Feeding the Five Thousand.

  9 There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are they among so many? ^b And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

  ^a 17 And they say unto him, {^c said,} ^a We have here but ^c no more than five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

  14 For they were about five thousand men.

  ^a 18 And he said, Bring them hither to me.

  19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down ^c And

  ^d 10 Jesus said, ^c unto his disciples, Make them ^d the people sit down. ^c in companies, about fifty each.

  15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.

  ^b 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. ^d Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

[By thus arranging them in orderly companies, Jesus accomplished several things. He saved his apostles much time and labor in distributing the food. He insured that each one should be fed, and that the reality of the miracle could not be questioned, and he ascertained definitely how many men were fed.]

  19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down ^c And

  ^d 10 Jesus said, ^c unto his disciples, Make them ^d the people sit down. ^c in companies, about fifty each.

  15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.

  ^b 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. ^d Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

  ^c 16 And

  ^d 11 Jesus therefore took ^a the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, ^c he blessed and brake them, ^b and brake the loaves;

given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; ^a and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. {^c and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.} ^d likewise also of the fishes as much as they would. ^b and the two fishes divided he among them all.

  42 And they all ate, ^c and were all filled.

[He blessed the loaves and fishes by returning thanks for them. This and similar acts of Jesus are our precedents for giving thanks, or, "asking the blessing," at our tables]:

  ^d 11 Jesus therefore took ^a the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, ^c he blessed and brake them, ^b and brake the loaves;

  42 And they all ate, ^c and were all filled.

  ^d 12 And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost. [Christ is the economist of the universe. This command was in keeping with his laws which permit nothing to suffer annihilation. Ruin and destruction have no other effect than merely to change the form of things. Every atom of the material world which was here at the beginning of creation is here to-day, though it may have changed its form a million times in the progress of events.]

So they gathered them up, ^c and there was taken {^a they took} ^c up that which remained over to them of ^a the broken pieces, ^d and filled ^a twelve baskets full. {^b basketfuls,} ^d with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten. ^b and also of the fishes.

  ^a 21 And they that did eat {^b ate} the loaves were ^a about five thousand men, besides women and children.

[Considering the distance from any town, the women and children would not likely be numerous. They form no part of the count, for Eastern usage did not permit the women to sit with the men. They, with the little ones, would stand apart.]

  ^a 21 And they that did eat {^b ate} the loaves were ^a about five thousand men, besides women and children.

  ^d 14 When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world. [That is to say, this is the Messiah, the prophet promised at Deuteronomy 18:15 . Their desire to avenge the death of John made them feverishly anxious for the appearance of the Messiah, but this faith was inconstant.]