Send the Multitudes Away - Matthew 14:15

Matthew the apostle shared how Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist and He, “departed there by ship into a 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 with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick”, and in chapter fourteen and verse fifteen of his book, Matthew wrote how Jesus' disciples told Him to, “send the multitudes away” where we read:

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 they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

The verse reads, “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past;” Matthew began with the words, “and when” which means “and at the time” “it was evening” which means “it was late in the day and toward the beginning of night”, “his disciples” or “Jesus' students, pupils and attendants” “came to him” which means “approached Jesus”, “saying” or “uttering, declaring and proclaiming”, “This is a desert place” or “the place where Jesus, His disciples and the multitude were was solitary, lonely, desolate and uninhabited” “and the time is now past” which means “and the daytime is almost over and the setting of the sun was upon them”. Matthew shared how the night was upon Jesus, His disciples and the crowd, and the disciples approached Jesus to remind Him of the time and their location.

The verse continues, “send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.” Matthew added the word, “send” which means “let go, set free and dismiss” “the multitude away” or “the crowd of people”, “that they may go” which means “so the people may depart” “into the villages” or “to the cities, towns and habitations”, “and buy themselves victuals” which refers to “the people purchasing meat and food”. Matthew shared how the disciples decided that Jesus should let the people go to nearby towns and “villages” to buy “food” to eat.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we see the concern the disciples have for the physical needs of the multitudes. Their solution was to “let the people go” to buy food from towns and villages nearby. People always have a “physical” solution in mind for managing problems, and although the disciples were correct in their assessment of their environment and situation, they did not factor in that Jesus was with them. God always has a plan, and when there is a tendency to find a “physical” solution to situations and circumstances, those who are wise will factor in God whose solution may be one which has never been thought of before.

Next time we see Matthew shares how Jesus tells His disciples, “give you them to eat”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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