Beside women and children. — St. Matthew is the only Evangelist who mentions their presence, but all the four use the word which emphasises the fact that all the five thousand were men. As the crowd had come in many cases from considerable distances, the women and children were probably few in number, were grouped together by themselves, and were not counted, so that the round number dwelt in men’s minds without reference to them.
Related Commentaries of Matthew 14:21
Matthew 14:21
21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.