Matthew 17
MCGARMatthew 17:1-13
(A Spur of Hermon, near Cæsarea Philippi.) M 1-13; M 2-13; L 28-36. [Mark agrees with Matthew in saying six days. Luke qualifies his estimate by saying “about.” But if we regard him as including the day of the “sayings” and also the day of the transfiguration, and the other two as excluding these days, then the three statements tally exactly. The “sayings” referred to were the words of Jesus with regard to his suffering at Jerusalem] [These three, as leaders among the apostles, needed the special encouragement which was about to be given. For further comment, see ). Moreover there is little doubt that at that time and for centuries previous there was an inhabited fortress upon Mt. Tabor ( ; Jos. i. 8, 7; 37). Moreover, Mt. Tabor is not a high mountain, its elevation above the sea being but 1,748 feet.
Hermon, on the contrary, is the highest mountain in Palestine, its elevation, according to Reclus, being 9,400 feet. It was Jesus’ custom to withdraw for prayer by night and the transfiguration took place at night.] [ transformed; the description shows to what extent] [418] [We may conceive of the body of Jesus becoming luminous and imparting its light to his garments. The Christian looks forward to beholding such a transfiguration and also to participating in it– .] [The three apostles could identify Moses and Elijah by the course of this conversation, though it is possible that miraculous knowledge may have accompanied miraculous sight.] [ Moses and Elijah] [The word for decease is “exodus,” an unusual word for death. It means a departure and is, as Bengel says, a very weighty word, since it includes the passion, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.] [it being night] [Peter’s fears overcame his discretion, but did not silence his tongue. Though he trembled at the fellowship of Moses and Elijah, he also realized the blessedness of it and could not let them depart without an effort to detain them, though the best inducement that he could offer was to build three booths, or arbors, made of the branches of trees, for their and Christ’s accommodation. By thus speaking, Peter placed Jesus upon the same level with Moses [419] and Elijah–all three being worthy of a booth.] [Clouds often roll against the sides of Mt.
Hermon, but the brightness of this cloud and the fear which it produced suggests that it was the Shekinah, or cloud of glory, which was the symbol of God’s peculiar presence– , , , , , , , .] [This command contains the chief significance of the entire scene. Spoken in the presence of Moses and Elijah, it gave Jesus that pre-eminence which a son has over servants.
He is to be heard. His words have pre-eminence over those of the lawgiver and the prophet . Peter recognized Jesus as thus honored by this voice– .] [As every man is who hears the voice of God.] [As mediator between man and God, Jesus removes fear.] [Leaders and prophets depart, but Christ abides– , .] [The people were not ready for the publication of such an event. To have told it now would only have been to raise doubts as to their veracity.] [420] [Jesus spake so often in parables and made so frequent use of metaphors that the apostles did not take his words concerning the resurrection in a literal sense. They regarded his language as figurative, and sought to interpret the figure.] [They were puzzled by the disappearance of Elijah. They looked upon him as having come to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi , but they marveled that, having come, he should so soon withdraw, and that they should be forbidden to tell that they had seen him, since the sight of him would be some sign of Jesus’ Messiahship.] [this sentence leads some to think that Elijah will appear again before the second coming of our Lord, but the words are to be interpreted in connection with the rest of the passage] [If the writings concerning Elijah perplexed the apostles, those concerning the Messiah perplexed them also.
From one set of prophecies they might learn something about the other. Elijah came, but the Scriptures concerning him were so little understood that he was put to death.
The Messiah also came, and the prophecies concerning him were so little understood that he, too, would be set at naught.] [Malachi used the name of Elijah figuratively to represent John the Baptist. [421] See , . That there shall be a second coming of Elijah in fulfillment of this prophecy is hardly possible, for the office of Elijah is prophetically outlined as that of the restorer. But Elijah could not restore Judaism, for that dispensation had been done away with in Christ. He could hardly have chosen to restore Christianity, for even if it should need such a restoration, a Jewish prophet would be ill-suited to such an office. One of the apostles would be vastly preferable.] [FFG 418-422]
Matthew 17:14-20
(Region of Cæsarea Philippi.) M 14-20; M 14-29; L 37-43. [the nine apostles which had been left behind] [We last heard of the multitude at . See ), but this can hardly have been so, for it would have been at variance with the secrecy which Jesus enjoined as to his transfiguration. Moreover, so important [422] a feature could hardly have escaped from the narratives of all three evangelists. Undoubtedly the amazement was caused by the sudden and opportune return of Jesus. Those who urge that this was not enough to produce amazement show themselves to be poor students of human nature. The multitude had been listening to and no doubt enjoying the questions of the scribes.
The unexpected appearance of Jesus therefore impressed them with the sudden sense of having been detected in wrong-doing which invariably leads to amazement. Moreover, those who remained loyal to Jesus would be equally amazed by his approach, since they could not but feel that an exciting crisis was at hand.] [ when Jesus and the multitude met] [He surprised the scribes by this demand and they saw at once that he knew all and they felt rebuked for their unwarranted exultation, and so kept silent.] [When the scribes did not answer, the father of the demoniac boy broke the embarrassing silence by telling Jesus about the matter in question.
His child was deaf, dumb, and epileptic, but all these physical ailments were no doubt produced by the demon or evil spirit which possessed him. The phrase “hardly departeth from him” rather suggests the continual unrest in which the demon kept his victim rather than that the demon ever really relinquished his possession of him. Pauses in the delirium of agony were regarded as departures of the [423] demon.] [As there was no reason to accuse the apostles of perversity, it is evident that the rebuke of Jesus is addressed generally to all and not particularly to the disciples. The perverse faithlessness and infidelity of the scribes had operated upon the multitude, and the doubts of the multitude had in turn influenced the apostles, and thus, with the blind leading the blind, all had fallen into the ditch of impotent disbelief. The disbelief of the people was a constant grief to Jesus, but it must have been especially so in this case, for it fostered and perpetrated this scene of weakness, mean-spiritedness, misery, and suffering which stood out in such sharp contrast with the peace, blessedness, and glory from which he had just come.] [saw Jesus] [By causing the long-standing nature of the case and the malignity of it to be fully revealed, Jesus emphasized the power of the cure] [Jesus echoed back the “if thou canst” which the man had uttered. If Jesus marveled at the faith of a Gentile which trusted the fullness [424] of his divine power, he also marveled at the disbelief of this Jew which thus coolly and presumptuously questions the sufficiency of that power.
In the remainder of his answer Jesus shows that the lack of power is not in him, but in those who would be recipients of the blessings of his power, for those blessings are obtained by faith.] [He confessed his faith, but desired so ardently to have the child healed that he feared lest he should not have faith enough to accomplish that desire, and therefore asked for more faith.] [Jesus had found the multitude when he came down from the mountain, but the excitement in this multitude was evidently drawing men from every quarter, so that the crowd was momentarily growing greater. A longer conversation with the man might have been beneficial, but to prevent the gathering of any larger company Jesus acted at once and spoke the words of command.
Since the demon was manifestly of a most daring, impudent, and audacious nature, Jesus took the precaution to forbid it attempting to re-enter its victim, a precaution which the conduct of the demon abundantly justified.] [The malicious effrontery and obstinacy displayed by this demon stands in marked contrast to the cowed, supplicating spirit shown by the Gergesene legion. See ). Faith has such power with God that even little faith becomes well-nigh omnipotent in an age of miracles.] [Prayer was the means of increasing faith. Demons, like spirits in the flesh, have different degrees of will force, some being easier to subdue than others, and this once, being particularly willful and obstinate, required more faith to expel it.] [FFG 422-426]
Matthew 17:22-23
M 22, 23; M 30-32; L 43-45. [from the region of Cæsarea Philippi] [on his way to Capernaum] [He was still seeking that retirement which began on the journey to Tyre. See , . See .] [426] [the reason for his retirement is here given: he wished to prepare his disciples for his passion] [the present tense is used for the future to express the nearness and certainty of the event] [We have here two notes of time during which Jesus spoke of his passion. It was all the while he was in Galilee, between his return from Cæsarea and his departure into Judæa, for which see . The length of time suggests that the sad lesson was oft repeated, but was at a time when the marvels of his works strengthened the faith of the disciples so as to enable them to bear the instruction.] [For comment on similar language see .] [Peter’s experience taught them not to attempt to correct Jesus while thus speaking, so there was nothing left for them but to grieve at his words.] [What was told to them was not for their present but their future benefit, and therefore they were left to puzzle over the words of Jesus] [Not so much from any awe with which they regarded him, as from the delicacy of the subject itself, and their own sorrow, which shrank from knowing it more fully.] [427] [FFG 426-427]
Matthew 17:24-27
(Capernaum, Autumn, A. D. 29) M 24-27. [The law of Moses required from every male of twenty years and upward the payment of a tax of half a shekel for the support of the temple . This tax was collected annually. We are told that a dispute existed between the Pharisees and Sadducees as to whether the payment of this tribute was voluntary or compulsory. The collectors of it may have thought that Jesus regarded its payment as voluntary, or they may have thought that Jesus considered himself exempt from it because he was so great a rabbi. Though this temple tax was usually collected in March, Lightfoot informs us that the payment of it was so irregular that its receivers kept two chests; in one of which was placed the tax for the current year, and in the other that for the year past. The demand was made upon Jesus at Capernaum because that was his residence, and it was not made sooner because of the wandering life which he led.
It appears that since the first of April he had been in Capernaum only once for a brief period, probably no longer than a Sabbath day . The Jewish shekel answered to the Greek stater, which has been variously estimated as worth from fifty to seventy-five cents.
The stater contained four drachmæ, and a drachma was about equivalent to a Roman denarius, or seventeen cents.] [Peter answered with his usual impulsive presumption. Probably he had known the tribute to be paid before out of the general fund held by Judas; or he may have assumed that Jesus [428] would fulfill this as one of God’s requirements.] [without waiting for him to tell what he had said] [The argument is this: If the sons of kings are free from the payment of tribute, I, the Son of God, am free from God’s tribute. The half-shekel was regarded as given to God–Jos. xviii. 9. 1. [lest we be totally misunderstood, and be thought to teach that men should not pay this tribute to God] [of Galilee] [Jesus paid the tribute in such a manner as to show that the whole realm of nature was tributary to him, and that he was indeed the Son of the great King. Some have thought that our Lord’s beneficence, in paying Peter’s tax also, was an evidence that Peter, too, was exempt from tribute. But the conclusion is not well drawn. Had this been intended, Jesus would have said “for us,” and would not have used the words “for me and thee,” which distinguished between the exempted Son and the unexempted subject. Though afterward Peter might possibly have claimed exemption as a child of God by adoption, he was not yet free from this duty to pay this tax– .] [429] [FFG 428-429]