2. Jesus, accompanied by His disciples, having crossed the lake, a great multitude follows Him. Comparing the Synoptic Evangelists (Matt. xiv. 13, and foll.; Mark vi. 32, and foll.; Luke ix. 10, and foll.), we find that the desert near Bethsaida (Julias) on the north‐eastern side of the lake was the place to which Jesus repaired (Luke); that the multitude followed by land (πέζη = on foot, Matt., Mark); that they arrived before Him (Mark), and that He taught them for a considerable time. 3. Subiit ergo in montem 3. Jesus went therefore up Iesus: et ibi sedebat cum into a mountain, and there he discipulis suis. sat with his disciples. 3. *Jesus therefore went up into a mountain* (Gr., _the_ mountain); _i.e._, the well‐known mountain range on that side of the lake. See too in verse 15. 4. Erat autem proximum pascha, 4. Now the Pasch, the festival dies festus Iudaeorum. day of the Jews, was near at hand. 4. In the view we follow this was the third Pasch of our Lord’s public life. 5. Cum sublevasset ergo oculos 5. When Jesus therefore had Iesus, et vidisset quia lifted up his eyes, and seen multitudo maxima venit ad eum, that a very great multitude dixit ad Philippum: Unde cometh to him, he said to ememus panes, ut manducent hi? Philip: Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? 5. In the Synoptic Evangelists the disciples are represented as asking our Lord to dismiss the multitude, that they may go and procure food. We may reconcile with St. John’s account thus. They make a suggestion, as in the Synoptic Evangelists. He then turns to Philip, as in St. John. 6. Hoc autem dicebat tentans 6. And this he said to try eum: ipse enim sciebat quid him: for he himself knew what esset facturus. he would do. 6. *To try him.* “One kind of temptation leads to sin, with which God never tempts anyone; and there is another kind by which faith is tried. In this sense it is said that Christ proved His disciples. This is not meant to imply that He did not know what Philip would say, but is an accommodation to man’s way of speaking. For as the expression: _Who searcheth the hearts of men_, does not mean the searching of ignorance, but of absolute knowledge; so here, when it is said that our Lord proved Philip, we must understand that He knew him perfectly, but that He tried him in order to confirm his faith. The Evangelist himself guards against the mistake which this imperfect mode of speaking might occasion, by adding _For He Himself knew what He would do_” (St. Aug.). 7. Respondit ei Philippus: 7. Philip answered him: Two Ducentorum denariorum panes hundred pennyworth of bread is non sufficiunt eis, ut not sufficient for them, that unusquisque modicum quid every one may take a little. accipiat.