Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 6:30

"But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?" — Matthew 6:30 (ASV)

The grass of the field — The term is used generically to include the meadow-flowers which were cut down with the grass and used as fodder or fuel. The scarcity of wood in Palestine made this latter use more common there than in Europe. The “oven” in this passage was the portable earthen vessel used by the poor for baking their bread. The coarse, woody hay was placed below and around it, and though the flame was short-lived—so much so that “the crackling of the thorns” (Psalms 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6) became proverbial—it still had time to do its work.

O you of little faith — The word is found only in our Lord’s teaching, and the passages in which it occurs are all singularly suggestive. The disciples were not faithless or unbelieving, but their trust was weak. They lacked in moments of anxiety the courage that leads people to rely implicitly on the love and wisdom of their Father. So, in the stormy night on the lake, when Peter began to sink in the waves, or when the disciples had forgotten to take bread, the same word recurs (Matthew 8:26; Matthew 14:31; Matthew 16:8).