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.