Matthew 14:13

Matthew 14:13. Now when Jesus heard it. This was not the only cause of the retirement (see Mark 6:31). The Twelve had returned and the multitudes gave Him and them no rest. Besides this gathering of multitudes would make Herod more suspicious.

Into a desert place apart. Not a ‘desert ‘in the modem sense, but a thinly inhabited district; in Gaulonitis near Bethsaida Julias, on the eastern shore of the lake of Tiberias (see Luke 9:10; John 6:1), in the dominions of Philip the Tetrarch. Our Lord would avoid Herod as well as seek rest for His disciples.

They followed him. Comp. Mark 6:33. The popularity of our Lord continued.

By land. This is the usual meaning of the Greek phrase, which is literally rendered: ‘on foot.'