4. A feast ( éopr). With the definite article, the feast ; pointing to something well known.
5. Come (épyeras). Better, is coming. Unto Him (zpos) is rather toward.
Bread (dprovs). Properly, loaves. See on Matt. iv. 1.
6. To prove (reipdfov). Lit., proving. See on Matt. vi. 13. Wyce., tempting.
7. Pennyworth (Syvaplwv). See on Matt. xx. 2. Two hun- dred pennyworth would represent between thirty and thirty- five dollars.
That every one may take a little. Peculiar to John.
9. A lad (aaddpiov). Diminutive. Only here in the New Testament.* Only John mentions the lad.
Barley («p9ivovs). A detail peculiar to John. The word occurs in the New Testament only here and ver.13. An in- ferior sort of bread is indicated by the term. Pliny and some of the Jewish writers describe barley as food fit for beasts. Suetonius speaks of a turgid rhetorician as a barley orator, in- flated like barley in moisture: and Livy relates how cohorts which had lost their standards were ordered barley for food.
Fishes (6ydpua). The word occurs only here and at xxi. 9. The Synoptists use ¢yJvés. The A. V., small jishes, is intended to render the diminutive.t The word means anything that is eaten with bread, and may apply to meat generally, or to what is eaten with bread as a relish. Homer speaks of an onion as a relish (éfov) for drink (“ Iliad,” xi., 630). The term was applied
* The correct reading in Matt. xi. 16 is wa:dlos.
+ Edersheim (‘‘ Life of Jesus ”) says that the Talmud names certain kinds of fish, specially designated as small fishes, which might be eaten without cook- ing: that small fishes were recommended for health, and that the lake of Galilee was particularly rich in these, the salting and pickling of which was a special industry among the fishermen.