Matthew 15:29-38 “Don’t Forget”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 14 Oct 2012

Translation

15:29 And having transitioned from there,

Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up the hill, He sat down there.

15:30 And many crowds approached Him, having with themselves crippled, blind, mute, maimed and many other [folks], and they dropped them off by the feet of Jesus.

And He healed them,

15:31 so that the crowds marveled as they saw mute men talking, maimed men healthy, crippled men walking around, and blind men seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel!

 

15:32 Then Jesus summoned His disciples and said, “I am feeling compassion on this crowd,

since it has already been three days they have been remaining with me,

and they don’t have anything to eat,

and I am not willing to send them away without dinner, lest they faint on the road!”

15:33 Then His disciples say to Him, “Where in [this] desert would this many bread-loaves be for us, so as to satisfy this much of a crowd?”

15:34 And Jesus said to them, “How many bread-loaves do y’all have?”

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

15:35 Then He ordered the crowds to recline upon the ground,

15:36 and, taking the seven bread-loaves and the fish, He gave thanks, broke

and gave [them] to His disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.

15:37 And they all ate and were satisfied,

and they picked up the surplus of the pieces: seven full hampers!

15:38 Yet the men who were eating numbered four thousand – apart from women and children!

15:39 And, after dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went into the seaside area of Magdala.

Introduction – God’s daily bread for a persecuted pastor

Years ago I heard an amazing testimony to God’s provision for His people that I want to relate to you. Unfortunately, I have forgotten many of the details over the years, but the gist of the story is that a Christian pastor and his family were being persecuted by the communist government of their country, so they were forced to flee over the border to a kind-of no-man’s land where they were safe from being killed. This pastor would hold worship services for other refugees who settled in the area and teach them about Jesus, but soon he became concerned that he and his family had escaped from murder only to die slowly of starvation, for there was almost no food to be found in that place, and they had no money to buy food. As he prayed to the Lord in his hunger, he felt led to drop a string into a nearby pond in a certain place. As soon as he did so, a big fish chomped down on the string and he pulled it in, thus God provided dinner for his family that day. The next day he went fishing in the same spot and got another fish just as big. For a whole year, if I remember the testimony correctly, he caught one fish every day. Sometimes he tried to see if he could fish for longer and get a second fish, but never got a second fish. At some point he talked with some other refugees about this daily source of food he had found, and it was then that he realized something more astonishing: nobody else had ever been able to catch fish in that pond – I don’t remember if it had been poisoned by Communist soldiers or if it was too small to support a school of fish, but whatever the case, this 20th Century pastor realized that he had experienced nothing short of a daily miracle!

 

In the passage in Matthew before us today, there is nothing new. We have seen all these miracles before –healings, exorcisms, and multiplication of fish and bread, but I want to try to look at these miracles with new eyes and consider well how we can trust God Almighty to take care of our needs.

Exposition

15:29 And having transitioned from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up the hill, He sat down[1] there.

Και μεταβας εκειθεν ‘ο Ιησους ηλθεν παρα την θαλασσαν της Γαλιλαιας και αναβας εις το ορος εκαθητο εκει

 

15:30 And many crowds approached Him, having with themselves crippled, blind, mute, maimed and many other [folks], and they dropped them off by the feet of Jesus. And He healed them,

και προσηλθον αυτω οχλοι πολλοι εχοντες μεθ’ εαυτων χωλους τυφλους κωφους κυλλους[2] και ‘ετερους πολλους και ερριψαν αυτους παρα τους ποδας του Ιησου[3] και εθεραπευσεν αυτους

 

15:31 so that the crowds marveled as they saw mute men talking, maimed men healthy, crippled men walking around, and blind men seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel!

ωστε τους οχλους[4] θαυμασαι βλεποντας κωφους [5] λαλουντας κυλλους υγιεις [6] χωλους περιπατουντας και τυφλους βλεποντας και εδοξασαν[7] τον θεον Ισραηλ

 

15:32 Then Jesus summoned His disciples and said, “I am feeling compassion on this crowd, since it has already been three days they have been remaining with me, and they don’t have [anything] – what shall they eat?, and I am not willing to send them away without dinner, lest they faint on the road!”

‘Ο δε Ιησους προσκαλεσαμενος τους μαθητας αυτου-KWΘ ειπεν Σπλαγχνιζομαι επι τον οχλον ‘οτι ηδη ημεραι[8] τρεις προσμενουσιν μοι και ουκ εχουσιν τί[9] φαγωσιν και απολυσαι αυτους νηστεις ου θελω μηποτε εκλυθωσιν[10] εν τη ‘οδω

 

15:33 Then His disciples say to Him, “Where in [this] desert would this many bread-loaves be for us, so as to satisfy this much of a crowd?”

Και λεγουσιν αυτω ‘οι μαθηται αυτου[11] Ποθεν ημιν εν ερημια αρτοι τοσουτοι ωστε χορτασαι οχλον τοσουτον

 

15:34 And Jesus said to them, “How many bread-loaves do y’all have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

Και λεγει αυτοις ‘ο Ιησους Ποσους αρτους εχετε; ‘Οι δε ειπον[12] ‘Επτα και ολιγα ιχθυδια

 

15:35 Then He ordered the crowds to recline upon the ground,

και εκελευσεν[13] τω οχλω[14] αναπεσειν επι την γην

 

15:36 and, taking the seven bread-loaves and the fish, He gave thanks, broke and gave [them] to His disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.

και λαβων[16] τους ‘επτα αρτους και τους ιχθυας ευχαριστησας εκλασεν και εδωκεν[17] τοις μαθηταις [αυτου[18]] ‘οι δε μαθηται τοις οχλοις[19]

 

15:37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the surplus of the pieces: seven full hampers!

και εφαγον παντες και εχορτασθησαν και ηραν το περισσευον των κλασματων ‘επτα σπυριδας πληρεις

 

15:38 yet the men who were eating numbered four thousand – apart from women and children!

‘οι δε εσθιοντες ησαν [20] τετρακισχιλιοι ανδρες χωρις γυναικων και παιδιων

Conclusion: What can we learn from this story?

  1. Don’t forget the POWER of Jesus.
  2. Don’t forget the COMPASSION of Jesus.
  1. Don’t forget to trust Him to provide for your needs.
  1. Remember to look to Jesus to meet your spiritual needs
  1. Remember to thank God for His providence.


[1] The imperfect tense of the Greek verb indicates that Jesus continued sitting there.

[2] Jesus was the only person in the Bible who used this word. It is not in the LXX, but only here and in Matt. 18:8 (and its parallel passage in Mark 9:43) where it describes someone who has cut their foot off to keep from sinning with it. Both here and in ch. 18, it is laid side-by-side with kwlous (“crippled/lame”) as though the two are similar conditions.

[3] The Critical editions read “his” (αυτου) instead of “of Jesus,” since the only support for Jesus’ name found in the Majority, Byzantine, and Textus Receptus is C, K, P, W, Γ, Δ, and f1. The object is Jesus from the context, whether explicitly-stated or not, so there is no difference in meaning.

[4] All the English translations I read rendered this word singular, following the Critical editions, but I am following the Byz., Maj., and T.R. text here, which is plural, following B, L, and W, which is also followed by the Vulgate, Syriac, and Middle-Egyptian translations from around the 5th Century.

[5] A number of early Greek manuscripts (B, N, O, Σ, Φ) add a word here which means “hearing,” but it isn’t included in any editions of the Greek New Testament that I know of.

[6] The Critical editions have an “and” here, but no explanation why.

[7] K, L, M, and f1 spell this word in the Imperfect tense, which is a way of indicating past tense, just as the Aorist in the Majority indicates past tense. The Imperfect spelling, however, is not in any of the editions of the GNT.

[8] Textus Receptus reads ημερας - Accusative instead of Nominative. The spelling of its numerical adjective “three” can be either Accusative or Nominative. The Nominative seems incongruous since the length of the stay is not related to the subject “they/the crowd,” but I won’t argue with the vast majority of Greek manuscripts, and the translation is the same either way. (A.T. Robertson called it a “parenthetic nominative.”)

[9] Scholars agree that this is an interrogative followed by a subjunctive verb, rather than an indefinite pronoun followed by an infinitive verb (like most English translations render it), so I have translated it literally “what shall they eat?”

[10] Lit. “loosen outward” Could be a physical faint (NIV=collapse) due to lack of food or overwork, or an emotional despair. Although common in the LXX, it’s in only two other places in the N.T. (outside of this statement by Jesus): Gal. 6:9 and Heb. 12:3-5.

[11] Not found in C, B, T, or f13 and thus not in the Vulgate or the Critical editions, but I don’t think that is strong enough support to throw it out.

[12] Critical editions use alternate spelling (ειπαν) without explanation. It has the same parsing, so no difference in translation.

[13] Critical editions, following א, B, D, Θ, f1 and f13 substitute the less-authoritative synonym παραγγειλας (directedNAS/ toldNIV) from Mark’s parallel account. Ekeleusen, is the word used by Matthew in the feeding of the 5,000 (Mt. 14:19).

[14] Plural in T.R. and Byz./Maj., following C, L, and W, but there is much early support for singular, and Vulgate and 5th Century Middle Egyptian translate singular, and even KJV translates singular. However, it doesn’t make much difference – both “crowd” and “crowds” mean a lot of people.

[15] Cf. other passages when people assumed this position to eat: Mark 6:40; 8:6; Luke 11:37; 14:10; 17:7; 22:14; John 6:10; 13:12; 13:25; 21:20.

[16] Critical editions make this verb Aorist and place the “and” at the beginning of the verse to go before “gave thanks,” based on early manuscripts א, B, D, Θ, f1 and f13. Although not changing the meaning, the Majority reading works better grammatically (which may be the reason the editors of the Critical edition didn’t opt for it).

[17] Critical editions read Imperfect (εδιδου) instead of Aorist, following א, B, D, Θ, and f13. Either way it’s past tense, the only difference being emphasis on one action (Aorist) or on repeated action (Imperfect).

[18] In Byz., Maj, and T.R., but not in a lot of key early manuscripts (א, B, D, Θ, f1 and f13), so not in Critical editions.

[19] Singular in Maj. and T.R. editions, following manuscripts C, D, W, and Θ, and translated singular in Vulgate, KJV, NKJ, NASB, and NIV. Critical and Byzantine editions agree on plural “crowds” following many key early manuscripts (א, B, K, L, f1 and f13), and ESV renders plural in English. As with footnote #12, it makes no difference in meaning. The NASB seems to slip from translating the word “crowd” as it does in vs. 30, 31, 33, and uses the word “people” instead in vs. 35 & 36, then goes back to “crowd” in v. 39. It normally reserves the use of the English word “people” to denote an ethnic group.

[20] Some significant early manuscripts (א, B, Θ, and f13) add a form of ‘ως (“about/approximately”) before the number, but not even the Critical editions print it. It’s in the account of the feeding of the 5,000, though (Mt. 14:21).

[21] In addition, we shouldn’t take for granted His daily power shown in mudane graces: “God's wonderful works which happen daily are lightly esteemed, not because they are of no import but because they happen so constantly and without interruption. Man is used to the miracle that God rules the world and upholds all creation, and because things daily run their appointed course, it seems insignificant, and no man thinks it worth his while to meditate upon it and to regard it as God's wonderful work, and yet it is a greater wonder than that Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves and made wine from water.” ~Martin Luther, Day by Day We Magnify Thee.