8 And they took the food, and had enough; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken bits.
Now a man came from Baal-shalishah with an offering of first-fruits for the man of God, twenty barley cakes and garden fruit in his bag. And he said, Give these to the people for food. But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over. So he put it before them, and they had a meal and there was more than enough, as the Lord had said.
For this is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: The store of meal will not come to an end, and the bottle will never be without oil, till the day when the Lord sends rain on the earth. So she went and did as Elijah said; and she and he and her family had food for a long time. The store of meal did not come to an end, and the bottle was never without oil, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah.
Then Elisha said to her, What am I to do for you? say now, what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house but a pot of oil. Then he said, Go out to all your neighbours and get vessels, a very great number of them. Then go in, and, shutting the door on yourself and your sons, put oil into all these vessels, putting on one side the full ones. So she went away, and when the door was shut on her and her sons, they took the vessels to her and she put oil into them. And when all the vessels were full, she said to her son, Get me another vessel. And he said, There are no more. And the flow of oil was stopped. So she came to the man of God and gave him word of what she had done. And he said, Go and get money for the oil and make payment of your debt, and let the rest be for the needs of yourself and your sons.
Let men give praise to the Lord for his mercy, and for the wonders which he does for the children of men! He gives its desire to the unresting soul, so that it is full of good things.
By the opening of your hand, every living thing has its desire in full measure.
When I made a division of the five cakes of bread among the five thousand, what number of baskets full of broken bits did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, what number of baskets full of broken bits did you take up? And they said to him, Seven.
Those who had no food he made full of good things; the men of wealth he sent away with nothing in their hands;
Then Jesus took the cakes and having given praise to God, he gave them to the people who were seated, and the fishes in the same way, as much as they had need of. And when they had had enough, Jesus said to his disciples, Take up the broken bits which are over, so that nothing may be wasted. So they took them up: twelve baskets full of broken bits of the five cakes which were over after the people had had enough.
Let your work not be for the food which comes to an end, but for the food which goes on for eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you, for on him has God the Father put his mark.
Jesus then said to them, Truly I say to you, What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the bread which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Ah, Lord, they said, give us that bread for ever! And this was the answer of Jesus: I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be in need of food, and he who has faith in me will never be in need of drink.
Truly I say to you, He who has faith in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers took the manna in the waste land--and they are dead. The bread which comes from heaven is such bread that a man may take it for food and never see death. I am the living bread which has come from heaven: if any man takes this bread for food he will have life for ever: and more than this, the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. Then the Jews had an angry discussion among themselves, saying, How is it possible for this man to give us his flesh for food? Then Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, If you do not take the flesh of the Son of man for food, and if you do not take his blood for drink, you have no life in you. He who takes my flesh for food and my blood for drink has eternal life: and I will take him up from the dead at the last day. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who takes my flesh for food and my blood for drink is in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I have life because of the Father, even so he who takes me for his food will have life because of me. This is the bread which has come down from heaven. It is not like the food which your fathers had: they took of the manna, and are dead; but he who takes this bread for food will have life for ever.
They will never be in need of food or drink: and they will never again be troubled by the burning heat of the sun: For the Lamb who is on the high seat will be their keeper and their guide to fountains of living water: and God will make glad their eyes for ever.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Mark 8
Commentary on Mark 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
In this chapter, we have,
Mar 8:1-9
We had the story of a miracle very like this before, in this gospel (ch. 6:35), and of this same miracle (Mt. 15:32), and here is little or no addition or alternation as to the circumstances. Yet observe,
Mar 8:10-21
Still Christ is upon motion; now he visits the parts of Dalmanutha, that no corner of the land of Israel might say that they had not had his presence with them. He came thither by ship (v. 10); but, meeting with occasions of dispute there, and not with opportunities of doing good, he entered into the ship again (v. 13), and came back. In these verses, we are told,
Mar 8:22-26
This cure is related only by this evangelist, and there is something singular in the circumstances.
Mar 8:27-38
We have read a great deal of the doctrine Christ preached, and the miracles he wrought, which were many, and strange, and well-attested, of various kinds, and wrought in several places, to the astonishment of the multitudes that were eye-witnesses of them. It is now time for us to pause a little, and to consider what these things mean; the wondrous works which Christ then forbade the publishing of, being recorded in these sacred writings, are thereby published to all the world, to us, to all ages; now what shall we think of them? Is the record of those things designed only for an amusement, or to furnish us with matter for discourse? No, certainly these things are written, that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God (Jn. 20:31); and this discourse which Christ had with his disciples, will assist us in making the necessary reflections upon the miracles of Christ, and a right use of them. Three things we are here taught to infer from the miracles Christ wrought.