cifles, He says, "Will ye also go away?" (John vi. 67.) Our Lord kuows the sluggishness and coldness of our hearts, and He sees it good to stir our spiritual senses, and draw forth our spiritual desires by such a mode of dealing with us.
Explanatory observations like this, made by the Gospel-writer himself, are more frequent in St. John's Gospel than in any of the other three.
[He himself knew... would do.] This would be rendered more hterally " what He was about to do." Our Lord's foreknowledge of the miracle He was about to do should be noted. The words He used in the last chapter should be remembered. They were not works which were done by chance and accidentally, in conse- quence of unforeseen circumstances, but- foreseen and pre- determined. They were "the works which the Father had given him to finish." (John v. 36.)
7. — [Philip answered Him, Two hundred penny worth, etc.] What quantity of bread this sum would have procured we have no accurate means of knowing. But we may remember that the Roman " denarius," or penny, represented a very much larger sum than a penny does among ourselves. We must remember also that bread was much cheaper then than it is now. The quantity Philip named was probably much larger than we sup- pose.
Burgon thinks that the sum named by Philip was the whole " store of money contained in their common purse," — viz., about six or seven pounds. But this cannot be proved.
8. — [One of Ms disciples, Andrew, etc.] Let it be noted here that Andrew, as well as Philip, was a native of the district of Beth- saida, where all these things happened. There is a propriety therefore in his speaking and giving information on the present occasion.
9. — [There is a lad...five barley loaves and two small fishes.] We should note in this verse how small were the provisions which our Lord miraculously multiplied. The fact that one " httle boy" (for this is the meaning of the word we render "lad") could carry all the supply that Andrew mentions, is a plain proof that the " loaves " could not have been large, nor the " fish " of great size.
The " fishes " were probably small dried fish, such as are not uncommonly used as food now in hot countries, and near the sea of Galilee would be of course common.
Bailey was regarded, according to the Talmud, as a coarse food, only fit for horses and asses.
[ What are they among so many.] This expression of Andrew's