Matthew 14:22 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Straightway Jesus constrained his disciples. — St. John narrates more fully the impression made by the miracle. It led those who witnessed it to the conclusion that “this was the Prophet that should come into the world.” They sought to seize Him and make Him a king against His will (John 6:14-15), and He, shrinking from that form of sovereignty, withdrew from His disciples, dismissed the multitude, and on the mountain height passed the night in prayer. The disciples at His bidding were crossing to the other side to Bethsaida (Mark 6:45) — i.e., to the town of that name on the western shore of the lake near Capernaum (John 6:17). It was, we may reverently say, as if in this unwonted stir of popular excitement — not against Him, but in His favour — this nearness to a path of earthly greatness instead of that which led onward to the cross, He saw something like a renewal of the temptation in the wilderness, needing special communion with His Father, that He might once again resist and overcome it. And once again, therefore, He desired to pass through the conflict alone, as afterwards in Gethsemane, with no human eye to witness the temptation or the victory.