John 6:9

a lad And therefore able to carry very little. The word is a diminutive in the Greek, a little lad; it might also mean -servant," but this is less likely.

barley loaves The ordinary coarse food of the lower orders; Judges 7:13. S. John alone mentions their being of barley, and that they belonged to the lad, who was probably selling them. With homely food from so scanty a store Christ will feed them all. These minute details are the touches of an eyewitness.

two small fishes Better, two fishes, although the Greek (opsaria) is a diminutive. The word occurs in this Gospel only (John 6:11; John 21:9-10; John 21:13), and literally means a little relish, i.e. anything eaten with bread or other food: and as salt fish was most commonly used for this purpose the word came gradually to mean -fish" in particular. Philip had enlarged on the greatness of the difficulty; Andrew insists rather on the smallness of the resources for meeting it.