Notice the Master’s tender considerateness, vs. 1-9. He would not have the people faint on their way home. There are distinct differences between this miracle and the feeding of the five thousand. Most of these are evident to the English reader, but that between the baskets used for the fragments is clear only from the original—those used in the case of the five thousand being quite different from the large ones used here, v. 20; Matt. 15:37. Our Lord never repeats his work.

The Saviour sighed in the previous chapter over physical need; here he sighs over moral obtuseness, vs. 10-21. The language is very strong, and gives a glimpse into the Redeemer’s heart. Had the Pharisees been as willing to discern the signs of the age as to read the weather, they must have been able to recognize him and his claims; but their foolish heart was darkened. Having sighed over the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, might he not equally have done so over the obtuseness of the Twelve? They thought that he was referring to their carelessness in omitting to take bread. How little they realized that the cause lay far deeper! Let us be quick to read the divine intention in very simple incidents, and to learn that all God’s past dealings contain lessons for the present!