may have been to afford such lesson
that an excess was supplied. The fare was simple, yet nourishing,
wholesome and satisfying. Barley bread and fish constituted the usual
food of the poorer classes of the region. The conversion of water into
wine at Cana was a qualitative transmutation; the feeding of the
multitude involved a quantitative increase; who can say that one, or
which, of these miracles of provision was the more wonderful?

The multitude, now fed and filled, gave some consideration to the
miracle. In Jesus, by whom so great a work had been wrought, they
recognized One having superhuman powers. "This is of a truth the prophet
that should come into the world," said they--the Prophet whose coming
had been foretold by Moses and who should be like unto himself. Even as
Israel had been miraculously fed during the time of Moses, so now was
bread provided in the desert by this new Prophet. In their enthusiasm
the people proposed to proclaim Him king, and forcibly compel Him to
become their leader. Such was their gross conception of Messianic
supremacy. Jesus directed His disciples to depart by boat, while He
remained to dismiss the now excited multitude. The disciples hesitated
to leave their Master; but He constrained them and they obeyed. His
insistence, that the Twelve depart from both Himself and the multitude,
may have been due to a desire to protect the chosen disciples against
possible infection by the materialistic and unrighteous designs of the
throng to make Him king. By means that are not detailed, He caused the
people to disperse; and, as night came on, He found that for which He
had come in quest, solitude and quiet. Ascending the hill, He chose a
secluded place, and there remained in prayer during the greater part of
the night.

"IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAID."[715]

The return by boat proved to be a memorable journey for the disciples.
They encountered a boisterous head-wind, which of course rendered
impossible the use of sails; and though they toiled heavily at the oars
the vessel became practically unmanageable and wallowed in the midst of
the sea.[716] Though they had labored through the night they had
progressed less than four miles on their course; to turn and run before
the wind would have been to invite disastrous wreck; their sole hope lay
in their holding the vessel to the wind by sheer power of muscle. Jesus,
in His place of solitary retirement, was aware of their sad plight, and
along in the