And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.

And his servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus saith Jehovah, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.

And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be left.

And his attendant said, How shall I set this before a hundred men? And he said, Give the people that they may eat; for thus saith Jehovah: They shall eat, and shall have to spare.

And his minister saith, 'What, do I give this before a hundred men?' and he saith, 'Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said Jehovah, Eat and leave;'

But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over.

And his servant responded to him, "What amount is this, that I should set it before a hundred men?" But he said again: "Give it to the people, so that they may eat. For thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat, and there shall be still more.' "

This miracle was a faint foreshadowing of our Lord's far more marvelous feeding of thousands with even scantier materials. The resemblance is not only in the broad fact, but in various minute particulars, such as the distribution through the hands of others; the material, bread; the surprised question of the servant; and the evidence of superfluity in the fragments that were left (see the marginal references). As Elijah was a type of the Baptist, so Elisha was in many respects a type of our Blessed Lord. In his peaceful, non-ascetic life, in his mild and gentle character, in his constant circuits, in his many miracles of mercy, in the healing virtue which abode in his bodily frame 2-Kings 13:21, he resembled, more than any other prophet, the Messiah, of whom all prophets were more or less shadows and figures.

Thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof - It was God, not the prophet, who fed one hundred men with these twenty loaves, etc. This is something like our Lord's feeding the multitude miraculously. Indeed, there are many things in this chapter similar to facts in our Lord's history: and this prophet might be more aptly considered a type of our Lord, than most of the other persons in the Scriptures who have been thus honored.

And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and (x) shall leave [thereof].
(x) It is not the quantity of bread that satisfies, but the blessing that God gives.

And his servitor said,.... His servant Gehazi very probably:
what, should I set this before one hundred men? for so many, it seems, the sons of the prophets were in this place; and these loaves being very small, no more, it is thought by some, than one man could eat, and the ears of corn but few, the servant suggests they would be nothing comparatively to such a company of men:
he said again, give the people, that they may eat; he insisted upon it that his orders should be obeyed:
for thus saith the Lord, they shall eat, and shall leave thereof; it was suggested to him by a spirit of prophecy, there would be enough for them, and to spare.

SATISFIES A HUNDRED MEN WITH TWENTY LOAVES. (2-Kings 4:42-44)
They shall eat, and shall leave thereof--This was not a miracle of Elisha, but only a prediction of one by the word of the Lord. Thus it differed widely from those of Christ (Matthew 15:37; Mark 8:8; Luke 9:17; John 6:12).