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).
Cross-references
Matthew 14:22-33 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes a…
John 6:15-21 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alo…
Mark 6:32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
Mark 8:22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Matthew 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they wo…
Luke 10:13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 6:45–end
This passage of story we had Mat 14:22, etc., only what was there related concerning Peter, is omitted here. Here we have,
I. The dispersing of the assembly; Christ constrained his disciples to go before by ship to Bethsaida, intending to follow them, as they supposed, by land. The people were loth to scatter, so that it cost him some time and pains to send them away. For now that they had got a good supper, they were in no haste to leave him. But as long as we are here in this world, we have no continuing city, no not in communion with Christ. The everlasting feast is reserved for the future state.
II. Christ departed into a mountain, to pray. Observe, 1. He prayed; though he had so much pr…
To the other side before unto Bethsaida - John says, Joh 6:17, to Capernaum. It is probable our Lord ordered them to steer to one or other of these two places, which were about four miles distant, and on the same side of the sea of Galilee.
John Gill on Mark 6:45
And straightway he constrained his disciples,.... The reasons of this is See Gill on Matthew 14:22,
to get into the ship; in which they came to this place, and which was waiting for them:
and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida; or rather "to go to the other side over against Bethsaida"; for they were now in a desert belonging to that city, wherefore they were ordered to go, and did go to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, even to Capernaum, as appears from John 6:17;
while he sent away the people; See Gill on Matthew 14:22.
John Calvin on Mark 6:45-52
Mark 6:45-52
Matthew 14:22-33
Mark 6:45-52
22. And immediately Jesus constrained his disciples to embark, and to go before him to the opposite bank, till he had sent away the multitudes. 23. And when he had sent away the multitudes, he went up into a mountain alone to pray; and when the evening came, he was there alone. 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the wind was contrary. 25. And about the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. 26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, It is an apparition, and cried out for fear. 27. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take courage; it…
The Church Fathers
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He dismisses indeed the people with His blessing and with some cures. But He constrained His disciples, because they could not without pain separate themselves from Him, and that, not only on account of the very great affection which they had for Him, but also because they were at a loss how He would join them.
(in Marc. 2, 27) But it is with reason that we wonder how Mark says, that after the miracle of the loaves the disciples crossed the sea of Bethsaida, when Luke relates that the miracle was done in the parts of Bethsaida, unless we understand that Luke means by the desert which is Bethsaida not the country immediately around the town, but the desert places belonging to it. (Luke 9:10.) But when Mark says that they should go before unto Bethsaida, the town itself is meant. It goes on: And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
The Savior thus compelled the disciples to enter into the boat of testing and to go before him to the other side, so to learn victoriously to pass through difficulties. But when they got in the middle of the sea, and of the waves in the temptation, and of the contrary winds which prevented them from going away to the other side, they were not able, struggling as they were, to overcome the waves and the contrary wind and reach the other side without Jesus. In this way the Word, taking compassion upon those who had done all that was in their power to reach the other side, came to them walking upon the sea, which for him had no waves or wind.
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
Bethsaida — House of fish. (1.) A town in Galilee, on the west side of the sea of Tiberias, in the “land of Gennesaret.” It was the native place of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, and was frequently resorted to by…
Bethsaida · .Jesus visits — .Jesus visits
Galilee · Modern towns of: Bethsaida — Modern towns of: Bethsaida
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).
This story is a manifestation of Jesus’ glory to the disciples (6:48-50). It is also a rescue story (6:47-48, 51) and a story about the disciples’ lack of understanding (6:51-52).
6:45-46 The disciples proceeded to Bethsaida, the home of Peter and Andrew (John 1:44), while Jesus dismissed the crowd and went apart to pray. Jesus was a man of prayer (Mark 1:35) and urged his disciples to pray (see 14:38).
