<p>16:5&nbsp;<i>When the disciples reached the other side</i>- The style of reporting this doesn't say 'When&nbsp;<i>they...</i>'. And yet presumably the Lord went with them. Hence the impression is given of a mental separation between the disciples and the Lord. This would have been all the more painful for Him because He had just 'left' the Jewish masses to focus upon them (see on 16:4)- and even they were now somewhat 'off' with Him, and still caught up in hardness of heart, not perceiving the wonder and meaning of the feeding miracles (:9).</p>
<p><i>They had forgotten to bring any bread</i>- This is the very same Greek phrase used about the Lord &lsquo;taking the bread&rsquo; in the feeding miracles (Mt. 14:19; 15:36). The phrase occurs five times in the next verses (16:5-10- &ldquo;loaves&rdquo; is s.w. &ldquo;bread&rdquo;). The phrase is used a total of 23 times- here, about the taking of bread in the feeding miracles, and about &lsquo;taking bread&rsquo; at the breaking of bread service. The only other use is directly in the context of the feeding miracles (see on 15:26). To &lsquo;take bread&rsquo; therefore refers to an act of religious significance- for the &lsquo;taking of bread&rsquo; in the feeding miracles was clearly invested with deeper meaning, as brought out in John 6. The disciples at this point seem to have sensed that there was something significant in &lsquo;taking bread&rsquo;- but they had not figured out what. Because when the Lord warns them about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they assume He is referring to their failure to &lsquo;take bread&rsquo;. Their slowness to understand is really brought out in the record. The Lord had earlier used yeast as a symbol of influence and effect worked by teaching (13:33). But they didn&rsquo;t grasp that He meant &lsquo;beware of the influence and teaching of the Jewish leaders&rsquo;- even though that had been such a major theme of His teaching from the beginning. Instead, they superstitiously felt that they must be at fault concerning &lsquo;bread&rsquo; because the Lord had mentioned yeast, and so they concluded that the Lord considered their forgetting to &lsquo;take bread&rsquo; as being somehow sinful. They were really so far off in understanding, and yet the Lord elsewhere speaks so positively about their understanding of His message.</p>