But, for us all, the interest of this history lies not only in the past; it is in the present also, and in the future. To all ages it is like the vision of the bush burning, in which was the Presence of God. And it points us forward to that transformation, of which that of Christ was the pledge, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption.' As of old the beacon-fires, lighted from hill to hill, announced to them far away from Jerusalem the advent of solemn feast, so does the glory kindled on the Mount of Transfiguration shine through the darkness of the world, and tell of the Resurrection-Day.
On Hermon the Lord and His disciples had reached the highest point in this history. Henceforth it is a descent into the Valley of Humiliation and Death! __________________________________________________________________
[3680] According to an old tradition, Christ had left Cæsarea Philippi, and the scene of the Transfiguration was Mount Tabor. But (1) there is no notice of His departure, such as in generally made by St. Mark; (2) on the contrary, it is mentioned by St. Mark as after the Transfiguration (ix. 30); (3) Mount Tabor was at that time crowned by a fortified city, which would render it unsuitable for the scene of the Transfiguration.
[3681] This is implied not only in the disciples being heavy with sleep, but in the morning scene (St. Luke ix. 37) which followed.
[3682] Canon Tristram writes: We were before long painfully affected by the rarity of the atmosphere.' In general, our description is derived from Canon Tristram (Land of Israel'), Captain Conder (Tent-Work in Palestine'), and Bädeker-Socin's Palästina, p. 354.
[3683] One of its names, Shenir (Deut. iii. 9; Cant. iv. 8; Ezek. xxvii. 5) means Mont Blanc. In Rabbinic writings it is designated as the snow-mountain.'
[3684] Tristram, u.s., p. 607.
[3685] Conder, u.s., vol. i. p. 264.
[3686] Our description is based on the graphic account of the ascent by Canon Tristram (u.s. pp. 609-613).
[3687] Prov. xxv. 13.
[3688] 2 Kings vi. 16, 17.
[3689] St. Matt. xxvi. 43; St. Mark xiv. 40.
[3690] The word is the same. It also occurs in a figurative sense in 2 Cor. i. 8; v. 4; 1 Tim. v. 16.
[3691] Meyer strongly advocates the rendering: but having kept awake.' See, however, Godet's remarks ad loc.
[3692] Meyer is in error in supposing that the tradition, on which St. Luke's account is founded, amplifies the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark. With Canon Cook I incline to the view of Resch, that, judging from the style, &c., St. Luke derived this notice from the same source as the materials for the large portion from ch. ix. 51 to xviii. 17.
[3693] On the peculiar meaning of the word morph comp. Bishop Lightfoot on Philip. pp. 127-133.
[3694] St. Luke.
[3695] This expression of St. Luke, so far from indicating embellishment of the other accounts, marks, if anything, rather retrogression.
[3696] St. Matthew.
[3697] It is scarcely a Rabbinic parallel - hardly an illustration - that in Rabbinic writings also Moses' face before his death is said to have shone as the sun, for the comparison is a Biblical one. Such language would, of course, be familiar to St. Matthew.
[3698] The words as snow,' in St. Mark ix. 3, are, however, spurious - an early gloss.
[3699] St. Mark.
[3700] St. Luke.
[3701] St. Luke.
[3702] Godet points out the emphatic meaning of otines in St. Luke ix. 30=quippe qui: they were none other than.
[3703] St. Luke.
[3704] In some of the Apocrypha and Josephus, as well as in 2 Pet. i. 15.
[3705] esodos, Acts xiii. 24.
[3706] Conder, u.s. vol. i. p 265.
[3707] Wünsche (ad loc.) quotes as it seems to me, very inaptly, the Rabbinic realistic idea of the fulfilment of Is. iv. 5, 6, that God would make for each of the righteous seven booths, varying according to their merits (Baba B. 75 a) or else one booth for each (Bemid. R. 21, ed. Warsh. p. 85 a). Surely, there can be no similarity between this and the words of Peter.