9. Came down from the mountain. Luke states, ix. 37, that they did not come down till the next day, from which it has been inferred that the transfiguration took place in the night, which they had passed on the mountain, and that this might have partially influenced Peter in proposing to build three tents. Tell the vision to no man, &c. Or, as Mark has it, "that they should tell no man what things they had seen." The vision then was not what we understand by that word now, as some have contended, but a sight, an appearance. The purpose of the transfiguration, as already intimated, was to strengthen Jesus for his approaching sufferings by the sympathy of the great worthies of the old dispensation, and the approving voice of Heaven; and to confirm the belief of the disciples in Jesus as the Christ, and remove the discouragements lately produced by the prediction of his death, through an exhibition of his glorified state. The reasons, therefore, of Jesus' enjoining this secrecy were similar to those, which prompted him to make the same prohibition on other occasions. Matt. xvi. 20. The disciples did not yet sufficiently understand the nature of his kingdom to proclaim his Messiahship. Their minds rather needed to be held in restraint. The people also were in too inflammable a state for this fact, which, had it been made known, would have proved like a spark in a magazine of powder. With that wisdom which never failed him, he therefore commanded them to keep secret what they had witnessed. The Jews had often required a sign from heaven as a proof that Jesus

was the Christ. Here was a sign from heaven, to satisfy the most skeptical. The transfiguration affects the question of Christ's person, for he appears here, not in his state of humiliation, but of glory. And what is his glory? It is that of a Divine messenger; a beloved Son of God, not God himself, in which character it would seem that this was the time and place for him to appear, if he was in reality the Supreme. ·Risen again from the dead. Mark says that they were in doubt about his meaning. They did not yet understand how, if he were the Messiah, he could suffer death, nor, accordingly, how he could be literally raised from the dead.

13.

10-13. Parallel to Mark ix. 10

10. Elias must first come, i. e. Elijah. This was the popular opinion entertained by the Jews, founded on Mal. iv. 5, 6. The error consisted in supposing that the identical Elijah of old times would reappear amongst men, and not that an Elijah, i. e. a man of like character and office, a hardy reformer, was to come before the advent of the Messiah. It would appear_that__this conversation took place whilst Jesus and the three were coming down from the mountain, before they reached the other disciples and the multitude. They asked the question, because they had been prohibited from proclaiming the Messiah, though Elijah his precursor had already come, as they thought, being seen by them on the mountain, and no reason therefore seemingly existing why they should not immediately publish their Master's Messi

14

ahship. Or, to construe their question differently, Why do the Scribes say that Elias must first come, when the Messiah has already appeared, and no forerunner has preceded him? If thou art the Messiah, where is Elijah that was to herald thy advent? Are the Scribes right or wrong in their instructions on this point?

11. Jesus replies, that the Scribes are right; they say truly that Elijah is to come first and restore all things, or establish, or consummate the whole, or prepare for the Messiah by a great moral reformation, Matt. iii. 1-7; Luke iii. 3-15, i. e. such is the purpose of God; not but what Elijah had already come. In Mark the present tense is used.

12. That Elias is come already, i. e. John the Baptist, who might be properly called an Elijah, from his austere life, and his energetic spirit of reform. Luke i. 17. Knew him not. Recognised him not in his official character, as the messenger of God, and the forerunner of the Messiah. Whatsoever they listed. Have treated him with every indignity. Listed is old English for chose. Also the Son of Man. The Messiah will meet with no better fate than his forerunner.

13. It appears that the Apostles did not know, before this, that John was the predicted Elijah of Malachi,

14-18. Parallel to Mark ix. 1427; Luke ix. 37–43.

14. When they were come to the multitude. Mark states that "all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and, running to him, saluted him." Some have conjectured that a certain glorious lustre still lingered around his person, as there did around Moses when he came down from the mount. Ex. xxxiv. 29, 30. But the probability is that he came to them by surprise, and they rejoiced to see him. Man, kneeling down to him. "The ancients consecrate the ear to Memory, the forehead to Genius, the right hand to Faith, and the knees to Mercy." The man threw himself into a posture of earnest supplication. He was pleading for an only son. Luke ix. 38.

15. Lunatic, i. e. moonstruck, or affected with a disorder which was thought to be influenced by the changes of the moon, though it was also believed that an evil spirit was implicated in the convulsions. For as Lightfoot remarks: "It was very usual for the Jews to attribute some of the more grievous diseases to evil spirits, specially those wherein either the body was distorted, or the mind disturbed and tossed with a frenzy.' See note on Matt. iv. 24. So far as the disease can now be known by the symptoms that are

recorded, it would seem to have been epilepsy, or a falling sickness, attended with violent paroxysms, the victim foaming at the mouth, gnashing with his teeth, wallowing upon the ground, torn and bruised, falling into the fire, or the water, making violent outcries. He had a dumb spirit, or lost his speech at times, and enjoyed only short intervals of reason. Luke ix. 39. This desperate case was presented to our Saviour to cure.

16. Could not cure him. The reason why they could not is assigned in verse 20.

17. O faithless and perverse generation! Perverse in the original is derived from a word which signifies to twist, to turn awry; as wrong in English, by a like metaphor, comes from wrung, a participle from wringen, to twist. This rebuke was addressed to those present, in general; as well to his distrusting followers as to the cavilling Scribes, Mark ix. 14, who, not unlikely, triumphed in the failure of the disciples to work a cure. - How long shall I be with you, &c. How long will my presence and assistance be required among you? How long shall I endure with patience your perversity? The tone of Jesus' mind was rather that of regret and sorrow than of impatience.

18. Rebuked the devil. Demon. Jesus used the popular language of his day, and addressed the youth as

19. To Jesus apart. According to Mark ix. 28, in the house. The disciples, like most transgressors, little suspected that their difficulty and failure arose from any personal deficiency. The question they ask carries the idea that they had made an attempt to cure the child, but had not succeeded.

20. Because of your unbelief. Or rather, want of confidence and trust. Perhaps the violence of the disease, perhaps the skeptical questionings of the Scribes, had shaken their assurance. Faith as a grain of mustard seed. Understood by some as meaning a living, growing faith, such as might be illustrated by the vegetable kingdom. Matt. xiii. 31, 32. But others take the sense to be, If you have the smallest genuine faith, you can do all things; for the orientals frequently use the mustard seed as an emblem of what is extremely small. Mark xi. 23;

22

Luke xvii. 6. Ye shall say unto this mountain, &c. A hyperbolical and proverbial phrase, denoting the greatest power. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. The least true faith would enable them to perform the mightiest wonders. The Jews were accustomed to call those teachers eminent for their virtues and genius, rooters up, removers of mountains, as descriptive of their power.

21. This kind goeth not out, &c. Some suppose the signification to be, that this kind of demons, or of beings, cannot be dispossessed without unusual spiritual exercises; but no mention had been made, in this conversation, of demons, or that this kind of miracles cannot be perform ed without extraordinary preparation. Other commentators suppose an allusion to be made to faith, of which they had just been speaking. For where that faith was possessed even in the smallest degree, as a grain of mustard seed, all miracles were alike easy, even to the rooting up of trees and mountains, and hurling them into the sea, and all demons and diseases could be equally well expelled. This kind of faith emanated not but by fasting and prayer, by the most diligent use of the means of devotion, and spiritual life. This verse is left out by Wakefield, and Adam Clarke strongly suspects it to be an interpolation," as it is wanting in some of the earliest manuscripts and versions. 22-23. Parallel to Mark ix. 30 -32, and Luke ix. 43-45.

22. Abode in Galilee. Whilst they were travelling or moving about in Galilee. Shall be betrayed. Better, delivered up, without reference to the mode in which it would be done. It is so rendered in Mark and Luke. We learn from Mark that Jesus was at this time living as far as possible in retirement. His mind seems to have been much occupied with the thoughts of his impending death. This was the

second time that he had mentioned this distressing subject. It is observable, that this prediction was made while Jesus was yet in Galilee in security, before he went up to Jerusalem and was subject to the dangers that there surrounded him. What a fortitude must his have been, that he could with such calmness anticipate and speak of the sufferings, which he so clearly foresaw! The common opinions entertained of Jesus do him injustice. They invest him chiefly with the character of meekness and inoffensiveness, qualities indeed, which he possessed in an eminent degree, but which were balanced by the purest heroism ever seen among men.

23. They were exceeding sorry. We learn from the other Evangelists that the disciples did not understand his prediction, and were afraid to ask for an explanation. Their grief, therefore, was aggravated by the indefiniteness of the approaching danger. The dark and unwelcome subject conjured up appalling images of fear and terror.