sister-in-law was forbidden (Lev. 18: 16). Antipas had put away his own lawful wife,

who was the daughter of king Aretas, and the gross immorality was the cause of the

Baptist's sharp rebuke. Not only did this arouse the enmity of Herod, but also Herodias

for trying to induce Antipas to put her away. Her hatred of the Baptist was implacable,

hence her pressure on Herod to murder him. Now that Herod needed much urging, but he

was afraid of the people (Matt. 14: 5).

Thus the greatest of the prophets met his end through being faithful to the Lord and

His Word. The account is given in verses 6-12, and we can imagine the fiendish delight

of Herodias, for a woman scorned can be a veritable demon.

When the Lord Jesus heard this, He withdrew to a desert place apart, crossing the lake.

But the people evidently were not to be put off, for they must have gone round by land to

find Him once more. There were more than 5,000 of them and the disciples were

concerned that they needed food, but the Lord's concern was even greater and He puts

the disciples to the test by saying:

All the four Gospels relate this miracle, each adding details; and it is the only one that

occurs in all the four. It is John who tells us that there was a lad who had five loaves of

barley bread, and it was Andrew who pointed him out. The disciples tell the Lord that all

the food they had was "five loaves and two fishes". One can almost feel that they

thought, what is the use of this to feed the crowd of people? They did not realize that

they had the Creator of the universe standing in their midst. The Lord then bids them to

bring the food to Him. He then tells the people to recline on the grass in groups. Mark

tells us they were groups of hundreds and fifties. This orderly arrangement made it easier

to feed them and also to count their number.

The Lord now gives thanks, breaking the thin Jewish loaves and giving them to the

disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  While the Lord's miraculous power

multiplied the food it was not distributed miraculously, although He could have made this

to happen if He had so willed. The disciples have a part to play and they distribute the

food, which increased as long as increase was needed.

In all the four narratives the fragments of food are gathered up for future use. Nothing

was wasted. This was done by Christ's command, as John relates, and thus He who

could feed thousands does not countenance waste. This can never be justified even when

the need was supplied so superabundantly.

What effect had this stupendous miracle on the crowd that was present? It was mixed,

for John records the action of some of them:

But the next day the Lord had to say to many of them: