Matthew 14:19

Matthew 14:19. To recline on the grass. ‘Now there was much grass on the place,' John 6:10. At that season it would be luxuriant, forming an easy and convenient resting-place. They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties (Mark 6:40; Luke 9:14); thus confusion was avoided and the distribution made easy. Such an arrangement precluded deception. There was no disorderly running after ‘the loaves and fishes'; Christ's blessings were received through those He commanded to impart them.

Looking up to heaven, he blessed; and breaking the loaves, he gave them. The description recalls the Last Supper, of which this miracle is a premonition. The word ‘bless' in the Bible means God's favoring us, our asking favors of Him and our thanksgiving for such favors; the three senses are always more or less connected. The form of the Greek disconnects the ‘loaves' from the word ‘bless.' The blessing was therefore mainly a thanksgiving (comp. John: ‘when he had given thanks'), not simply a blessing of the loaves. Thus the eucharistic reference becomes prominent

The loaves to his disciples. The disciples possibly received the broken loaves and fishes as they were, the miraculous increase taking place as they distributed them. This points out the duty of the Twelve, and of the ministry in general; but the accounts of the three other Evangelists indicate a continuous giving on the part of our Lord.