Matthew 16:8

Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) O ye of little faith.—Our Lord reproves not the want of discernment which made them slow to receive the meaning of the similitude, but their want of faith. The discernment depended (in part, at least) on imaginative power, or acquired culture, for the lack of which they were not responsible. But their memory of the manner in which their wants had been twice supplied might at least have taught them that no such case of extreme necessity, such as they pictured to themselves, was likely to arise while He was with them, and therefore that their gross carnal interpretation of His words could not possibly be the true one. Memory in this case should have been an aid to faith, and faith, in its turn, would have quickened spiritual discernment.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:5-12 Christ speaks of spiritual things under a similitude, and the disciples misunderstand him of carnal things. He took it ill that they should think him as thoughtful about bread as they were; that they should be so little acquainted with his way of preaching. Then understood they what he meant. Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Take heed ... - That is, be cautious, be on your guard.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees - Leaven is used in making bread.

It passes secretly, silently, but certainly through the mass of dough. See the notes at Matthew 13:33. "None can see its progress." So it was with the doctrines of the Pharisees. They were insinuating, artful, plausible. They concealed the real tendency of their doctrines; they instilled them secretly into the mind, until they pervaded all the faculties like leaven.

They reasoned ... - The disciples did not understand him as referring to the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, because the word "leaven" was not often used among the Jews to denote doctrines, no other instance of this use of the word occurring in the Scriptures. Besides, the Jews had many particular rules about the leaven (yeast) which might be used in making bread. Many held that it was not lawful to eat bread made by the Gentiles; and the disciples, perhaps, supposed that he was cautioning them not to procure a supply from the Pharisees and Sadducees.

O ye of little faith! - Jesus, in reply, said that they should not be so anxious about the supply of their temporal wants. They should not have supposed, after the miracles that he had performed in feeding so many, that he would caution them to be anxious about procuring bread for their necessities. It was improper, then, for them to reason about a thing like that, but they should have supposed that he referred to something more important. The miracles had been full proof that he could supply all their wants without such anxiety.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 16

Mt 16:1-12. A Sign from Heaven Sought and Refused—Caution against the Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

For the exposition, see on [1315]Mr 8:11-21.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 16:12".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which when Jesus perceived,.... Without hearing any of their debates, but by his omniscience; for he knew the doubts and unbelief, and anxious solicitude of their minds, as well as their private reasonings one with another:

he said unto them, O ye of little faith; a phrase used upon a like occasion, when he would dissuade his disciples from an anxious distressing care about a livelihood, Matthew 6:30; see Gill on Matthew 6:30,

why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? blaming one another for your negligence and forgetfulness in this matter; distressing your minds, as if you should be famished and starved, because ye have not brought a quantity of bread, as you used to do with you.

Geneva Study Bible

Which when Jesus {d} perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

(d) Not by others, but by virtue of his divinity.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 16:8. ὀλιγόπιστοι: always thinking about bread, bread, instead of the kingdom and its fortunes, with which alone the Master was occupied.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 16:8. Τί διαλογίζεσθε, why reason ye)[720] Man imputes more grievously to himself a defect in the care of outward things, to which God most easily accords indulgence. Faith’s mode of estimating is of a higher kind.—ὈΛΙΓΌΠΙΣΤΟΙ, O ye of little faith) It is easy to fall, from want of faith, not only into doubts and fears, but also into errors of interpretation and other mistakes, and even forgetfulness.[721]

[720] Men pass a considerable part of their time, day and night, in turbulent thoughts.—V. g.

[721] By the setting forth of the caution concerning the leaven, the smallness of the faith of the disciples, who were disquieted concerning bread, was betrayed: but that faith the Lord subsequently strengthened, by reminding them of His having twice fed to the full so many thousands.—Harm., p. 347.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - When Jesus perceived (γνούς). He knew their thoughts, if he did not overhear their words, and he reproved them severely on two accounts - first, for want of faith in his care; and secondly, for not understanding the mystical allusion in the word "leaven." Ye of little faith. They showed lack of faith by being solicitous concerning bodily wants, thinking that Christ was regardless of, or unable to provide for them under all circumstances. He applied the same term to them elsewhere, as when they apprehended not the lesson of the grass of the field (Matthew 6:30), and when they were fearful in the storm on the lake (Matthew 8:26). Matthew 16:8