second was to be placed beside the first in a like form, and the third by the second, till all were set down, the direction of the ranks being up the hill. And as the two ranks of every division were formed into one company, by being placed with their faces towards each other, so they were distinguished from the neighbouring companies, by lying with their backs turned to their backs. And the whole body thus ranged, would resemble a garden plot, divided into seed beds, which is the proper signification of geolov, the name given by Mark to the several companies after they were formed. The difference of number found in the companies, arose probably from the situation of the ground. They were ranged on the declivity of a hill, where it happened, that on the one side ranks of twenty-fi 7.five persons only could be admitted, and consequently the companies there consisted of no more than fifty each, and the ranks of twenty-five. Luke describes their disposition from that which was most prevalent, the greatest part of the people lying together by fifties in a row.

• Luke, He blessed them.] Matthew and Mark say simply that he blessed (cy) which most commentators refer to the loaves and fishes, because Luke says expressly, suñoynos autus, he blessed them. Some however put a

different

buted to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would, (Mark, and the two fishes divided he among them all). It is not to be supposed, that twelve persons could put first a piece of bread, and then a piece of fish into the hands of five thousand men, besides women and children, who were all fed with such expedition, that notwithstanding the thing was not so much as proposed to the disciples till about three, all was over by five o'clock in the afternoon. Wherefore it is natural to conclude, that în distributing the meat, the disciples used the most expeditious method, putting, by their Master's direction, the bread first, and after that the fish, into the hands of those only who sat at the ends of the ranks, with orders to give it to their companions. On this supposition, the meat must have extended its dimensions, not in our Lord's hands only, but in the hands of the multitude likewise, † conti

nuing

different sense upon the word, because meat they think is not capable of being blessed. Farther, they apprehend that our Lord's looking up to heaven when he blessed, mentioned by Luke himself, shews that his blessing was directed to Cod, and that it imported a thanksgiving for his great goodness. Accordingly, John expresses it by the word suxxgisnoes, which Luke, in his account of the institution of the sacrament, has substituted for the idea which Matthew and Mark express by whoyras. For these reasons they conclude, that the words Toy Fov die are suppressed by Luke, which being joined with avres makes this sense, He blessed God for them, viz. the loaves and the fishes. The reader however will remember, that the word in dispute has a sense which favours the common interpretation of this passage, Psal. Ixv. 10. Thou blessest the springing thereof, viz. of the

corn.

All was over by five o'clock] This may be gathered from a cireumstance mentioned, John vi. 16. namely, that when the disciples departed some time after the dinner, the second evening approached, that is, it was a little before sun-setting, at which time the second evening began. But at that season of the year, the sun set before six o'clock in the afternoon, for the passover, and consequently the vernal equinox, was not come, John vi. 4. Besides, they were in the midst of the lake by the time the sun was set. Matt. xiv. 23. Mark vi. 47.

This suggests more reasons for the peoples being set down in the manner above explained. For as they were fed on a mountain, we may reasonably suppose that the ground was somewhat steep, and that they lay with their heads pointing up the hill, in such a manner, that reclining on their elbows, they were almost in a sitting posture, and had their eyes fixed en Jesus, who stood below them in a place that was more plain, at a little distance from the ends of the ranks. Without doubt therefore they all heard his thanksgiving and prayer for the mira le, saw him give the disciples the meat, and were astonished above measure when they perceived, that instead of diminishing it increased under his creating hands. Moreover, being set down in companies consisting some of fifty, some of a hundred persons, according as the ground would admit; and every company being divided into two ranks, which lay Lonting each other, the ranks of all the companies were parallel, and pointed toward Jesus, and so were situated in such a manner, that the disciples could readily bring the bread and fish to them that sat at the extremities of the ranks. To conclude, by this disposition

nuing to swell till there was a greater quantity than they who held it could make use of; so that breaking off what was sufficient for themselves, they gave the remainder to the persons next them, who, in like manner, saw the bread and fish swell in their own hands, till they also had enough and to spare. The meat being thus created among the hands of the multitude, and before their eyes, as long as there was a single person to be fed, they did all eat and were filled, to their unspeakable astonishment., Luke ix. 17. And they did eat, and were all filled. John vi. 12. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the. fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Though Jesus was entirely free from worldly cares, and from all anxiety about futurity, he did not think it unworthy of him on this occasion, to order his disciples to take care of the broken pieces of meat left by the multitude. The reason mentioned by him for their doing so, namely, that nothing might be lost, deserves our notice; for it shews us, that he to whom the earth and the fulness thereof belongs, willeth every man to take due care of all the goods which he possesses, and that if he wastes any thing by carelessness or profusion, he is guilty of sin; namely, the sin of despising the creatures of God, which by so admirable a contrivance as the frame of the world, God has produced for his use. Wherefore, as by feeding so many, Jesus has set us an example of liberality, so by taking care of the fragments, he has taught us frugality; and by joining the two together, he has shewed us that charity and frugality ought always to go hand in hand, and that there is a great difference between the truly liberal and the lavish man. 13. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves (Mark, and of the fishes) which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Matt. xiv. 21. And they that had eaten (Mark, of the loaves) were about five thousand men, besides women and children. In computing the number of persons fed at this meal, the evangelists mention none but the men, and of them only such as were age; and they all agree that they were about five thousand." In this they do not speak by guess; for the disposition of the multitude in ranks of a determinate number, enabled them to make the computation with certainty. If they were not five VOL. II. thousand

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disposition there must have been such a space between the two ranks of each company, that every individual in it could easily survey the whole of his own company, as well those above him, as those below him; and therefore when the meat was brought, and handed from one to another, they would all follow it with their eye, and see it swelling, not only in their own hands, but in the hands of their companions likewise, to the amazement and joy of every person present. The evangelists indeed give very short accounts of our Lord's miracles. Nevertheless, the nature of those miracles, and the few circumstances which they have mentioned, oftentimes suggest many astonishing ideas, which vulgar and inattentive minds altogether overjook.

thousand precisely, one of the ranks incomplete will make them less, and an additional rank, or part of a rank, will make them more. But besides the men, there were women also and children, who, we may suppose, * were not inferior in number to the men; and who, if they were not fed with the men, as is probable from John 10. must have been set down by themselves to a separate meal, some of the disciples being appointed to wait on them and serve them. This vast multitude of people finding their hunger removed, and spirits recreated, as well as their taste delighted by the meal, were absolutely sure it was no illusion. As John expresses it very properly, ver. 14. They had seen the miracle, so could not entertain doubts, or form objections. In this manner did he, who is the bread of life, feed upwards of ten thousand people with five loaves and two small fishes, giving a magnificent proof, not only of his goodness, but of his creating power. For after all had eaten to satiety, the disciples took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces of meat, each disciple a basket, in which, as every one of the multitude may be supposed to have left a little, there must have been much more than the quantity at first set before the Lord to divide. The stupendous miracle, therefore, without all doubt, was conspicuous, not to the disciples only, who carrying each his basket in his hand, had an abiding sensible demonstration of its truth, but to every individual guest at this divine feast, who had all felt themselves delighted, filled, refreshed, and strengthened by the meal. Anciently, Elisha fed an hundred men with twenty barley loaves, 2 Kings iv. 42. But the quantity of the food divided was greater, and the people fed therewith incomparably fewer than at our Lord's miracle. Besides, though something was left at Elisha's feast to shew that the men were filled, it was but a trifle in comparison of the quantity left by the great multitude whom our Lord fed.

This being one of the most astonishing, and at the same time the most extensively convincing of all the miracles Jesus performed during the course of his ministry, every one of the evangelists has recorded it; and, which is remarkable, it is the only one found in each of their histories.

Were not inferior in number to the men.] The evangelist John gives the reason that so great a crowd was now with Jesus. The passover was at hand, chap. vi. 4. consequently numbers from every corner being on the roa ́s to Jerusalem, they might be drawn round Christ by the fame of his m'racks, of which they desired to be the eye-witnesses.

He per

LXI. The multitude propose to make Jesus a king. suades them to depart, and orders the disciples to soil away before him. They are retarded by contrary winds. Jesus walks upon the sea, draws nigh to their boat, and makes Peter also

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