So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
13. And filled twelve baskets. When four thousand men were fed by seven loaves, Matthew relates that the number of baskets filled with fragments was exactly the same with the number of the loaves, (Matthew 15:37.) Since, therefore, a smaller quantity is sufficient for a greater number of men, and since the quantity left is nearly double, hence we see more clearly of what value...
We have here an account of Christ's feeding five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes, which miracle is in this respect remarkable, that it is the only passage of the actions of Christ's life that is recorded by all the four evangelists.
Commenting on John 6:1-14
Therefore they gathered them together,.... The several broken bits of bread, which lay about upon the grass, which the people had left, after they had been sufficiently refreshed: and filled twelve baskets; every disciple had a basket filled: with the fragments of the five barley loaves; and it may be of the fishes also: which remained over and above unto them that had eaten; such...