Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 16:7

"And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread." — Matthew 16:7 (ASV)

It is because we have taken no bread — There is a childish naïveté in their self-questioning that testifies to the absolute originality and truthfulness of the record, and thus to the genuineness of the question that follows, which assumes the reality of the two previous miracles. The train of thought connecting the warning and the fact was probably not even fully formed in their own minds. They may have imagined that just as a Pharisee would not eat bread defiled by the touch of a Gentile or a tax collector, their Master was also forbidding them—however great their need—to receive food from either of the sects that had combined against Him.