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. And took the five loaves, etc. - This was the act of the father of a family among the Jews - his business it was to take the bread into his hands, and render thanks to God, before any of the family was permitted to taste of it.
Looking up to heaven - To teach us to acknowledge God as the Supreme Good, and fountain of all excellence.
He blessed - The word God should, I think, be rather inserted here than the word them, because it does not appear that it was the loaves which Christ blessed, but that God who had provided them; and this indeed was the Jewish custom, not to bless the food, but the God who gave it.
However, there are others who believe the loaves are meant, and that he blessed them in order to multiply them. The Jewish form of blessing, or what we term grace, before and after meat, was as follows: -
Before Meat
ברוך אתה אלהינו מלך העולם המוצא לחם מן הארץ
Baruc attah Elohinoo melec haolam hamotse lechem min haarets
Blessed art thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest bread out of the earth!
After Meat
ברוך אלהינו מלך העולם בורא פרי הגפן
Barnuc Elohinoo melec haolam bore peri hagephen
Blessed art thou, our God, King of the universe, the Creator of the fruit of the vine!
And brake - We read often in the Scriptures of breaking bread, never of cutting it: because the Jews made their bread broad and thin like cakes, and to divide such, being very brittle, there was no need of a knife.