And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
The verse records the feeding of a Gentile and heathen crowd in Decapolis on the mountain nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, who continued with Christ three days, sleeping at night in the open air to hear His words and see His healings until their food was spent. This followed His healing of the lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others cast down at His feet, which made the multitude wonder and glorify the God of Israel. Thousands had forgotten the wants of nature to listen with deepest interest to His ministry of truth and to hear the gracious words from His lips.
The provision was seven loaves and two fishes, described as a few little fishes, which He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground on a grassy spot to receive. He took it, gave thanks, broke it into small pieces, gave it to His disciples and they gave it to the multitude until all ate and were filled and refreshed. Then He had the fragments gathered that nothing be lost, and seven large baskets full of broken food were taken up afterward, while four thousand men besides women and children were sent away with glad and grateful hearts.
He acted from compassion and tender solicitude like a pitying father mindful of the wants of others, unwilling to send them away hungry and fasting lest they faint in the way. Though often hungry Himself He was awake to their necessities, remembering that He Himself had fainted after His long fast in the wilderness of temptation when angels ministered to Him, and without hesitation He wrought a miracle to feed them. The disciples showed unbelief and Jewish prejudice because the crowd were Gentiles, failing to bring forward their all in trust that He would multiply it as He had done at Bethsaida for Jews, and questioning how men could be satisfied with bread in the wilderness, but in obedience to His word they brought the loaves and fishes.
The word meat in the verse means food generally, not animal flesh, so what the people ate and what remained does not show that they ate flesh. The verse shows that Christ can supply need out of little when only a few loaves and fishes are at hand, and it calls for more faith in Him. The miracle was one of several times Jesus miraculously fed a hungry multitude, and He used the feeding to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of souls. It did not teach that no effort should be put forth to provide the necessities of life, nor does it mean that God will always work miracles to keep people alive. In the same way, healing of the sick in answer to prayer is not a sign that agencies for hygienic living and treatment of the suffering should be abolished or despised.
The feeding to fullness with food left over, together with His healing of the sick, belongs to Christ's essential instruction for true higher education and gives a lesson for His people today to share in His work by ministering to the wants of the needy and joining the work of healing the sick in connection with health institutions. Those institutions did not exist in the early days of the message but now mark a change. The feeding of the four thousand also gives lessons for food work, so the Lord's methods in that miracle are to be studied in carrying the food work forward by setting the food factory in operation soon and conducting it in an economical manner. That means making simple inexpensive preparations to greater advantage instead of manufacturing foods that require a large investment, and allowing no private selfish interests to block progress in the right way.
The verse records the feeding of a Gentile and heathen crowd in Decapolis on the mountain nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, who continued with Christ three days, sleeping at night in the open air to hear His words and see His healings until their food was spent. This followed His healing of the lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others cast down at His feet, which made the multitude wonder and glorify the God of Israel. Thousands had forgotten the wants of nature to listen with deepest interest to His ministry of truth and to hear the gracious words from His lips.
The provision was seven loaves and two fishes, described as a few little fishes, which He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground on a grassy spot to receive. He took it, gave thanks, broke it into small pieces, gave it to His disciples and they gave it to the multitude until all ate and were filled and refreshed. Then He had the fragments gathered that nothing be lost, and seven large baskets full of broken food were taken up afterward, while four thousand men besides women and children were sent away with glad and grateful hearts.
He acted from compassion and tender solicitude like a pitying father mindful of the wants of others, unwilling to send them away hungry and fasting lest they faint in the way. Though often hungry Himself He was awake to their necessities, remembering that He Himself had fainted after His long fast in the wilderness of temptation when angels ministered to Him, and without hesitation He wrought a miracle to feed them. The disciples showed unbelief and Jewish prejudice because the crowd were Gentiles, failing to bring forward their all in trust that He would multiply it as He had done at Bethsaida for Jews, and questioning how men could be satisfied with bread in the wilderness, but in obedience to His word they brought the loaves and fishes.
The word meat in the verse means food generally, not animal flesh, so what the people ate and what remained does not show that they ate flesh. The verse shows that Christ can supply need out of little when only a few loaves and fishes are at hand, and it calls for more faith in Him. The miracle was one of several times Jesus miraculously fed a hungry multitude, and He used the feeding to impart spiritual truths of vital importance to the salvation of souls. It did not teach that no effort should be put forth to provide the necessities of life, nor does it mean that God will always work miracles to keep people alive. In the same way, healing of the sick in answer to prayer is not a sign that agencies for hygienic living and treatment of the suffering should be abolished or despised.
The feeding to fullness with food left over, together with His healing of the sick, belongs to Christ's essential instruction for true higher education and gives a lesson for His people today to share in His work by ministering to the wants of the needy and joining the work of healing the sick in connection with health institutions. Those institutions did not exist in the early days of the message but now mark a change. The feeding of the four thousand also gives lessons for food work, so the Lord's methods in that miracle are to be studied in carrying the food work forward by setting the food factory in operation soon and conducting it in an economical manner. That means making simple inexpensive preparations to greater advantage instead of manufacturing foods that require a large investment, and allowing no private selfish interests to block progress in the right way.