to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
come
γίνομαιgínomai
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate)
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
disciples
μαθηταὶmathētai
G3101
a learner · noun — nominative plural masculine
down
κατέβησανkatebēsan
G2597
to descend (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
unto
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
sea
θάλασσαν,thalassan
G2281
the sea (genitive case or specially) · noun — accusative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 6:15-21
Here is, I. Christ's retirement from the multitude.
1. Observe what induced him to retire; because he perceived that those who acknowledged him to be that prophet that should come into the world would come, and take him by force, to make him a king, Joh 6:15. Now here we have an instance,
(1.) Of the irregular zeal of some of Christ's followers; nothing would serve but they would make him a king. Now, [1.] This was an act of zeal for the honour of Christ, and against the contempt which the ruling part of the Jewish church put upon him. They were concerned to see so great a benefactor to the world so little esteemed in it; and therefore, since royal titles are counted the most illustrious, th…
when even was come--(See on Mar 6:35).
entered into a ship--"constrained" to do so by their Master (Mat 14:22; Mar 6:45), in order to put an end to the misdirected excitement in His favor (Joh 6:15), into which the disciples themselves may have been somewhat drawn. The word "constrained" implies reluctance on their part, perhaps from unwillingness to part with their Master and embark at night, leaving Him alone on the mountain.
went--rather, "were proceeding."
toward Capernaum--Mark says (Mar 6:45), "unto Bethsaida," meaning "Bethsaida of Galilee" (Joh 12:21), on the west side of the lake. The place they left was of the same name (see on Mar 6:32).
Jesus was not come to them--They pr…
Take him by force, to make him a king - The Jews had often suffered by famine in those times in which their enemies were permitted to prevail over them; but, finding that Jesus had such power as to multiply a few loaves to feed thousands, they took it for granted that while he was at their head no evil could possibly happen to them, and therefore were determined immediately to proclaim him king, and rid themselves at once of Herod and the Romans. Our Lord perceiving this, either by some words which they had dropped, or by his penetration of their hearts, retired before the project had been fully formed, or could be put into execution. It was not till a considerable time afterwards that even…
The Church Fathers
Behold, Jesus is on the mountain, and the disciples are in the ship. He on the mountain is on high, and they on the sea are on the low level. And yet He left them not who was at a distance from them: just as also He leaves not us (for with Him is our hope), even in that we are delayed in this body, until the end of the world come. And with the ship on the sea the blast rose mightily, and they were tormented by the tossing. It cannot be that the faith of Christ is without tempest in this world. Much presumption truly is there in a man if he thinks to live without temptation.
What saith the apostle of the Lord Himself? "Who was made a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Melchisedec was a priest, and blessed Abraham. And who was this Melchisedec? "King of Salem." Salem was afterwards called Jerusalem. Therefore before the Jews reigned there, Melchisedec was there a priest of the most high God; of whom in Genesis very great mysteries are spoken. This Melchisedec went out to meet Abraham, and blessed him. He was a priest, for he offered bread and wine to those that had returned from the smiting of the enemy: and there Abraham gave to him tithes. Lo, our Lord, a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, because He on earth hath offered that oblation.
There is no inconsistency between Matthew and John. Matthew has told us first how Jesus commanded his disciples to embark in the little ship and to go before him to the other side of the lake until he sent the multitudes away, and then he informs us that after the multitudes were sent away [Jesus] went up into a mountain alone to pray. John mentions first that he departed to a mountain alone and then proceeds to say, "And when it became late, his disciples came down to the sea; and when they had entered into a ship, etc." For who will not perceive that in recapitulating the facts, John has spoken of something as actually done at a later point by the disciples that Jesus had already charged them to do before his own departure to the mountain?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Capernaum — Nahum’s town, a Galilean city frequently mentioned in the history of our Lord. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. After our Lord’s expulsion from Nazareth (Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 4:16-31),…
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Philip — Lover of horses. (1.) One of the twelve apostles; a native of Bethsaida, “the city of Andrew and Peter” (John 1:44). He readily responded to the call of Jesus when first addressed to him (43), and…
Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And when even was now come,.... The last of the evenings, when night was coming on; for the first of the evenings took place before they sat down to eat, when the above miracle was wrought; see Matthew 14:15.
His disciples went down unto the sea; of Galilee, or Tiberias, to the sea side; and this was by the order, and even constraint of Christ, who would have them go before him, that he might be clear of the multitude, and have an opportunity for solitary prayer, See Gill on Matthew 14:22, Mark 6:45.
John Calvin on John 6:14-21
John 6:14-21
14. Those men, therefore, when they saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, said, This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world. 15. And when Jesus knew that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he again withdrew alone into a mountain. 16. And when it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea. 17. And having entered into a ship, they came across the sea into Capernaum; and it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18. And the sea arose by means of a great wind that blew. 19. When therefore they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea; and when he approached the ship, [125] they were te…
The people were ready to force Jesus to become their king. To avoid this role, Jesus fled the crowd and commanded his disciples to go back across the lake (Mark 6:45-46).
