Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Matthew 15 ends with Jesus sending the multitude of his followers away and He and his disciples sail to Magdala (or Magadan) on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
[3] In regard to the statement in verse 5 that they had forgotten to take bread, Joseph Benson suggests that they should have obtained bread before embarking on the western side, noting that in Mark's parallel passage (Mark 8:14) they had only one loaf with them,[4] whereas Henry Alford and Heinrich Meyer both argue that they should have obtained more supplies when they arrived on the eastern side, because they had a further journey in mind.
[8] Biblical commentator Dale Allison describes the coalition as an "unlikely" one,[9] as do Wilhelm de Wette, David Strauss, Weiss and Jan Hendrik Scholten.
Gill notes that Obadiah of Bertinoro, a 15th-century Italian rabbi who wrote a popular commentary on the Mishnah, also made reference to "Galilean Sadducees".
[8] Allison argues that "the primary function of this passage is to record the establishment of a new community, one which will acknowledge Jesus' true identity and thereby become the focus of God's activity in history".
[24] Still at the location near Caesarea Philippi, the narrative follows Peter's confession with a decisive new phase of Jesus' ministry, with Jerusalem as the next geographical focus.