Matthew 14:20

Sunday, 23 November 2025

 

So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Matthew 14:20

 

“And they ate all, and they gorged, and they lifted the superabounding pieces – twelve handbaskets full” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Jesus prayed over the bread and fish and gave them to the disciples. They, in turn, gave to the multitudes. Now, after the people were satisfied, it says, “And they ate all, and they gorged.”

 

It is an amazing sentiment. From five small loaves and two small fish, the entire multitude ate to the point of being gorged! The word, chortazó, to gorge, has only been seen one time so far –

 

“Blessed – those famishing and thirsting righteousness,
For they – they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

 

These multitudes had rushed around the Sea of Galilee while Jesus took the boat across, anxious to hear more from Him. This was in the morning, and they had stayed until later in the day, not focusing on food, but on the powerful words of Jesus.

 

Certainly, they were famishing and thirsting for righteousness. And by the time they were done, they had received His miracles, His healings, His words of righteousness, and a feast on which they gorged themselves to satisfaction! With the feeding complete, Matthew next records, “and they lifted the superabounding fragments.”

 

John 6:12 adds, “So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’” The disciples were told to go around and gather up anything left over from the meal. The word klasma, a piece or fragment, is introduced here. It is derived from the verb klaó of the previous verse, which referred to Jesus breaking the bread after having blessed it.

 

Jesus had broken these small loaves and fishes. From there, they were handed out to the people, as much as they could eat. After that, there were broken leftovers scattered throughout the multitudes, which the disciples then went and collected. Having done this, it next says the result was “twelve handbaskets full.”

 

Another new word is seen, kophinos, a small basket. The derivation of the word is unknown, but Ellicott, citing Juvenal, “describes the Jews of Italy as travelling with ‘their cophinus and a wisp of hay,’ by way of pillow, as their only luggage.” Thus, it was certainly a small basket used for carrying things as one traveled.

 

There were enough bread fragments lying around to fill twelve of these.

 

Life application: The account concerning the feeding of the multitudes is plain, clear, and sufficiently detailed to leave little room for speculation on what occurred. How it occurred, meaning how the bread was multiplied, is something we don’t know. It happened, and it was miraculous.

 

Having said that, here are a couple of the ways people have tried to dismiss the miracle, as cited from Myers’ New Testament Commentary –

 

“To explain away the miracle, as Paulus has done (who thinks that the hospitable example of Jesus may have induced the people to place at His disposal the provisions they had brought along with them; ... is inconsistent with the accounts of all the evangelists, and especially with that of the eye-witness John.”

 

“Schenkel thinks he sees his way to an explanation by supposing what is scarcely possible, viz. that Jesus fed the multitude with a rich supply of the bread of life from heaven, which caused them to forget their ordinary food, though at the same time He devoutly consecrated for their use the provisions which they had brought with them, or had managed to procure for the present emergency.”

 

These and other excuses they reference for how the miracle can be dismissed have no basis in any reality. There is nothing in the biblical account to justify a word of what they claim. In other words, simply to dismiss the miraculous nature of what it clearly and precisely recorded, these false scholars insert nonsense into what the Bible presents, making things up out of their own demented heads.

 

Be careful when reading commentaries. The intent of many of them is to attempt to sound smart and educated while tearing apart what Scripture clearly presents. There are times when translations miss the mark on properly presenting what is detailed in the manuscripts, but outside of translations by several cults, these are not usually intentional perversions of reality.

 

Hold fast to what the Bible says. Accept that God can do the miraculous and that when He does, it is to make a point for us to understand what He is doing in the stream of time to reveal His caring affection for His people as displayed in the sending of Jesus to bring us back to Himself.

 

Lord God, help us to be people of faith, not attempting to outsmart You and what is recorded in Your word. Give us wisdom to accept what it says about creation, the fall of man, the process of redemption, the presentation of miracles, and all other things recorded there, taking them at face value. You are God. Your word is truth. May we accept this, reveling in what is recorded there. Amen.