And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
This verse closes the account of healing and feeding the multitude beside the sea that began in Matthew 15:29. The feeding just before it provided for four thousand people and left seven baskets of fragments, making it distinct from the other feeding of five thousand that left twelve baskets. Before this closing movement Jesus saw that the people gathered to hear His teaching were hungry and needed food though there were only a few loaves and fishes. He had them sit on a grassy spot, broke the food into small pieces, and distributed it through His disciples until all had enough, and then had the fragments gathered so nothing would be lost.
In this verse He sends the four thousand away in Decapolis refreshed with glad and grateful hearts after feeding them. He then takes a boat with His disciples across the lake and comes to Magdala at the southern end of the plain of Gennesaret in Galilee. Galilee was the region where His power had been most strikingly manifested and where most of His works of mercy had been performed and His teaching given. Upon landing there He was met with contemptuous unbelief, in contrast to the confiding trust of the Syrophoenician woman in the border of Tyre and Sidon and the glad reception of the heathen people of Decapolis.
The verse opens the way to the demand for a sign in Matthew 16:1-12, with parallel accounts in Mark 7:31-37 and Mark 8:1-21, all bearing on the true sign. The feeding leading to it shows what Christ can do to minister, teach, guide into truth, and help in all wrestling and trials, and calls for more faith in Him as the mighty Ruler who gives everlasting life in the kingdom of glory to the overcomer. The same feeding gives lessons from Christ's example for carrying forward food work, showing His methods are to be studied and followed by working economically with simple, inexpensive preparations that need no large investment and by letting no selfish private interests block progress in the right way.
This verse closes the account of healing and feeding the multitude beside the sea that began in Matthew 15:29. The feeding just before it provided for four thousand people and left seven baskets of fragments, making it distinct from the other feeding of five thousand that left twelve baskets. Before this closing movement Jesus saw that the people gathered to hear His teaching were hungry and needed food though there were only a few loaves and fishes. He had them sit on a grassy spot, broke the food into small pieces, and distributed it through His disciples until all had enough, and then had the fragments gathered so nothing would be lost.
In this verse He sends the four thousand away in Decapolis refreshed with glad and grateful hearts after feeding them. He then takes a boat with His disciples across the lake and comes to Magdala at the southern end of the plain of Gennesaret in Galilee. Galilee was the region where His power had been most strikingly manifested and where most of His works of mercy had been performed and His teaching given. Upon landing there He was met with contemptuous unbelief, in contrast to the confiding trust of the Syrophoenician woman in the border of Tyre and Sidon and the glad reception of the heathen people of Decapolis.
The verse opens the way to the demand for a sign in Matthew 16:1-12, with parallel accounts in Mark 7:31-37 and Mark 8:1-21, all bearing on the true sign. The feeding leading to it shows what Christ can do to minister, teach, guide into truth, and help in all wrestling and trials, and calls for more faith in Him as the mighty Ruler who gives everlasting life in the kingdom of glory to the overcomer. The same feeding gives lessons from Christ's example for carrying forward food work, showing His methods are to be studied and followed by working economically with simple, inexpensive preparations that need no large investment and by letting no selfish private interests block progress in the right way.