The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 240

let ns make throe t11bernacle1; one for th~e, Ver. ll5.-And there came a voioe out of and one for Mosee, and one for Elias: not the aloud, aaying, This is my beloved Bon: knowing what he said. The three evnngo- he11.r him. The reading here of the older lisl• who rclato the Tra.nRRgnrntion eccno, authm:ities must be ndoptc<l. Instel\d of with trifling variations repeat tliis rcmnrk the v01ce out of the cloud saying, "This is of Pet.or's. It is valnable to us when we my beloved Son," we must substitute," 'J'his rPnwm her that the tradition of the mar- is my Elect." As SS. Matthew and l\fork V<'llous event comps from Peter, James, nnd both read, " my beloved Son," we have here John; e.nd the.t they repeat the strange another of the many proofs that enoh of the in,'Ouspquent words uttered by one of them• t~re_e records of the Transfiguration is a selves-their ILC!.."Ilowlcdged spokesman. No distinct and sepl\rate memory of itself. The thought of self-glorification evidently tinged voice was evidently for the disoiples-one this strange memory of theirs. They simply more help for them in their present and wished to record the pie.in truth just as it future struggle against the oold and chilling happened, and in the course of the ne.rrative doubts which ever and !\gain would be sug- they had to repeat their own poor, babbling, gested to them by the enemy of human mee.ni11gless words-for the remark of Peter souls, with a view to marring their present is nothing else. Their own remark, which trllining, their future mighty miesiouary immediately follows, is the best comment work. upon them, '' not knowing what he said." Ver. 36.-And they kept it close, and told 'l'here W8.II a deep feeling that in such • no man in those days any of those things oompany, bathed, too, in that glorious and whioh they had seen. The reasons of tbia unearthly ligl,t, it IDIJ.8 1DeU with them. But silence for the present have been already they saw the heavenly visitants preparing discussed. The scene, doubtless, bad done to leave them. They would stay their de- its work in the education of the three. parture if they could, so they stammered, Without telling their companions what they .. Let us build some shelter; let us erect had seen and heard on the mount, we may some temple, however humble, to do honour, assume that the sight of the serene con- Lord, to thee and thy companions." fidence aud renewed trust on the part of Ver. 34.-While he thus spake, there oame Peter, James, and John did its effecttml a olond, and overshadowed them : and they work iu strengthening their brethren. No feared as they entered into the olond. This doubt directly after the Resurrection, pos- luminous cloud, bright though it was, yet sibly during the days of darkness and gloom veiled the more intolerable brightness within. which followed the day of the cross, the That such a bright cloud had the power chosen three related at length their ex pe• of over;;hadowing and concealing, is not rien<"e of the Transfiguration mystery. The strange, for light in its utmost intensity narrative of the Transfiguration and irs bides a.a effectually as the darkness would attendant circumstances, as might have been do. God dwells in light inaccessible, whom expected, has bei,n a favourite subject for therefore " no man bath 'Been, nor can see " hostile criticism. It does not, however, lend (1 Tim. vi 16). Milton writes- itself to any probable, or even posaiblo, " Dark with excess of light.'' expfanat.ion which refers the story to some exaggerated report of a mistaken natural Philo speaks of the highest light as identical pheuomenon. The whole story, ns we have with <larkness. Anselm thus understands ,t thrice-with very slight variation in the the clon<l here, quoting the words of I Tim. details-repeated in the synoptical Gospels, vi. 16, referred to above. an<l then the must stand as we have it, or else rnnst be words of Moses, "AnJ M<>sea dre,v near wholly rejected as a myth. Dnt, if a ruyth, uuto the thick da.rkn,·ss wl,cre GoJ was" whence <lid it sprin~? for nothing in the ( Exod. xx. l!l ), and then this pa;;sage frum Jewish expectation ofl\Iessiah could possibly the Transfi=ation, 0 aud couunents thua: have suggested tho "legend." The strange "Ilia ca.ligo et i8ta nuhes, at,iue illa lnx anJ even childish interrnption of Peter could id,-m sunt" (see Archbishop Trench on never have been inverded. No one frie11dly "Trnusfiguration," in • Studies in the Gos- to the apostle would ho.ve ohronicled such pels,' 8). The fear which these eye-witnesses a saying had there been auy doubt resting remember us one of their experiences that on its authenticity; and a writer hostile to ;:,en,orable night was a very natural feeling. the apnstle woul<l scarcely have invented Ail the cloud stole over the mountain ridge, a narrative which treated of the Divine i:i.ud the glory-light gradually paled anJ glory of the apo;;tle's adored Master. If it wanc:<l, the .eneation of inten.ae pleasuro be an invention, whence- comes it? in whose e.u<l ~atiefadion, which we may assume to interest was it cornpose<l? ancl how <li,\ it be the nature.I ac<·ompaniruent of such a find its way into the very heart of the three Llc-11Bu:l 8et,ue, wvul<l give 1,l&ce to awe auJ by110ptical Gospel~? for there we find it &llliLz.eweut. wuven into lhu.l warvelluW! tape~Lry of Cl1, Ill. 1-62.) THE GOSPEL ACCOnDTNG TO ST. LUKE. 241