Matthew 14:20 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Twelve baskets full. — The basket here is the cophinus, a small basket carried in the hand, and often used by travellers to hold their food. So Juvenal (Sat. iii. 14) describes the Jews of Italy as travelling with “their cophinus and a wisp of hay,” by way of pillow, as their only luggage. St. John records that the gathering was made by our Lord’s express commands, “that nothing be lost.” The marvellous display of creative power was not to supersede forethought, thrift, economy in the use of the gifts it had bestowed. It is probable, from the language of the disciples in Mark 6:37, and from John 13:29, that they were in the habit of distributing food to the poor in the villages and towns in which they preached, and the fragments were, we may believe, reserved for that use.