And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
Ver. 19. And looking up to heaven, he blessed] Heathens consecrated their cares before they tasted them, as appears by many passages in Homer and Virgil. Some say that the elephant, ere he eats his food, turns up with his trunk the first sprig towards heaven. The Scripture, we are sure, says, that "men eat to God when they give thanks," Romans 14:6. To whom then do they eat that give none?
And the disciples, to the multitude] They grudged not of their little to give others some, and it grew in their hands, as the widow's oil did in the cruse. Not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive. Nothing was ever lost by liberality.