28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
All three of the Synoptic Gospels place Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain after Peter’s confession of faith. This confession takes place on their way to Caesarea Philippi. Luke says “about eight days” with Matthew and Mark saying “after six days” with the differences of the Greco-Roman time keeping sytem (days ending at midnight) and the Hebrew time keeping system (days ending at 6pm.) Luke was not a personal witness of the events but did interview eye witnesses. So the phrasing “about eight days” keeps him within margin of error depending on what system of time keeping was kept.
Church tradition since about the 4th century has held that the Mountain in this verse is Mount Tabor, Church’s have been built there and it has been place of pilgrimage and devotion since. All the devotion is genuine and God can work through human mistakes but geographically speaking this does not actually make much sense as the location. They are on their way to Caesarea Philippi, this is quite far off into the North of the region whereas Mount Tabor is southwest of the Sea of Galilee, about 60 miles away. In the region of Caesarea Philippi however is a very significant Mountain in Second Temple Judaism, Mount Hermon.
Mount Hermon was the location of the Hebrew and Early Church interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4. It was considered a second Fall event of humankind. What affected our nature in the first Fall in the Garden of Eden, was made worse through the second Fall on Mount Hermon. Considering Jesus’ mission to fix through typological fulfilment, i.e. becoming a new Adam, to succeed where the old Adam failed, it logically follows that a glorification event on Mount Hermon would fix the second Fall as well. It fits geographically and typologically though I am standing in a very minority position on this.
Jesus brings with him on the mountain his inner circle of apostles. Peter, James and John. The chief apostle and the two siblings. This mirrors Moses bringing with him the High Priest Aaron and his two Sons.
29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.
Praying on mountains is ancient and universal among near east religions, . The great peaks are seen as stairways to God or the gods as they literally “touch” the heavens themselves. Jesus also follows this tradition of praying on Mountains but typically he does this to get away from others and recuperate spiritually and commune alone with his Father in Heaven. This time however he is going to participate in a sign for his inner group of apostles.
The “appearance of his countenance was altered”. The literal meaning of “countenance” prosopon in Greek is the “face”. It can mean general appearance or a persons presence. Like the previous verse this is a typological fulfilment of an event in the life of Moses. The Book of Exodus records Moses’ face being radiant after speaking to God in Exodus 34:29-35. Moses’ face reflected the glory of God whereas Jesus radiated his own divine glory as God made Man.
His clothing also changed, “his raiment became dazzling white.” A physical transformation of his very clothing has taken place along with his face. Divinity is manifesting itself visually to his inner group of apostles. In the ancient interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4, the “Sons of God” also showed off their divinity, by trespassing that is, and committed a divine infraction. According to the apocryphal second temple Jewish work 1 Enoch, it consisted of a leader Semjaza and his 200 “watchers” a term used by the prophet Daniel to describe angelic beings. Here we see the Son of God being obedient to the Father by appearing and displaying God’s divinity in visual form as a hope of fixing what was broken in Genesis.
30 And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Whilst Jesus is radiating his divine glory, two men also appear in glory, which would be some time of glorified or purified state. These men are Moses and Elijah. Moses held in high esteem and almost existed as a quasi-divine figure by some Jew’s of Jesus’ day because of his proximity to God. He also was the conduit for the Law that all Hebrews held to. He as a person symbolises the Law. Elijah is considered by many as the greatest prophet of God and in the same way Moses is a symbol of the Law, Elijah was considered the personal symbol of the Prophets. This would be two thirds of the Hebrew canon, the Law and the Prophets but if we take Jesus to be the Word, which he is, Wisdom, which he is…then we have the entire distribution of the Word of God on Mount Hermon. The Law, The Prophets and The Writings. But it doesn’t end there of course.
Moses and Elijah appear in “glory” they are resembling something of a divine nature, that being spiritual, I’m not calling them God. They do however reflect him. They appear bodily though, at least that is how the text reads it. Even Peter assumes so in the following verses. According to 2 Kings 2:11 Elijah was assumed in Heaven, or at least one of the heavens.
“And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
St. Thomas Aquinas argues that Elijah and Enoch were taken to a hidden terrestrial paradise, awaiting Christ’s redemptive work. I’m inclined to assent to Saint Thomas’ understanding. Moses although not explicitly described in the same way as Elijah, much of tradition holds to Moses’ body being taken into God’s presence in some manner.
Saint Jude’s epistle has a curious reference to Moses’ body:
“But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
Saint Thomas argued that Moses’ body was assumed after death as a prefiguration of the resurrection of the body that all the righteous will experience. Similar to that of Elijah, he was not taken to the Beatific vision but to some other hidden paradise. It’s not just that these men were symbols of something that they appear as they do in this passage, its because they were preserved in a special way by God maybe for the typological fulfilment of the Descent on Mount Hermon by the rebellious angels that I spoke about before. They watchers descend and appear, in their glory, with their leader, physically. Here we see the leader, the true Son of God with two others who have descended from the lesser heavens and natural paradises in order to mend that previous infraction. It is all so fitting.
Our English translation unfortunately obscures a word for us that would make a lot of this divine mission a little clearer. “Departure” in my opinion should be scrapped in verses like these. The Greek is “Exodus”, the English completely hides the theological messaging. Jesus is being positioned the entire time as a new Moses but that could be lost on you if it wasn’t explained and you were very fluent in the Old Testament but if we simply used the Greek word “Exodus” everyones ears would prick up because of the Book of Exodus, which of course this is referencing. Jesus is the New Moses and there is going to be a new Exodus that he will accomplish at Jerusalem.
Although not being in the Beatific Vision, and just being in some lesser yet still heavenly paradise, both Elijah and Moses seem to have a keen awareness of what is going on in the Land of Living, more so that the Apostles who have been following Jesus around all this time. The presumption that many man-made churches have about the dead in the beatific vision not being able to be aware of things is scripturally unfounded. These men aren’t even in the highest heaven yet they know what is going on on earth and what is being planned.
32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
Peter the chief apostle and those with him, James and John are, as usual in such mystical situations, are heavy with sleep. Mount Hermon unlike Mount Tabor is VERY tall and climbing it would be exhausting. Once they’re all awake they saw Jesus’ glory first and the two men with him. This really does impress upon the reader a physical manifestation of divinity, a theophany is occurring and the two men are seen as men, not spirits. They are physically present also.
33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
Peter, not even suspecting them as spirits, says that its good timing that they are here, they being himself and the sons of Zebedee because they can prepare a tent for the two men. The passage also illustrates for us that Peter is able to recognise who they are and doesn’t really seem to be too shocked by their bodily appearance. Peter is the previous event of todays readings confessed who Jesus was and Jesus told him that flesh and bone did not tell him but his Father in heaven. Peter might have a supernatural ability, possibly as apart of his Office as Chief apostle, to recognise people by their very nature.
34 As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
As Peter is speaking a “cloud came and over shadowed them”. A cloud descending on a mountain? Moses references? Exodus references? This is the shekinah, the glory cloud that descends on the Tabernacle when God comes to his people. The “overshadow” language is used earlier in Luke’s Gospel in references to the Holy Spirit who will overshadow Mary, by which she will conceive the baby Jesus. Yet the earlier references of this term in Greek go back to the Greek Old Testament as it is how the glory cloud is described.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
A voice, an audible voice apparently, comes out of the cloud. It tells those in attendance that Jesus is his Son, his chosen and they are to listen to him. This glory cloud is by some understanding a vehicle of God the Fathers voice. Just like how He communed with Moses all those centuries ago, he now communes with his Son, the New Moses on the mountain.
36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
When God the Father finishes speaking, only Jesus remains. Nothing else, Moses and Elijah have been taken back up, the cloud has gone. Jesus is who we need to listen to as the Father has said. Peter, James and John keep silence on this event but Peter will reference it in his second Epistle. The secrecy was obviously that of only pre-resurrection importance. If they told everyone what had happened, the Messianic secret would have been hard to keep.
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