John 6:7

7 Philip answered, "For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread."

John 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

John 6:7

Philip answered him
Very quick and short, and in a carnal and unbelieving way:

two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them.
Two hundred pence, or "Roman denarii", which may be here meant, amount to six pounds five shillings of our money; and this sum is mentioned, because it might be the whole stock that was in the bag, or that Christ and his disciples had; or because this was a round sum, much in use among the Jews; (See Gill on Mark 6:37). Or this may be said by Philip, to show how impracticable it was to provide for such a company; that supposing they had two hundred pence to lay out in this way; though where should they have that, he suggests? yet if they had it, as much bread as that would purchase would not be sufficient:

that everyone of them might take a little;
it would be so far from giving them a meal, or proper refreshment, that everyone could not have a small bit to taste of, or in the least to stay or blunt his appetite: a penny, with the Jews, would buy as much bread as would serve ten men; so that two hundred pence would buy bread enough for two thousand men; but here were three thousand more, besides women and children, who could not have been provided for with such a sum of money.

John 6:7 In-Context

5 Jesus looked around and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, so he asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?

6 (He said this to test Philip; actually he already knew what he would do.)

7 Philip answered, "For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread."

8 Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said,

9 "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people."

Footnotes

• [a] silver coins: [A silver coin was the daily wage of a rural worker (see Mt 20.2).]