<p>15:37&nbsp;<em>And they all ate and were filled</em>- See on :33&nbsp;<em>to fill</em>.</p>
<p><em>And they collected-&nbsp;</em>&nbsp;According to Mk. 8:19-21, one of the reasons behind the Lord telling them to do this was simply to make them more deeply aware of the huge amount of bread which the Lord had created- to the point that they should realize that things like bread, and indeed all physical externalities, were just ultimately insignificant to the Lord.&nbsp; &quot;And they reasoned one with another, saying: It is because we have no bread... When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you gather? They said to Him: Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you gather? And they said to Him: Seven. And He said to them: How is it that you do not yet understand?&quot;. Clearly the Lord was carefully working out a plan of spiritual education for them- and they failed to respond well to it. He does the same in our lives, although we may be barely perceptive that the process is even running.</p>
<p><em>What was left over of the broken pieces- seven baskets full!</em><i><br />
</i>- Literally, &lsquo;the breakages&rsquo;. The word is only ever used in the Gospels about the broken pieces of bread from the feeding miracles. The related verb&nbsp;<em>klao</em>, to break, is used only of the &lsquo;breaking of bread&rsquo; in the feeding miracles, and every other occurrence in the New Testament concerns the breaking of bread service in memory of Jesus (Mt. 26:26; Mk. 14:22; Lk. 22:19; 24:30; Acts 2:46; 20:7,11; 27:35; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:24). Clearly the breaking of bread in the miracles is intended to be seen as programmatic for the later &lsquo;breaking of bread&rsquo; services. In this connection it becomes highly significant that there were Gentiles participating, along with women and children, and there was no &lsquo;test of fellowship&rsquo; operated. The simple fact people wanted to be present around Jesus was enough.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&quot;what was left over&quot; is Gk. &lsquo;super-abounded&rsquo;. This is noted in all five records of the feeding miracles. The poor notice wastage of food, and this was the wastage of food&nbsp;<em>extraordinaire</em>. But such super generosity is the hallmark of God&rsquo;s activity, as it should be a feature of our spirit too. The prodigal recalled how there was always &lsquo;an abundance of loaves&rsquo; with the Father (Gk. &ldquo;bread to the full&rdquo;, AV; Lk. 15:16).&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Greek of this verse is identical to the conclusion concerning the feeding of the 5000 in 14:20. The similarity between the two feeding miracles is very pointed and extensive. The point may simply be that the Lord was consciously repeating a situation so that the disciples would have the chance to put into practice what they should have learnt from the earlier situation. This principle would explain the strong sense of&nbsp;<em>d&eacute;j&agrave; vu&nbsp;</em>which surely all of us have observed in the course of our lives.</p>
<p>The crowd were filled, totally satiated; and the leftover food&nbsp;<em>filled</em>&nbsp;the baskets. The impression is given of superabundance of provision.</p>