Verse by Verse

22 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men,

23 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

24 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

25 He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

26 Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

temple tax (v.24) = two drachmae — a tax of half a shekel which every Jew over 20 was expected to pay for temple upkeep — originally mentioned in Exodus 30:11-16

The Jews at the time of Christ were confused about the Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah. They recognized on the one hand that Messiah was to suffer, and on the other that Messiah would rule in power and glory. These two lines of revelation seemed to be contradictory. Jewish theology sought to harmonize the confusion by teaching the coming of two Messiahs: one to suffer and die, and the other to reign in power and glory. The disciples were not above accepting this popular conception. Christ had been speaking of a glorious kingdom in which He would rule over Israel. The three on the mount had had a revelation of that kingdom and of Christ’s glory in it; thus their attention was focused on the glory of Messiah’s reign. Like the other Jews, they could not conceive of Messiah having to suffer and die. Christ was trying to show these men that the same Messiah who would one day reign must also suffer and die. Hence, as they walked along from the slopes of Hermon to the sanctuary of Capernaum, our Lord again instructed them concerning the events that were before Him. This instruction produced two results: first, they were much confused but afraid to ask Him for further explanation (Mark 9:32); and second, they were “filled with grief” (Matthew 17:23). — Pentecost, page 262.

Jesus anticipated him (v.25) — He knew what Peter was about to say and spoke first

strangers (v.25) — those not of the royal line

He was reminding Peter (v.26) of Caesarea Philippi. There Peter had said, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now Christ said to him, This half shekel is the payment of the subjects of the King, and you have said that I am the Son. When you confessed that, you did not quite understand the dignity and glory of the fact, for now you say that I pay this half shekel. You must have recognized that there is no claim on Me to pay it, if you had understood your own declaration, and the revelation of the Mount. It is for you to pay this because you are the strangers, the subjects, the people under the rule of the King. I am the Son. 

Thus (v.27) the King brought Himself to the place of submission in order that others might not be caused to stumble. He put Himself into fellowship with Peter. Peter, you must all pay the shekel, but I will pay it with you. You must take this place of submission; I take it side by side with you. In the commonplace of life I am with you, just as I was in the glory of the Mount, where all My Kingliness was manifested; just as I will be with you in the midst of the need of the age. — Morgan, pages 226-227.

piece of money (v.27) — a silver tetradrachma, equal to a shekel, the exact amount for the tax for two people

14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying,

15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

epileptic (v.15) = the Greek word means “lunatic”

disciples (v.16) — the nine not on the mountain with Jesus

The disciples had been given authority to cast out demons in Matthew 10:8.

Christ responded “O unbelieving generation” (Mark 9:19). He addressed this to the father and to the crowd and to the teachers of the law rather than to the disciples who had been unable to heal the man. This son evidently had been brought as a test of the authority that belonged to Christ and as a test of the disciples as His representatives. The nation to whom Christ had refused to give a sign was still seeking a sign. They would not believe until they had been convinced to their satisfaction that Jesus was who He claimed to be. This confrontation was designed to provide some additional proof by which they might be persuaded; hence, Christ referred to that group as an unbelieving generation, for they had seen a multitude of signs previously and had not believed. — Pentecost, page 260.

__________

What Christ did for the demon-possessed boy was a revelation of what He could and would do for the nation Israel if they would put faith in Him. If they would turn to Him and seek deliverance, He would grant deliverance in response to their faith. Their deliverance did not depend on His ability to deliver but rather on their faith in His person. — Pentecost, page 261.

unbelief (v.20) = little faith

Verse 21 isn’t in the best manuscripts. This account is also found in Luke 9:37-43 and Mark 9:14-29. Verse 21 may have been brought over from Mark 9:29, where it is used in the same context.

Prayer is essentially an attitude of utter dependence on God. These men seem to have been trusting their previous experiences or trusting the authority that had been conferred on them instead of depending on Christ and trusting Him to perform the miracle through Him. — Pentecost, page 261.

1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;

2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”

8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.

12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.”

13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

This event is also covered in Mark 9:2-13 and Luke 9:28-36.

Peter, James, and John (v.1) — three witnesses as required by Mosaic law. John refers to it in John 1:14, Peter in 2 Peter 1:16-20.

transfigured (v.2) = changed into another form. The Greek word is used elsewhere only in Romans 12:2 (regarding grace in our lives) and 2 Corinthians 3:18 (regarding our future glory).

It was a metamorphosis, a change from within; the glory of Christ’s eternal Sonship shone out through the veil of His flesh, so that the disciples might have ocular proof of His true character as Immanuel — God and man in one person. — Ironside, page 212

His face shone (v.2) — the light shone from Him, not on Him.

The transfiguration was the fulfillment of Matthew 16:28.

This was the glory that belongs to God which was revealed in the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38). This glory was revealed again in the temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). It was that glory which departed from the temple because of Israel’s apostasy and unbelief (Ezekiel 10:18; 11:22-23). Now this glory was on the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. This glory would be revealed to Stephen (Acts 7:55-56), to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:3; 22:6, 11; 26:13), and once again to John (Revelation 1:16). This glory will be revealed to the world when Jesus Christ comes to this earth again (Matthew 24:30; 25:31). The glory that will lighten the whole world at the Second Advent was here revealed to the three who witnessed the Transfiguration. The light in which the redeemed will walk for all eternity (Revelation 21:23) was witnessed by Peter, James and John. 

It was necessary that Christ’s glory be veiled when He came into this world. Christ’s glory was not surrendered at the time of the Incarnation but was veiled, lest the people whom He had come to redeem should be consumed by its brightness. God’s purpose was to dwell in the midst of His people Israel and to reveal His presence among them by letting the light of His glory shine on them. But Israel could not behold the unveiled glory of God. Therefore, in revealing plans for the tabernacle to Moses, God instructed him to erect a curtain between the Holy of Holies, where God purposed to dwell, and His people. That veil was not so much designed  to teach Israel that they were unworthy to enter the presence of God —which in truth it did — as much as to protect Israel from being consumed by the brightness of God’s glory. The veil, then was a gracious provision by a holy God to make it possible for Him to dwell in the midst of an unholy people. The writer to the Hebrews said that the body of Jesus Christ was to Him what the veil was in the tabernacle: “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Christ’s glory, then, was not surrendered at the Incarnation; instead, it was veiled so that the Holy One might dwell among an unholy people. The Transfiguration, then, was a revelation of the essential glory that belongs to Christ and one day will be revealed to the world. This, then, was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Christ had made the preceding week. — Pentecost, pages 256-257.

Moses (v.3) — representing the law (Jude 9)

Elijah (v.3) — representing the prophets (2 Kings 2:11)

then Peter answered (v.4) — Mark and Luke both make it clear that Peter, overcome by what he saw, did not know what he was saying. He was probably wanting the kingdom without the cross.

The Feast of Tabernacles, the last in the cycle of Israel’s annual feasts, was a memorial of the nation’s deliverance out of Egypt and their desert experience in which they were characterized as strangers and pilgrims. This feast also anticipated Israel’s final regathering as a nation out of the desert into the Land of Promise under the beneficent rule of the promised Messiah. In Peter’s day the nation was oppressed by Gentiles and looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, or Deliverer, who would gather the people into the land under His reign. The vision of the glory of Christ which Peter had seen reminded him of Israel’s glorious hope to be realized in Messiah’s kingdom. Therefore it seemed fitting to him that they should have a Feast of Tabernacles because the three had witnessed the millennial glory of Christ. Peter had correctly interpreted the significance of the Transfiguration. But it was impossible for Israel to experience the fulfillment of what was anticipated in the Feast of the Tabernacles until the nation turned in faith to the Messiah. This the nation was not doing, and, therefore, Peter’s proposal brought a rebuke from Christ. Although Christ possessed the glory of the King, He was not publicly recognized as King; therefore, Israel could not enter into their millennial blessing. — Pentecost, pages 257-258.

__________

cloud (v.5) — This cloud was none other than the one that had appeared over the tabernacle in the desert to signify the presence of God among His people. From the cloud God spoke again concerning the person of Jesus Christ: “This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7). Instead of “whom I love,” the two parallel texts have “whom I have chosen” (Luke 9:35) and “with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). Thus the Father again authenticated both the person and word of Christ. — Pentecost, page 258.

Hear Him! (v.5) — the Son has more authority than the law or the prophets. Only He, and never they, can restore the relationship between man and God.

Elijah must come first (v.11) — Malachi 4:5-6

It seems clear from the prophetic scriptures that a similar Elijah-testimony will be given in the dark days of the great tribulation before the manifestation of the Lord in judgment. The vision of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 would appear to confirm this. — Ironside, pages 215-216.

restore all things (v.11) — the Millennial Kingdom — Luke 1:17

John the Baptist (v.13) — a type of Elijah — Matthew 11:14

John the Baptist had come in the power and spirit of Elijah. He was the voice in the wilderness, the way preparer, the one in whom the last prophecy in Malachi might have been fulfilled, but they did not know him. His rejection was the prelude to the rejection of the Lord as we have seen before (chapter 11). John surely was the Elijah for that time. 

But this does not fulfill Malachi’s prophecy. That prophecy is yet to see its fulfillment. Before the Lord returns to earth in power and glory another forerunner, an Elijah, will come and his testimony will not be rejected then; he will indeed be Elijah who restores all things and he will be followed by the coming of the King to set up His kingdom. 

As long as the church is in the earth that end time does not begin. The removal of the church will be followed by the last stage of the ending of the age. During that time, the great tribulation, Elijah appears.

His work is exclusively among the people who are the kingdom people. His witness is to the remnant of Israel. Like John’s call to repentance, he will preach repentance and his testimony will be received; he will accomplish the mission of Malachi 4:5-6. — Gaebelein, pages 368-369.

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

In verses 24-26, the Lord is telling His disciples that they have a choice. They can listen to Him and place their faith in Him and do what He tells them is necessary. If they do so, they may suffer in this life but they will be rewarded with eternal life. Or they can listen to the Pharisees and others in the world who insist that each man can determine for himself what is necessary for salvation. If they do so, they may gain in this life, but they will lose in eternity. This is a truth that transcends dispensations. Throughout the history of man, salvation has come by placing faith in whatever God said to people at that point in time.

But at the same time — for us, it is faith alone in what Christ accomplished on the cross. It is just as wrong to place our faith in what what necessary in other dispensations as it is to reject God’s Word entirely.

reward each according to his works (27) — Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12

Verse 28 is not saying that the kingdom will come while members of the Lord’s audience were still alive. It is saying that some of them would see the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8), when Jesus appeared in His majesty. This was a taste of what it will be like at His second coming when He returns in glory. Peter refers to this event in his second epistle.

2 Peter 1:16-19 —  For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

elders (v.21) — religious leaders, probably the Sanhedrin

rebuke (v.22) = reprove, censure, strongly warn against. Peter probably felt authorized to speak this way in light of the Lord’s words to him in vs.18-19.

Far be it from You (v.22) = probably “Have mercy on Yourself.”

He turned (v.23) — away? turned His back?

Satan (v.23) — This was another temptation to avoid the cross like the ones Satan used in the wilderness.

Christ’s reply to Peter was even stronger than Peter’s remonstrance: “Out of my sight, Satan!” (v.23). By addressing Peter as Satan, He was not inferring that Peter was unsaved. Peter had previously confessed his unswerving faith in the person and work of Christ. But Peter had expressed Satan’s purpose; to prevent Christ from going to the cross to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world. Satan had tried several times previously to bring about Christ’s premature death. Satan had used Herod’s slaughter of the children in Bethlehem, the violence of mobs that sought to kill Christ, and the raging storms on the seas. Thus far Satan had not been able to accomplish his purpose. Now Satan was working through one close to the Lord. In his temptation of Christ, Satan had offered Christ a throne without a cross, asking that He worship him. Christ rejected this offer. Now Peter had acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah; in Peter’s mind there was no reason why He should not exert His messianic authority and mount Messiah’s throne immediately. The death of Christ did not seem necessary to Peter. Peter seems to have been oblivious to the fact that, according to prophetic Scripture, Messiah must not only reign but by His death He must also provide for the redemption of sinners. For this reason Christ said to him, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23). — Pentecost, pages 253-254.

offense (v.23) = trap, snare

mindful (v.23) — The same word is used in Romans 8:5 and Philippians 2:5.

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

I will build (v.18) — based on the tense, this could be translated “I shall continue to build”

church (v.18) = a chosen or called-out assembly — not referring to the Body of Christ but to believing Israel

The word ecclesia was a very familiar word in our Lord’s time, and it had a Hebrew and a Greek use. The Hebrews spoke of the ecclesia. They had two words very much alike in their intention, and yet separated in use — synagogue, and ecclesia. They marked the facts in which the Hebrew people were different from other nations. Synagogue meant the assembling together of God’s people in worship. Jesus did not say, My synagogue. He said, My ecclesia. The Hebrew use of the word ecclesia marked the Hebrew people as a selected people, as a Theocracy. That was the great thought in the word, a God-governed people, not governed by policy or by human kings. That was the underlying thought in the Hebrew mind. Ecclesia was also in common use in Greek cities at the time. In one of the later chapters of the book of Acts we find that the whole ecclesia came together to discuss their affairs. It does not mean the Church of God. It was the town meeting, an assemblage of free men. — Morgan, page 212.

whatever you bind … (v.19) — given to all the apostles in Matthew 18:18

keys of the kingdom (v.19) — perhaps referring to the fact that it was Peter who first offered the kingdom in Acts 2:14-40 — to Israel only.

The key was a badge of authority, for the servant who had the key to his master’s storehouse had authority over all the goods that were in the storehouse. Authority was here conferred on Peter and the rest of the Twelve to administer in His name, to proclaim His truth, to declare salvation to people, and to assure those who believe that they are recipients of eternal life. 

It was not the declaration of the apostles that established the fact. This is made clear by a literal rendering of the words of Christ: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be that which has already been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be that which has already been loosed in heaven.” This rendering reveals that it is God who frees from an obligation or imposes an obligation on people. But the apostles could make an authoritative declaration as Christ’s representatives as to the true state of affairs because of response to their preaching. — Pentecost, page 252

bind (v.19) — used in Jewish legal terminology to mean “declare forbidden”

loose (v.19) — used in Jewish legal terminology to mean “declare allowed”

These phrases were perfectly familiar to the Jew, we find them in the literature of the time. They said, Shammai binds this, but Hillel looses; which simply meant, Shammai makes this obligatory, but Hillel leaves it optional. Binding simply meant an authoritative declaration concerning what must be done, or what must not be done. Loosing meant permission given to men to do or not to do. It was purely and simply a Hebrew method of describing ethical authority. — Morgan, page 215.

__________

The Hebrew prophets were said to do what they were commissioned to announce (Jeremiah 1:10). Simon Peter was a Hebrew prophet, and so similar language was addressed to him (v.19); and his companions being Hebrew prophets a corresponding commission was given to them (Matthew 18:18); and all the disciples, including women, becoming thereby Hebrew prophets, the commission was enlarged to include them all (John 20:21-13). — Williams, page 715.

Peter (v.18) = petros — small stone, one that could be thrown

rock (v.18) = petra — immovable mass of rock

Remember, He was talking to Hebrews. If we trace the figurative use of the word rock through the Hebrew Scriptures, we find that it is never used symbolically of man, but always of God. So here at Caesarea Philippi. — Morgan, page 211.

gates of Hades (v.18) — power of death, referring to the resurrection

That this isn’t referring to the Body of Christ can be further seen by the fact that after Acts 2, we only hear of Peter and John (and the death of James) and that even they confined their ministry to Jews (Galatians 2:9).

So what was the Lord saying here? This is my understanding — Peter had just proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God (v.16). The Lord responded by calling Peter blessed because He had gained this understanding from God.

Jesus then goes on with a play on words. Peter is a small stone, but on the massive rock of Christ and who He is and what He was about to do as Messiah, He would establish the assembly of believing Jews that would enter the kingdom. Not even His death, which He begins to speak of in the very next verses, can stop His purpose. The apostles will be His spokesmen of this message and will announce it and explain it (as Peter himself did at Pentecost — AND they will be sitting on the twelve thrones over Israel during the kingdom— Matthew 19:28).

There is nothing here, including the use of the word “church,” that indicates anything other than the Jewish kingdom.

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

This account also appears in Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:18-21.

Caesarea Philippi (v.13) — a town in the northwest corner of Galilee, near the source of the Jordan River

It was clear to everyone that Jesus was someone out of the ordinary, someone who had to be explained supernaturally.

John the Baptist (v.14) — Herod thought this was who Christ was (Matthew 14:2)

Elijah (v.14) — his coming is prophesied in Malachi 4:5

Jeremiah (v.14) — he is sometimes thought to be the prophet in Deuteronomy 18:15. Some thought Jeremiah 11:19 pointed at that prophet as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7.

Peter was a Hebrew, a child of the Hebrew race. He was born in its midst, and had been nurtured upon its thinking. Every fiber of his personality was affected by its conceptions, and it was as a Hebrew that he said to the Man who styled Himself “the Son of Man,” “Thou are the Christ,” the Messiah. That is, Thou are the fulfiller of all the expectations of the Hebrew people, the One by whom our hopes are to be realized, the One by in whom the economy culminates, the One from whom there is to break the dawn of a new day and a new era …

Peter’s confession was a very definite one, and yet one that recognized his consciousness of the mystic element in this Man, beyond the things the age had seen. The age had caught the comprehensiveness of the prophetic note. The age had recognized more — the supernaturalness of this Teacher. Peter, recognizing all this, defined it, and went beyond the age, and said; “Thou are the Messiah;” more than John the forerunner, more than Elijah the foreteller, more than Jeremiah the watcher and the one who waited; Thou art the One toward whom they all looked. There is manifested in all Thy doing, and in all Thy teaching something that differentiates Thee from all other teachers and men. Son of Man, but Son of the living God, the Messiah — Morgan, pages 209-210

5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”

8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?

10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?

11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

take heed (v.6) = lit. “stare at it” — discern

beware (v.6) = lit. “hold yourself against it”

leaven (v.6) — throughout Scripture, a symbol of permeating evil

O you of little faith (v.8) — Compare “great is thy faith (Matthew 15:28). The heathen woman, who only met Christ once, understood His figurative language and said: “I am a dog.” The disciples, after two years teaching, failed to understand the figurative word “leaven.” Her faith was consequently great and theirs was little. — Williams, page 715

remember (v.9) — On two occasions, the Lord had provided bread for large numbers of people, with much left over. The disciples had witnessed this and should have remembered that they had no reason to worry about physical bread in His presence. They were concerned with material things and relying on their own reasoning. This is why the Lord rebuked them.

The leaven of the Pharisees is explained in Luke 12:1 as hypocrisy. With this was coupled self-righteousness. The leaven of the Sadducees was false doctrine: they denied the authority of all the Old Testament except the books of Moses, and they did not believe in spiritual realities. Such evil teachings work like leaven, spreading throughout any company beginning to tolerate them; hence the warning of the Lord to beware of them. — Ironside, pages 202-203

1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.

2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;

3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

Pharisees and Sadducees — it must have been startling to those who knew them to see these men together at all, and together on a matter of religious principle, and on a mission to a religious teacher.

The Pharisees were the traditionalists of their day. They believed in God, they believed in the work of the Holy Spirit. They believed in the essential purity and holiness of God. They believed in the fundamental things. They believed in angels; they believed in resurrection; they held all the spiritual verities; but they hid them from the people whom they were supposed to teach and lead … under the grave-clothes of ritualism and tradition. 

The Sadducees were the rationalists of their day. They did not believe in spirits, they did not believe in angels, they did not believe in resurrection. They denied all supernatural elements in religion. They made religion a mere ethical code. 

The Pharisee had no dealings with the Sadducee; the Sadducee looked with supreme contempt on the Pharisee. The Sadducees had left Jesus alone up to this point.

Men absolutely divided as between themselves were united on this occasion … The Pharisees would say, This thing can be, there can be signs out of heaven, but He cannot produce them; therefore let us ask Him to do it. The Sadducees would say, There could be no sign out of heaven, so you are safe in asking Him to do it. We have two opposing ideas, but united in their opposition to Him. And so in a common hostility to Him, a common desire to see His defeat, these men came to Him.

Jesus Christ did not say these men were wrong. They came to criticize Him, but they went away criticized; they came to measure Him, but they went away measured. — Morgan, pages 204-206.

testing Him (v.1) — they did not believe He could do what they asked

the sign of the prophet Jonah (v.4) — Christ’s death and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40; John 2:18-22)

adulterous (v.4) = faithless, treacherous

Being familiar with the prophets they knew that certain signs had been indicated therein which were to take place before the manifestation of the Messiah; so they came to Jesus, without any desire to know the truth, but simply as tempting or testing Him, asking that He show them a sign from heaven. They meant a sign indicating that the Messianic age was a hand. Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief. They were quite able to read the signs of the heavens in regard to matters of weather or climatic conditions, but they were absolutely unable to discern the signs of the times. Had their eyes been opened they would have realized that all the miraculous works of Jesus were in themselves the signs of the age to come and told of the presence of the King. Messiah was in their midst. No other sign would be given to them until the sign of the prophet Jonah. — Ironsides, pages 200-201

29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.

30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.

31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

33 Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”

34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 

37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.

38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

This is a separate occasion from that recorded in Matthew 14:13-21 — See Matthew 16:9-10.

Mark 7:31 states that Jesus traveled through Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Many Gentiles lived in this region, which has led many to the conclusion that the multitude was, largely or in part, Gentile. This may be, but the Bible doesn’t say one way or another. There were Jews living there too, so there’s no reason to conclude that Jesus’s ministry wasn’t to Jews. Some of my commentaries say that the disciples didn’t understand why Jesus would feed Gentiles, which explains their question (v.33) about where they would get the food. This part of their explanation makes no sense to me because 1) that wasn’t what they asked, and 2) if, in fact, Jesus had just spent three days healing Gentiles, I doubt they would have questioned why He would feed them.

His destination was further to the south, in the borders of Decapolis, the territory of the ten allied Greek free cities. This region lay to the east of the Jordan and extended possibly from Damascus on the north to the river Jabbok, which was the border of Perea to the south. The ten cities were occupied by heathen people, the Jews never having recovered them after the Babylonian captivity. The reception accorded to Jesus on arrival in this semi-pagan district seems to have been favorable. Christ apparently was avoiding the territory over which Herod Antipas ruled because the Jews were seeking Herod’s help in order to destroy Him. — Pentecost, page 245.

came (v.30) = a great rush, a hurrying

He healed them (v.30) — this went on for three days (v.32)

baskets (v.37) = hampers or market-baskets, much larger containers than those mentioned in Matthew 14:20

Magadan (v.39) — or Magdala, a small town outside Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (where Mary Magdalene was from)