Matthew 15:31

‘Insomuch that the crowd wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, and lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.'

And once these crowds saw the wonderful things that He was doing, the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking and the blind seeing (Isaiah 35:5), ‘they glorified the God of Israel' (compare Psalms 72:18, but there it is accompanied by God's Name. Similarly had this been intended to be seen on the lips of Jews we would have expected, ‘the LORD, the God of Israel'. See Luke 1:68). This last expression, which is unique as far as the Gospels is concerned, suggests, in context, the response of Gentiles. Like the Canaanite woman they had come to feed at His table. Thus Matthew, having in mind Jesus' words that He has come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, emphasises that these people acknowledged the ‘God of Israel' as their Benefactor. The crowds must therefore probably be seen as a combination of both Jews from areas outside Galilee, and of Gentiles. In view of this it must therefore be seen as quite significant that for those who have come and have been with Him there for ‘three days' He now provides ‘bread from Heaven'. He is ready and willing to feed this mixed crowd who have proved so responsive to His teaching as He fed the Jewish gathering earlier (Matthew 14:13),  and the initiative comes from Him. (It was not likely to come from the disciples who probably at first saw the number of Gentiles gathered there with disapproval).