Peter on the Mount
Grandeur of the Transfiguration. Its locality and design. Peter one of the favoured eye-witnesses. His exclamation. Return from the Mount to Capernaum.
“The light o’erflowed Him as a sea, and raised His shining brow And the voice went forth that bade all worlds to God’s Belov&d bow.” — Aird.
“Hermon, as connecting Palestine geographically with the Ge..tile world beyond, was a fitting place for such a revelation of Jesus, in whom alone Jew and Gentile were to become one.”
“We may, not without reason, regard the whole as in mysterious connection both with St Peter’s profession of faith and with that saddening prediction which followed it.”
—Bishop EUicott.
“The apostle Peter, towards the close of his life, in running his mind over the proofs of Christ’s majesty, found none so conclusive and irrefragable as the scenes where he and others were with Him in the Holy Mount, as eyewitnesses that He received from God the Father honour and glory.” — Kit to’ $ Cyclopedia.
* j IX days later from the date of the incidents I narrated at the beginning of last chapter, Peter occupies a prominent and distinguished place in that most marvellous and glorious of the occurrences in the life of our Lord — the Transfiguration on the Mount. This great transaction, which concluded the week’s seclusion at Banias, formed a befitting climax to the Saviour’s ordinary teachings and ministry, preparatory to the last all-momentous act in the Divine drama. It was like the robing of the Jewish High Priest before entering the most Holy place on the great Day of Atonement. Peter seemed afterwards to have a lively remembrance of the surpassing grandeur and privilege of the scene — u We were with him in the Holy Mount”
The traditional locality of the Transfiguration which, as early as the fourth century, was assigned to Tabor, is now abandoned by all modern writers. That it was ever selected seems to have arisen from the one fact, or rather misconception, that this beautiful mountain, with its “woody coronal,” answered apparently better than any other single eminence in Palestine to the description of the evangelist Mark, “an high mountain apart.” Before the close of the sixth century three churches and a monastery were built on the summit of the mountain in commemoration of the great event. Arcnlf, a.d. 700, sayst “At the top is a pleasant and extensive meadow surrounded by a thick wood, and in the middle of the meadow a great monastery with numerous cells of monks. There are also three handsome churches, according to the number of tabernacles described by Peter.” Dr Porter mentions that “the Crusaders crowned the fable by establishing on Tabor a Benedictine monastery, whose abbot claimed the jurisdiction of a bishop.”1 When, however, the passage in the Gospel comes to be examined, the word “apart” is found really to refer, not to the position of the mountain, but to that of the disciples. Besides, the objections to Tabor are, in other respects, insuperable. It is shown by the most learned of Biblical travellers2 that a fortified town — Itabur ion — must, during this very period of our Lord’s life and ministry, have occupied the summit of the hill, the ruins of which are still remaining. More than this, the Redeemer, as we have seen, had just been sojourning with His disciples in the region round Csesarea Philippi, the extreme north of Palestine. It is far from probable that during the intervening six days,
1 Quoted by Andrews,” Life of our Lord,* p. 282.
* Dr Robinson, yol. ii. p. 359.
PETER ON THE MOUNT.
He would take the long journey of fifty miles to the foot of Mount Tabor, on the confines of Zebulon and Naphtali. It is much more likely that He would select one of the spurs or ridges of snow-covered Hermon as a meet high-altar for this scene of “excellent glory.” The expression in the original of St Luke is, “He went up into the mountain/9 As He was at that time under the shadow of this great giant — the solitary Alp of Northern Palestine — no eminence could so well answer the distinctive epithet applied .by the evangelist “It is impossible,” says Dr Stanley, whose words I read on the spot, and could then fully subscribe alike to their beauty and accuracy, “to look up from the plain to the towering peaks of Hermon, almost the only mountain which deserves the name in Palestine, and one of whose ancient titles was derived from this circumstance, and not be struck with its appropriateness to the scene. That magnificent height, mingling with all the views of the north, from Shechem upwards, though often alluded to as the northern barrier of the Holy Land, is connected with no historical event in the Old or New Testament. Yet this fact of its rising high above all the other hills of Palestine, and of its setting the last limit to the wanderings of Him who was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, falls in with the supposition which the words inevitably force upon us. High up on its sunny slopes there must be many a point where the disciples could be taken ’ apart by themselves, Even the transient comparison of the celestial splendour with the snow, where alone it could be seen in Palestine, should not perhaps be wholly overlooked.”1
i Sinai and Palestine m foe “What other hill could it be than the southward slope of that goodly mountain, Hermon, which is, indeed, the centre of all the Promised Land, from the entering in of Haniath unto the river of Egypt — the mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs of Jordan descended to the valleys of Israel 1 Along its mighty forest avenues, until the grass grew fair with the mountain lilies, His feet dashed in the dew of Hermon, He must have gone to pray His first recorded prayer about death: and from the steep of it, before He knelt, could see to the south all the dwelling-place of the people that had sat in darkness, and seen the great Light — the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, Galilee of the nations; could see even with His human sight the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a place loved by Him and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left unto them desolate. And chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the hills above Nazareth sloping down to His old home: hills on which the stones yet lay loose that had been taken up to cast at Him when He left them for ever.”1
It was then, after the season of unremitting labour described in previous chapters, that the Redeemer thus ascended one of these lofty eminences for rest and prayer. We know that the evening was the time He usually selected for these “Sabbaths of His soul,” when the burning heat of the day was over, and the thronging multitudes following His steps had retired to their several homes. Moreover, as the same evangelist informs us that the three disciples who accompanied Him were “heavy with sleep,” and finishes his account of the transaction by stating that” on the
1 Raskin uo Mountain Beauty: “Modern Painters,” rol. iv. p. 802.
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next day they came down from the hill,” — are we not warranted in entertaining the supposition that the Transfiguration took place during night f If this conclusion be correct, what an additional pictorial interest does it impart to the scene! The sun bad already set, far to the west, over the Great Sea; all Nature was hushed to repose; nothing heard but the rippling of the mountain streams; nothing seen before them but the pale, silvery moonlight, falling on the everlasting snows of the mountain; or above them, myriad stars, like temple-lamps lit in the outer court of some august sanctuary; behind them the hill-tops of their own covenant laud — the laud of the patriarchs and prophets — but the land too, alas! that was now manifesting daily and increasing symptoms of enmity towards Him whose presence and footsteps had given its “holy fields” their highest consecration. It evidently was a season of rare peacefulness and elevation to the soul of the Redeemer. Away from the bustle of cities, t» hich He always seemed to shun, He was permitted, amid these cool, dewy uplands, to hold a season of sweet communion with His Father, to forget the sham efuln ess of the world’s present rejection, and the deeper shame of that world’s approaching crime, in putting the innocent One to a death of agony.
The three disciples selected from the apostolic company to be the representatives of the Church on earth, at their Lord’s Transfiguration, — to be “eyewitnesses,” as St Peter afterwards expresses it, “of His majesty,” (or, as that word means, “of His excellent glory,”) were the apostle himself and the two sons of thunder. Peter, “the Rock” James, the first of the twelve who was to suffer death for his Master’s sake; John, the favoured disciple, whose head afterwards leaned on his Master’s bosom — the three who have been called, not inaptly, “the flower and crown of the apostolic band.” 1 Wearied with the fatigues of the day, these privileged watchers wrapped themselves in their abbas, and fell asleep. They continue locked in slumber till a strange, unearthly light is felt playing on their eyelids. Is it a dream 1 a trance 1 They wake up; and lo! a spectacle of overpowering glory bursts upon them. The Lord, they left praying, is now seen before them arrayed in garments woveu as with sunbeams — His raiment emitting light, vying in whiteness with the virgin snow which crested the higher ridges, or lay lapped in the gigantic corries around them, gleaming in the moonlight — green sward and thorny nabk and mountain flower luminous with the strange brilliance. St Mark, in his own graphic way of delineation, adds, “So as no fuller on earth can white them,” 2 A bright, fleecy cloud sur-
1 Trench.
s The graphic detail in St Mark’s narrative of the Transfiguration, is an additional confirmation of the surmise that one or the apostle-spectators of the scene had dictated the account from vivid personal reminiscence. A recent writer, in an interesting article on the characteristics of Mark’s Go pel specially vindicating it from the theory of being a late made cento from the other two Synoptists, notes (and the accuracy of the observation will be confirmed by all who have seen the great original in the Vatican) — ‘’Look at R iphael’s picture of the Transfiguration, and see for how much the painter is indebted to St Mark alone (ix. 2 9s). All the Synoptists have recorded this event, as well as the healing ot the lunatic child which followed it, and which forms the subject of the lower half of the picture. But St Mark’s narrative may be recognised in it at once by its features of characteristic description — the shining garments of the Lord, exceeding white as snow, Ac., Ac.... In the scene at the foot of the mount, St Mark’s peculiar style is abundantly apparent... We feel sure, as we r. ad his words, so abounding with minuteness of description, that we have before us the narrative of one who Mas on the spot ... It is no mere Adaptation of St Matthew we are perusing: it is the work of one who was of a ditTerent character from the publican-apostle, :md abounds with strokes of word-painting with which there is nothing comparable to be found in the writings of St Matthew.’ — Seethe entire article. “The Graphic and Dramatic Character ofth-t Gospel of St Mark;* in “The Expotitor,” October 1875.
PETER ON THE MOUNT.
rounds Him with a halo of glory, and on either side of the transfigured Saviour there is a glorified form. The apostles gaze in mute wonder. As their adorable Master is engaged in converse with these mysterious visitants from another world, the question must have passed from lip to lip, in all probability Peter taking the initiative, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?” H eland his two favoured brothers do not require, however, to wait a reply. Either by revelation, or, more probably, from hearing their Lord addressing the glorified delegates by name, they know that they are in the presence of none other than Moses and Elias. With what profound interest would they gaze on the two fathers of the nation, whose names must have been embalmed in their holiest memories since the dawn of earliest childhood! The two, may we not venture to add, who were in character most like-iniuded with our apostle, having natural constitutional frailties most nearly allied to his own: — Moses, who once “spake unadvisedly with his lips;” Elijah, whose great heroic heart, in a moment of weakness, had cowered before the impotent threats of a woman, and fled ignominiously from work and duty; but both of whom, through that same Divine grace which was yet to prove omnipotent with Peter, had gotten them the victory. The eyes of the earthly and the heavenly representatives are alike fixed on the great central Figure of the group — the toil worn, sorrow-stricken Man, who, a few hours before, had climbed the steep ascent with weary limb and burdened soul, but who is now radiant with superhuman glory, the true Apocalyptic Angel “standing in the sun.” If silent up to this time, Peter, as we have found in other memorable seasons, cannot longer repress his emotions. If mistaken before, now, at all events, he imagined to himself that the long expectation of Messiah’s kingdom was at last realised. He would render his impressions at once permanent, and make the grassy meads of Hermon better than the pagan dream of Elysium. In au ecstasy of ravishment, he exclaims, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.,, He even proposed the erection of three tabernacles, where their Master and His glorified attendants might take up a lasting abode, and, enthroned on these majestic peaks of Hermon, reign over regenerated Israel, away from the intrigues and plottings of Pharisees, and the wily expedients of Pilate and Herod. His Lord, too, would avoid the humiliation and shame of the” decease at Jerusalem.” There is a beautifully natural touch given in St Mark in describing the agitation which had accompanied Peter’s enthusiastic proposal — k< Not knowing what he said” (Mark ix. 6); indicating also, as it does, the humility of the venerable apostle, when he came to speak of the past in his old age, taking the least favour* able view of his conduct on the occasion.
A new phase occurs in this diorama of heavenly splendour. A cloud of yet more transcendant brightness descends on the head of the Saviour and His two celestial companions. “Here is something more than the radiance of a heavenly Soul occasionally seen on a human countenance, more than one of those glances which, like lightning-flashes, reveal its moral beauty.” 1 It is nothing less than the Shekinah, or Divine glory, the symbol and emblem of a present Deity; the same cloud which of old preceded in a pillar-form the march through the wilderness; which hovered over the ark in
1 Pressens&
PETER ON THE MOUNT.
the tabernacle; and over the Holy of holies in the Jerusalem temple; the same “cloud” which, not long afterwards, when His work was finished and the victory won, received the ascending Redeemer out of the sight of the apostolic band on the heights of Olivet: “And a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts i. 9). Peter and his fellow-dkciples seem, at this juucture, to have been shut out and excluded by the new canopy. They became greatly afraid; the appearance of the cloud struck them with awe. They fell prone on the ground, touching the dewy herbage with their faces (Matt. xvii. 6). This feeling, moreover, increased as they felt themselves thus dissociated and severed from their Lord, whose presence a moment before, radiant though it was with almost intolerable brightness, had yet been to them the blessed pledge of security and safety. A Voice issues from the cloud. A message comes to them from the midst of the excellent glory — “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him.” It is the sublime attestation of God the Father installing the Son as Sovereign of the kingdom, consecrating Him as Prophet, Priest, and King for evermore.
u That Transfiguration united the old dispensation and the new. For Moses, the representative of the law, and the representative of the prophets, witnessed to Him who had fulfilled both the law and the prophets. Their work was finished. The stars which had illumined the old night were lost in the blaze of this risen Sun.” 1 “It was intended also to illuminate with a ray of* glory the dark days that were about to begin; it was designed to strengthen Jesus for His conflict. It was His first watch before the battle; the next would bfc in Gethsemane.” 1 But the hour of triumph is at an end; the dazzling lustre has faded from the Redeemer’s raiment; the celestial voices are hushed; the vision has passed away. Emerging from the cloud, and returning to Peter and his two companions, Jesus touches them, and with gentle voice, says-?-” Arise, be not afraid.” For them, too, as for Him, that Transfiguration had a special purpose, and for none more than the sou of Jonas. In the words of Chrysostom, “It was to comfort Peter and those who regarded with fear the suffering (of Christ), and to raise up their thoughts.” They, too, had their own fierce fight before them, and one of them, at all events, was often cheered in his after battles by the memory already quoted, “We were with Him on the Holy Mount.” They lifted up their eyes; the cloud, the glory, the heavenly visitants, the Voice, were gone. They glanced round in every direction, as the word in the original means,2 but “they saw no man, save Jesus only.” The morning light was again tipping the brows of the kingly mount, and they must hasten down its slopes once more to encounter stern duty, temptation, and trial. Who can doubt but that this rare privilege of being “eyewitness of His majesty” as it was designed, so it did, prepare Peter and his associates for those scenes of ignominy and humiliation which were so close at hand?8
The great annual celebration of the feast of tabernacles was now drawing nigh: ‘* the olives were being shaken
1 Pressed, p. 400. * IIe/M0Aef d/tcvoi, Mark ix. 8. 3 The reader is referred to a fuller account of the Transfiguration in the author’s “Prophet of Fire,” from which this chapter is abridged
PETER ON THE MOUNT.
from the trees, and the grapes were being trodden in the winepress.” Both Master and disciples purpose going up to the feast on their return to Capernaum. In the meantime they would seem to have there enjoyed a few weeks’ comparative calm. For the reason stated in a previous chapter, the intense heat was still detaining multitudes of the usual inhabitants in their summer retreats in North Galilee, and thereby left the little company free from the intrusions “to which they were subjected in former visits. Peter and his Bethsaida brothers may possibly have resumed, as we know they did at a later period, their old occupations; while in the middle of the day, when work was impossible, they would not improbably in ‘Simon’s house’ gather around the Divine Teacher, and receive important directions regarding their future work. “These rough, uncultured natures,” says a writer, “were like precious marble not yet polished, but from which the great Master would bring forth a monument to His praise.” When the time came that it was necessary to leave for the Jerusalem festival, it would appear from the narrative that they pursued together the longer route by Samaria, Shechem, and Bethel, while some other of the disciples in Capernaum joined the caravans of pilgrims by the shorter one along the Jordan valley.
1 1 have passed over, without comment, the only other incident which occurs at this time in connection with Peter, on his return, along with his Lor** and the rest of the apostles, to Capernaum. It is recorded alone by the evangelist Matthew: 44 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute-money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your Master pay tribute f He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for Me and thee” (Matt, xvii 24-27). The “tribute * here spoken of, or the Grseco-Roman “didrachmon,” is given outside this Volume, both as an illustration of this occurrence in the life of Peter, and as a specimen of the most current of the coins of the time in Judea. It was equivalent in value to the Jewish half-shekel, and was devoted to the expense connected with the temple-offerings and sacrifices. Though in one sense a voluntary offering, it was expected of every Jew, rich and poor, in whatever country he resided. “It should be observed, however,” says Dr Kitto,” that although the people usually paid the collectors in this coin, the coin itself could not be paid into the temple on account of the symbols and effigies, deemed idolatrous, with which it was charged, and had to be changed for Jewish money at Jerusalem Hence the vocation of the ‘money-changers ’ whom our Lord expelled from the temple.* — Daily Reading*, voL i p. 333.