8:1-10 Our Lord Jesus encouraged the meanest to come to him for life and grace. Christ knows and considers our frames. The bounty of Christ is always ready; to show that, he repeated this miracle. His favours are renewed, as our wants and necessities are. And those need not fear want, who have Christ to live upon by faith, and do so with thanksgiving.

Verses 1, 2. - The opening words of the first verse seem to imply that our Lord remained for some time on this, the north-east, side of the Sea of Galilee. The multitude being very great. The word here rendered "very great" is παμπόλλου, a word not to be found anywhere else in the New Testament. But according to the best authorities, the true reading is πάλιν πόλλου; so that the words would run, when there was again a great multitude. It has been supposed with some reason that, as an old ecclesiastical Lection began with this chapter, this may have led to the substitution of παμπόλλου for πάλιν πόλλου, in order to make the Lection more complete in itself, avoiding this reference to the context. In the original Greek construction the word ὄχλος, in the singular, is disintegrated in the next clause by a passage into the plural (καὶ μὴ ἐχόντων τί φάγουσι). This is properly marked in the Revised Version by the words, a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat. Our Lord has compassion on them. He desires not only to heal the sick, but to feed the hungry. We may here notice the burning zeal of the multitude. They were so intent upon hearing Christ, that they forgot to provide themselves with the necessaries of life. They continued with him for three days and had nothing to eat. Whatever small supplies they might have Brought with them at first were now exhausted; and still they remained, "esteeming his words to be more than their necessary food." Our Lord on his part was so. full of zeal for their good, that during all that time, with little interval, he had been preaching to them, denying himself rest, refreshment, and sleep. So true were those words of his, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

In those days,.... The Ethiopic version reads, on that day; as if it was on the same day that the deaf man was healed; and so it might be; and on the third day from Christ's coming into those parts; and so is very properly expressed, "in those days"; see Mark 7:31, compared with the following verse:

the multitude being very great: for the number of men that ate, when the following miracle was wrought, were about four thousand; see Mark 8:9. The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions add, "again"; referring to the former miracle of the five thousand, who were fed with five loaves, and two fishes, Mark 6:44.

And having nothing to eat; what they might have brought with them being expended, and they in a desert, where nothing was to be had, nor bought for money:

Jesus called his disciples to him, and saith unto them; See Gill on Matthew 15:32.

CHAPTER 8

Mr 8:1-26. Four Thousand Miraculously Fed—A Sign from Heaven Sought and Refused—The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees—A Blind Man at Bethsaida Restored to Sight. ( = Mt 15:32-16:12).

This section of miscellaneous matter evidently follows the preceding one in point of time, as will be seen by observing how it is introduced by Matthew.

Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mr 8:1-9).

1. In those days the multitude being very great, &c.

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