Matthew 15:32 – 39

32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

33 Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”

34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”

And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.

37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.

38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

Jesus again shows the compassion he has on the ones who follow Him, Jesus was teaching in a remote area, the people had been listening to him for three days and were far from any source of food. Jesus knew their condition might cause some to pass out from hunger before they could reach food. This concerned Him and He wanted to feed them before they went on their way.

Had His disciples forgotten the feeding of the 5ooo or was this their way of asking Jesus to take care of the problem as He did the other time?

The amount of food on hand was not near what was needed to take care of the hunger of the multitudes which were hungry. But as the other time Jesus was desirous of having His disciples to take part in the good works.

For the sake of orderliness and the convenience of serving this many individuals he had the multitudes sit on the ground.

He again gives thanks for the food before dividing it and having the disciples pass it out to the multitudes.

After the crowd was filled up, the leftovers were gathered so that none would go to waste. There were seven large baskets left over after feeding 4000 men plus their families and beginning with only seven loaves of bread and a few fish.

The people were now fully restored so they could travel without danger so Jesus let them go home.

They then got in the boat and sailed to the city of Magdala which was located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.