John 6:10

After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. For the exposition, see the notes at Mark 6:30. But the reader will do well to mark here again the important note of time introduced quite parenthetically at . Verse 4. AND THE PASSOVER, THE FEAST OF THE JEWS, WAS NIGH. This, according to our reckoning, was the third Passover since our Lord entered on His public ministry. See the note at . These verses are a little involved, from the Evangelist's desire to mention every circumstance, however minute, that might call up the scene as vividly to the reader as it stood before his own view....

10._Make the men sit down. _That the disciples were not sooner prepared to cherish the hope which their Master held out, and did not remember to ascribe to his power all that was proper, was a degree of stupidity worthy of blame; but no small praise is due to their cheerful obedience in now complying with his injunction, though they know not what is his intention, or what advantage they will derive from what they are doing. The same readiness to obey is manifested by the people; for, while they are uncertain about the result, they all sit down as soon as a single word of command has been pronounced. And this is the trial of true faith, when God commands men to walk, as it were, in darkness. For this purpose let us learn not to be wise in ourselves, but, amidst great confusion, still to hope for a prosperous issue, when we follow the guidance of God, who never disappoints his own people....

1-14 John relates the miracle of feeding the multitude, for its reference to the following discourse. Observe the effect this miracle had upon the people. Even the common Jews expected the Messiah to come into the world, and to be a great Prophet. The Pharisees despised them as not knowing the law; but they knew most of Him who is the end of the law. Yet men may acknowledge Christ as that Prophet, and still turn a deaf ear to him....

Verse John 6:10. _THERE WAS MUCH GRASS IN THE PLACE._] Perhaps newly _mown_ _grass_, or _hay_, is meant, (so the Vulgate _faenum_,) and this circumstance marks out more particularly that the _passover_ was at hand. In Palestine the grass is ready for mowing in _March_; and this miracle seems to have been wrought only a few days before the commencement of that festival: see John 6:4....

EXPOSITION JOHN 6:1 2. _Christ declares himself to be the Sustainer and Protector of the life of which he is the Source_. JOHN 6:1 (1) _The supply of human wants illustrated by a well known _"_sign_" _of power_. Chronological difficulties beset our treatment of this miraculous narrative with its varied consequences and results. Many curious and even violent measures have been resorted to with a view to solve them. Some have supposed that John 5:1. and 6. have been inverted in order, and that thus the presence of our Lord in Galilee, mentioned in...

JESUS SAID, MAKE THE MEN SIT DOWN,.... The Syriac version reads, "all the men"; and the Persic version, "all the people"; men, women, and children: Christ, without reproving his disciples for their unbelief, ordered them directly to place the people upon the ground, and seat them in rows by hundreds and by fifties, in a rank and company, as persons about to take a meal: NOW THERE WAS MUCH GRASS IN THE PLACE; at the bottom of the mountain; and it was green, as one of the evangelists observes, it being the spring of the year, and was very commodious to sit down upon: SO THE MEN SAT DOWN, IN NUMBER ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND; besides women and children, Matthew 14:21, so that there was but one loaf for more than a thousand persons....

John 6:1. _After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do._ That verse is worth thinking over. How often does Christ seem to ask us riddles, and place us in difficulties, so that we begin to say, «What will come of this? How shall we escape from this temptation; or how shall we stand under this trial?» He himself knows what he will do; and it is a very blessed thing when our faith being tried, it shows itself to be st...

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The Feeding of the Five Thousand Men. (John 6:1 .)_ 2. The Attempt to Make Him King, (John 6:15 .) 3. The Stormy Sea. “It is I, be not afraid.” (John 6:16 .) 4. The Discourse on the Bread of Life. The Food of the Believer. (John 6:22 .) 5. The Falling Away of Disciples. (John 6:60) 6. Peter's Confession. (John 6:67 .) The events which are recorded in this chapter happened at the Sea of Galilee, the sea of Tiberias. John exclusively uses t

VI. THE CRISIS TO GALILEE. John 6:1. The Feeding of the Five Thousand. John 6:1 is the natural sequel to work in Galilee, not in Judæ a. Similarly John 7:1 would naturally follow work in the south, not in the north. The author has probably modified the order in which the material out of which his gospel has grown took shape. We should therefore connect John 6 with John 4, and John 5 with John 7. [83] The account of the miracle cannot in all details be reconciled with the Synoptic account. In particular it leaves no room for the day of teaching (Mark 6:34), after which, not as here (John 6:

MAKE THE MEN SIT DOWN. We learn from Mark that they sat down in companies. Our word _parties,_ in its convivial acceptation, is, as nearly as possible,. reproduction of the original term. The multitude was to be arranged _in. suite of parties,_ no doubt _semicircularly_ adjusted, after the form of Roman _triclinia,_ or Grecian _symposia._ Such. semicircular or three-sided style of parties had become common among the Jews, being adopted from the Greeks and Romans; and hence the frequent reference, in the New Testament, to _reclining at meals._ THERE WAS MUCH GRASS THERE. It was in Nisan, "the month of flowers," and the slopes were rich with the soft green of the spring grass. ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND. Thus there was one loaf to every thousand men. Matthew adds, "besides women and children," of whom there were doubtless many. It was customary then, as now, in the East, for men to eat alone,...