Matthew 14:3-27

3 See Lev_18:1620:21.

6-12 Compare Mar_6:21-29.

13-15 Compare Mar_6:30-36; Luk_9:10-12 Joh_6:1-7.

13 Herod's insistence that the Lord was John the baptist was not very reassuring, for He was almost continually within Herod's jurisdiction, and nothing could be simpler than to arrest Him and imprison Him, as John the baptist had been. His time had not yet come, so He quietly retires to avoid further publicity. But the throngs follow Him into the wilderness.

16 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the words which issue from the mouth of God. However great may be the marvel of providing food for such a multitude in the wilderness, it cannot compare with the miracle of which was the sign. The kingdom has been rejected. The Lord's path is now a spiritual parallel with the interval between His rejection and His return to reign. His people will need to be sustained in the wilderness, just as Israel old needed the manna after they had left Egypt and could not enter the land because of unbelief. The kingdom had come very near to them, just as their fathers had come to Kadesh, only to turn back into the wilderness for forty years. Then they needed physical food. Now they need spiritual sustenance. This provision is supplied by means of twelve cakes of bread, five on this occasion, and seven a little later, representing the twelve portions of scripture which have been given the Circumcision during the period which precedes the kingdom. The two fishes suggest that there is a testimony to the sons of Ham and Japhat who are proselytes in the nations. In these writings there is more than sufficient to sustain the believing Israelites and a considerable surplus for the nations. It does not, however, make any direct provision for the nations, such as is suggested at the end of (Act_28:28). We are no longer called upon to eat the left-overs from Israel's feast (Eph_2:19). The writings to the Circumcision, represented by the twelve cakes, are not for the nations. The Lord has given us a banquet such as Israel never knew. We have thirteen of Paul's epistles which, if we would only satiate ourselves with them, would keep us from so much as tasting the scraps which they refuse, or trying to purloin what pertains only to them.

16-21 Compare Mar_6:37-44 Luk_9:13-17 Joh_6:8-13.

22.23 Compare Mar_6:45-46 Joh_6:14-15.

23 His ascent into the mountain alone, while His disciples are sent into the midst of the sea, is a lovely little likeness of His ascension and session in the heavens while His disciples are left to the mercy of the nations. Not for naught is the word “torment” used here. It may not fit the effect of the billows, but it certainly is a forceful description of the fearful trials which are the portion of His followers during His absence.

24-27 Compare Mar_6:47-50 Joh_6:16-20.

25 The Romans divided the night into four watches. There is a hint here that the Lord's absence will be prolonged until near morning. For them it will be night until the day of the Lord dawns.

26 No one will question the actual reality of this miracle who realizes how much greater is the wonder of His control over the turbulent peoples who threaten to swallow up His disciples during His absence in heaven. Some have tried to explain such prodigies on purely natural grounds. Nature is itself a continuous miracle to which we have become accustomed. Even in our present debased condition there are feeble intimations of powers we will possess in resurrection. It is said that consciousness decreases the weight of the body. It is heavier when asleep. It would seem that a sufficiently great increase in its vitality or power would overcome the force of gravitation. This is seen in a much intensified form in His ascension, where He practically be came able to walk on air.