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sorry; nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him 10 at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded

er to the king, but the bloody request she made with apparent heartiness would indicate that she was older in years and in wickedness.

9. The king was sorry. Tetrarchs were sometimes called by this title. According to Mark, he was 66 exceeding sorry." This might have been occasioned by his respect for John, Mark vi. 20, or the reproof of a not wholly deadened conscience, or his fear of a popular commotion. His sorrow, however, was of no very salutary kind, for it did not result in repentance, or arrest the sinful deed. Few are so bad as not to be more or less sorry for the commission of a wicked act, but yet they go on and consummate it.-Oath's sake. This was the first cause of the subsequent crime. Herod had been ensnared into a rash promise which he had sealed with an oath. The true way then open before him was to avoid doing wrong, even at the cost of breaking his promise. As it was wrong to make the promise, much more was it wrong to keep it. No promise or oath could justify murder. But probably Herod feared lest his honor might be wounded, rather than that the sacredness of an oath would be violated. Honor, falsely so called, has led to many monstrous deeds. Them which sat with him at meat. This was the second cause of the crime. His guests around reinforced the request of Salome, or we may suppose that he felt a reluctance to break his word in their presence. It is probable that John was obnoxious to them, as well as to Herod and Herodias, for he had not spared sinners in high places."In how dispassionate a manner and with what uncommon can

dor does Matthew relate this most atrocious action! No exclamation! No exaggeration! No invective! There is no allowance which even the friend of Herod would have urged in extenuation of his guilt, that his historian is not ready to make. 'He was sorry; nevertheless, from a regard to his oath, and his guests.""

10. Sent and beheaded John. What a picture of the violence and cruelty of the age! A prophet of God, without accusation, or trial, or sentence, or previous notice, is slain in the prison to which the pique of a licentious woman and the injustice of her paramour had consigned him. No wonder the unquiet conscience of Herod suggested that the Great Wonderworker was the prisoner whom he had beheaded, and who was now risen from the dead, to do mighty works.-Josephus, though not favorable to Christianity, has incidentally given powerful confirmations to the truth of its history. I will adduce two instances; one relating to the character of Herodias, and the other to that of John. Josephus says of Herodias, "She was a woman full of ambition and envy, having a mighty influence on Herod, and able to persuade him to things he was not at all inclined to do." And respecting John, that "some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army [in the war with Aretas] came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another and

John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and giv- 11 en to the damsel; and she brought it to her mother.. And his disci- 12 ples came and took up the body, and buried it; and went and told Jesus.- -When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a 13 desert place apart; and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude; and was moved 14

piety towards God, and so come to baptism."

11. His head was brought, &c. Mark informs us that Herod sent an executioner immediately, who went and beheaded John in prison. If Herod was at this time at Tiberias, the city in which his court was usually held, an interval of more than a day must have occurred before the head was brought from Machærus, where John was imprisoned.-Brought it to her mother. What a gift from a daughter to a mother! The head of one of God's greatest prophets! Herodias had now an opportunity of gratifying her resentment, and being assured that her enemy was dead. But this awful crime did not go unpunished. As already mentioned by Josephus, the army of Herod was defeated by Aretas, whose daughter he had divorced to take Herodias. Both Herod and his wife were afterwards deprived of their kingdom and banished into Gaul, and afterwards to Spain, where he died; while Salome, if we may credit Nicephorus, an early writer, was killed during their exile in attempting to cross a river on the ice.

12. Buried it. Or, as Mark says, "laid it in a tomb."-Went and told Jesus. As Jesus had been a friend of their master, and they had previously been sent with messages to him, they are naturally drawn to him by friendship and spiritual ties. Probably some of them became his disciples.

13-21. Parallel to Mark vi. 31 -44. Luke ix. 10-17. John vi. 1-13. The narrative dropped at verse 3 is here resumed, after the digression to relate the history of John's death.

13. Heard of it, i. e. not of the death of John, for that took place long before, but that Herod had had report of him, verse 3.-Departed thence by ship into a desert place apart, i. e. into a country comparatively uncultivated and uninhabited. From Luke we learn, that it was near the city of Bethsaida, and from John, that it was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee and beyond the jurisdiction of Herod, in the dominion of Philip. Several reasons may be assigned for Jesus' withdrawal. He would not trust himself in the power of the fox-like Herod, who desired to see him. He had not yet completed his ministry, and he would not rashly expose himself to danger, or give the people an opportunity to raise a tumult in his name and endeavor to make him king.-Followed him on foot. Or, as Mark has it, "ran afoot." This word is not used in contrast with riding, as would at first appear, but in contrast with going by sea or ship. Jesus sailed across the lake, whilst the people went round by land to the place where he went ashore.

14. Jesus went forth, &c. From John's account we learn that Jesus had gone up into a mountain apart with his disciples, probably for rest and seclusion, and when

15 with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.—And

when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying: This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that 16 they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Je17 sus said unto them: They need not depart ; give ye them to eat. And 18 they say unto him: We have here but five loaves and two fishes. He 19 said: Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude

to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and, looking up to heaven, he blessed; and brake, and gave the loaves

he saw the people "as sheep not having a shepherd," Mark vi. 34, that he was immediately prompted to go forth, forgetful of his own fatigue, to heal their sick, and preach the Gospel. For their teachers were "blind leaders of the blind," and they needed some one to enlighten their ignorance, and guide them into ways of peace and pleasantness, into green pastures and by the side of still waters. The Good Shepherd looked with pity upon those thus wandering and lost.

15. When it was evening. The Jews had two evenings, one corresponding in some measure to our afternoon, beginning at three o'clock and ending at six; the other answered to our evening or night, and began at six o'clock. This kind of evening was spoken of in verse 23.The time is now past, i. e. the hour is late. It was near night; and the multitude, hungry and weary, required refreshment, which the disciples said they could procure in the neighboring villages.

16. They need not depart, &c. John relates the conversation between Jesus and Philip, in which the Master put his disciple's faith to the proof by asking him, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" knowing himself that he should work a miracle to satisfy their wants. He would cultivate an implicit faith in his followers, and therefore says to them, "Give

ye them to eat ;" though they had but five loaves and two fishes.

17. John vi. 8, 9. A lad in attendance had all the food in their possession; and what was that among so many? What were five loaves and two fishes, to five thousand men, besides women and children? The loaves were made of barley, and the fishes were probably from the neighboring lake, which supplied the surrounding population. The bread used among the Jews was not baked in the form of our loaves, but rather in that of cakes or biscuits. Hence they were never cut with a knife, but broken; see verse 19, and Mat. xxvi. 26.

19. To sit down on the grass, i. e. to recline, after the eastern custom when about to partake of food. The mention of the grass, and, by Mark, of "the green grass," and, by John, that "there was much grass in the place," is one of those natural particularities that mark an eyewitness of the scene, or one that received his account from an eyewitness. The grass spoken of shows that this was not a barren desert, but only an uncultivated region, probably devoted to pasturage. The other Evangelists state that they were seated in companies, by fifties and hundreds, which enabled them to be easily counted.-Looking up to heaven, he blessed. made a prayer of thanksgiving over

He

to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all 20 eat, and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thou- 21 sand men, beside women and children.

the food about to be distributed; a manifestation of the piety of Jesus and his sense of dependence on God. He blessed God for the food. The custom of grace before and after eating was universal among the Jews. The form was in these words: "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, who hast produced this food from the earth, (or this drink from the vine)." The fact that Jesus often prayed is an evidence that he is not God, but the Son of God.

20. And they did all eat, and were filled, i. e. they had a sufficiency, an important consideration to substantiate the miracle.-Twelve baskets full. The word in the original, cophini, is found in classic writers, where it appears to signify a hamper or pannier, such as the Jews were accustomed to carry about with them in their wanderings in Gentile countries, where they received but little hospitality and were obliged to furnish their own bedding and food, fearing also, perhaps, that they should be polluted by that of the Gentiles. Jesus had directed them to gather up the fragments that remained, that nothing might be lost, John vi. 12, 13; where the fragments are spoken of as what remained of the five barley loaves, but in Mark, as resulting from the fishes also. The capacity of the baskets is not known, probably they were such as the disciples carried with them in their journeys. And it has been suggested that each Apostle filled his basket with the fragments, thus making twelve

in number. Although there was a profusion of food miraculously created, yet the fragments were gathered up with as much care as from an ordinary meal, and a lesson of frugality indirectly taught by him whose most common acts were pregnant with meaning and truth. Nothing could more strongly impress them with the sense of the astonishing miracle than finding that far more remained, after so many thousands had eaten, than there was at first.

21. Five thousand men, &c. Their arrangement in companies of fifties and hundreds made it easy to count them. A miraculous increase of food is also related in 1 Kings xvii. 16, 2 Kings iv. 42-44, though in much smaller quantity. It is interesting to notice that Jesus adapted his miracles, as he did his instructions, to different classes of persons; some to his disciples, and some, as in this case, to a vast multitude. Few miracles could be less exposed to cavil than this, which addressed not only the eye, but satisfied the appetite of thousands. What could have been more morally sublime, or a higher proof of divine authority, than the creation so suddenly of an immense quantity of food, to relieve the famishing crowd? What then shall we say of that Providence which supplies the wants of a dependent universe, and every moment diffuses life and happiness throughout millions of beings and worlds? The effect of the miracle is described in John vi. 14, 15.

22-36. Mark vi. 45-56. John vi. 14-21.

22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes 23 away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a

mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was 24 there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed

22. Constrained his disciples, &c. Perhaps the disciples favored the multitude in their desire to take Jesus and make him king, and Jesus was obliged therefore to be peremptory in sending them away, as he could more easily dismiss the people without their presence. The other side, i. e. the west side of the lake, according to Mark, "unto Bethsaida," whilst John says, they "went over the sea, toward Capernaum." Both are correct, as another Bethsaida was on the western side of the lake, whilst they were near one on the eastern side. Capernaum was also on the north-west side.-Sent the multitudes away. It would seem that he had acquired such complete ascendancy over the people, that he could dismiss them without difficulty when freed from the perhaps embarrassing presence of his ambitious disciples.

23. Went up into a mountain apart to pray. An eminence that probably overlooked the lake. He had just given a manifestation of his benevolence by feeding the fainting multitude; he now exhibits his piety by communing with God; so intimate is the union between love to man and love to his Maker. It is noticeable, that he retires apart to pray, agreeably to his direction of seclusion in performing this act, Mat. vi. 6. He retires to a mountain, " where inviolate stillness dwelt," and where "the spirit of the solitude fell solemnly" upon the breast. He had just passed through a critical passage of his life, and he turns to offer his thanksgivings to

God; the Holiest on earth adoring the Holiest in heaven.

"Cold mountains and the midnight air
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer."

What a beautiful example of trust and love towards God, of the obligations and pleasures of prayer and secret communion, is here offered to our imitation! If, too, it was necessary and delightful to Jesus to refresh his spiritual being with these communings with Heaven, how much more is it needful for us, enveloped in the smoke and din of the earth! "It is extraordinary, that these frequent accounts of Jesus' praying to God should not have prevented any idea of his being himself God. For, if he had been God, he could not have had any occasion to pray. That his human nature prayed to his divine nature, or that one part of himself prayed to the other part, is too absurd to be replied to."-The evening was come. This is the second evening, as that mentioned in verse 15 was the first, according to the Jewish method of computing time.-He was there alone, yet not alone, for the Father was with him.

"He was there alone'-when even

Had round earth its mantle thrown;
Holding intercourse with Heaven.
'He was there alone.'

"There his inmost heart's emotion
Made he to his Father known;
In the spirit of devotion,
Musing there alone.'

"So let us, from earth retiring,

Seek our God and Father's throne; And to other scenes aspiring, Train our hearts alone.'""

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