And they that did eat were four thousand men, besides women and children.
All Commentaries on Matthew 15:38 Go To Matthew 15
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Hom., iii: For the multitude when they came to be healed, had not dared to ask for food, but He that loveth man, and hath care of all creatures, gives it to the m unasked; whence He says, “I have compassion upon the multitude. "That it should not be said that they had brought provision with them on their way, He says, “Because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.” For though when they came they had food, it was now consumed, and for this reason He did it not on the first or second day, but on the third, when all was consumed that they might have brought with them; and thus they having been first placed in need, might take the food that was now provided with keener appetite. That they had come from far, and that nothing was now left them, is shown in what He says, “And I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint by the way. "Yet He does not immediately proceed to work the miracle, that He may rouse the disciples’ attention by this questioning, and that they may show their faith by saying to Him, Create loaves. And thoughat the time of the former miracle Christ had done many things to the end that they should remember it, making them distribute the loaves, and divide the baskets among them, yet they were still imperfectly disposed, as appears from what follows; “And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? "Then to arouse His disciples’ thoughts, He puts a question to them, which may call the foregone miracle to their minds; "And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? They said unto him, Seven, and a few little fishes. "But they do not add, ‘But what are they among so many?’ as they had said before; for they had advanced somewhat, though they did not yet comprehend the whole. Admire in the Apostles their love of truth, though themselves are the writers, they do not conceal their own great faults; and it is no light self-accusation to have so soon forgotten so great amiracle.Observe also their wisdom in another respect, how they had overcome their appetite, taking so little care of their meals, that though they had been three days in the desert, yet they had with them only seven loaves. Some other things also He does like to what had been done before. He makes them to sit down on the ground, and the bread to grow in the hands of the disciples; as it follows, “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.”.
The end of the two miracles is different; “And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. Now they that had eaten were four thousand men, besides children and women. "Whence are the fragments fewer in this miracle than in the former, although they that ate were not so many? It is aeither that the basket in the former, or that by this point of difference they might remember the two separate miracles; for which reason also He then made the number of baskets equal to the number of the disciples, but now to the number of the loaves.
