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Matthew Chapter 17

Chapter XVII.

1. And after six days Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them into a high mountain apart,
2. And was transformed before them: and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.
3. And, behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elias, discoursing with Him.
4. But Peter answering said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You are willing, let us make here three tabernacles; one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5. Whilst he was yet speaking, behold, a light cloud overshadowed them: and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you Him.
6. And the disciples hearing, fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
7. And Jesus coming touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
8. But lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.
9. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one, until the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
10. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
11. But Jesus answering, said to them, Elias truly comes first, and shall restore all things.
12. But I say to you, that Elias has already come, and they did not know him, but have done to him whatever they willed: so also the Son of Man is about to suffer by them.
13. Then understood the disciples, that He said to them concerning John the Baptist.
14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a man kneeling down to Him, and saying,
15. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
16. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.
17. But Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him here to Me.
18. And Jesus rebuked him; and the demon departed from him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19. Then the disciples coming to Jesus apart, said, Why could not we cast him out?
20. But Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
21. But this kind goes not out, except by prayer and fasting.
22. But whilst they were occupied in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men:
23. And they shall kill Him, and on the third day He shall be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorry.
24. But when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the didrachmas came to Peter, and said, Does not your Master pay tribute?
25. He says, Yes. And when He was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What think you, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own sons, or of strangers ?
26. Peter says to Him, Of strangers. Jesus says to him, Then are the sons free.
27. But lest we should offend them, go you to the sea, cast a hook, and take up the fish that first comes up; and when you have opened its mouth, you shall find a stater; that take, and give to them for Me and you.

EXPOSITION.

Chapter XVII.

verse 1. And after six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John his brother, &c. - By Peter, James, and John, were represented in this passage, as in others, wherever they are named in the books of the Evangelists, faith, charity, and the good of charity; and by they only being present, was signified that no others can see the glory of the Lord, which is in His Word, but they who are in faith, in its charity, and in the good of that charity: others may indeed see, but still they do not see, because they do not believe. See Preface to chap, xviii. of Genesis. AC

And brings them up into a high mountain apart.- Inasmuch as a mountain signified the good of love, and when predicated concerning the Lord, the Divine Good of the Divine Love, and since from that Good proceeds Divine Truth, therefore Jehovah, that is the Lord, descended upon Mount Sinai, and promulgated the law, for it is written that He "descended upon that mountain to the head of the mountain," Exod 19:20, 24:17; and that He promulgated the law there, Exod. xx. -: hence also by Sinai, in the Word, is signified Divine Truth from Divine Good, in like manner by the law there promulgated. And on this account also, the Lord "took Peter, James, and John, into a high mountain, when he was transformed;" and also, when He was transformed, He appeared in Divine Truth from Divine Good; for His face, which was as the sun, represented Divine Good; and His garment, which was as the light, Divine Truth; and Moses and Elias, who appeared, signified the Word, which was Divine Truth from Divine Good. AE 405. See also Exposition, chap. 14:23.

Verse 2. His face did shine as the sun, &c. - Inasmuch aa the Lord, on this occasion, was seen in His divine, He appeared, as to the face, like the sun, and as to the garments, like the light; for the face corresponds to love, and garments correspond to truth; and inasmuch as Divine Love was in Him, therefore His face shone as the sun; and inasmuch as Divine Truth was from Him, therefore His garments became as the light; light also in heaven is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord as a Sun. AE 401. See also HH 129, 180.

The Lord was so seen by the disciples when they were withdrawn from the body, and were in the light of heaven. Hence it was that the ancients, amongst whom the representative church was instituted, turned their faces to the sun in the east, when they were in Divine Worship: and hence the custom of building temples with an aspect towards the east. HH 119.

Verse 3. And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him.-The reason why Moses and Elias appeared was, because they both signify the Word; Moses the historical Word, and Elias the prophetic Word. AE 64. See also AC 6752.

Verse 5. A bright cloud overshadowed them, &c. - By the cloud which overshadowed the disciples, and into which the disciples entered, was represented the Word in the letter; for by disciples, in the Word, was represented the church, which at that time and afterwards was only in truths derived from the sense of the letter: and whereas revelations and responses are made by Divine Truth in ultimates, and this truth is such as is the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word, therefore it came to pass that a voice was heard from the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son; hear Him;" that is, that He is Divine Truth or the Word. AE 594.

The reason why a bright cloud overshadowed them was because a bright cloud signifies the Word in the letter, in which is the internal sense. The reason why a voice said from the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you Him," was because a voice from a cloud signifies Divine Truth from the Word, and beloved Son signifies His Divine Humanity; and whereas Divine Truth is from Himself, and hence every truth of the church, it was said from the cloud, "In whom I am well pleased; hear you Him:" that the Divine Humanity of the Lord was so seen, is evident, because the divine itself cannot appear to any one except as It appears by the Divine Human, which also the Lord teaches in John, " No one has seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has brought Him forth to view," John 1:18; and in another place, "You have neither heard the voice of the Father, nor seen His shape," John 5:37. AE 64. See also SS 48, 98. TCR 222.AC 82, 2805, 2576, 8195, 8212, 4677, 5110, 9212.

Verses 6, 7. And the disciples hearing, fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus coming, touched them, &c. - From these words it appears what is the quality of the presence of the Divine Humanity of the Lord, with the man who is in humiliation of heart, namely, that he falls upon the face, and by the touch of His hand is set erect on the feet. AE 77.

To touch with the hand, denotes to communicate and transfer to another; the reason is, because into the hands is transferred all the power of man from the body, wherefore what the mind wills that the body should do, is done by the arms and hands. Hence it is that by arms and hands, in the Word, is signified power: but this power is natural power, and communication by it is the putting forth of the strength of the body. But spiritual power is to will the good of another, and, as far as is possible, to be willing to transfer to another what appertains to one's-self. This power is what is signified by hand, in a spiritual sense, and its communication and translation by touching with the hand. AE 79. See also Exposition, chap. 8:3, 9:20.

The origin of the above signification is, because the presence of the Lord with man is adjunction, thus conjunction by what is contiguous, and this contiguity becomes nearer and fuller as man loves the Lord, that is, does His precepts. AR 55.

Verses 11, 12. Elias truly shall first come.-See Exposition, chap. 11:7-15; and AE 83.

Verse 12. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.-By the Son of man suffering and being slain, was signified that they would so deal with Divine Truth, consequently with the Lord, who was the Divine Truth Itself. AE 68.

Verses 10-18. That the Word was represented by John, as by Elias, is signified by his being Elias who was to come. That Elias came, and they did not acknowledge him, but did to him whatever they willed, signifies that the Word indeed taught them that the Lord was to come, but that still they were not willing to comprehend, interpreting it in favour of self-dominion, and thereby extinguishing the Divine principle which was in it. That they were about to do the like with Truth Divine itself, is signified by likewise so shall the Son of Man suffer of them. AC 9372.

Verses 19, 20. Why could not we cast him out? But Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief, &c. - The reason why the Lord called the disciples men of little faith, when they could not do miracles in His name, was because the disciples did indeed believe the Lord to be the Messiah or the Christ, also the Son of God, and the Prophet, concerning whom mention is made in the Word, but still they did not yet believe Him to be the Omnipotent God, and that Jehovah the Father was in Him; and yet in proportion as they believed Him to be a man, and not at the same time God, His Divine to which Omnipotence belonged, could not become present with them by faith. For faith causeth the Lord to be present, as was said above, but faith in Him, as a man only, does not cause His Divine Omnipotence to be present. AE 815. See also Exposition, chap. 8:10, 13:67, 58, 15:28.

Verse 20. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, &c.- That this passage is to be understood otherwise than according to the words, may be manifest from this consideration, that it was said to the disciples, if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed, that they might pluck up a mountain and a sycamore tree from their places, and cast them into the sea, also that they should receive all things whatever they should ask, when yet it is not of Divine Order that any one should receive what he asks, if only he has faith; also, it is not of Divine Order that they should pluck up a mountain and a tree from their places, and cast them into the sea. But by faith, here, is meant faith from the Lord, wherefore it is also called the faith of God, Mark 11:22; and he who is in faith from the Lord, asks nothing else than what conduces to the Lord's kingdom, and to his own salvation; other things he does not desire, for he says in his heart, why should things be sought after which are of no such use? wherefore he cannot have any faith of God, or faith from the Lord, in asking any thing but what it is given him from the Lord to ask. Yea, it is impossible for the angels of heaven to will any thing else, thus to ask any thing else, for in such case they cannot have faith that they shall receive it.

The reason why the Lord compared such faith to the power and ability of casting a mountain or a sycamore tree into the sea, was because the Lord in this passage, as in others, spoke by correspondences, wherefore these words are also to be spiritually understood. For by a mountain, is signified the love of self and of the world; thus the love of evil; and by a sycamore tree is signified the faith of that love; which is the faith of what is false, derived from evil; and by the sea, is signified hell; wherefore by plucking up a mountain and casting it into the sea, through the faith of God,is signified to cast out into hell those loves, which in themselves are diabolical; in like manner the faith of what is false derived from evil, which is effected by faith from the Lord. A further reason why the Lord compared the power and ability of faith, derived from Himself, with the plucking up and casting forth of a mountain and of a sycamore tree into the sea, is, because in the spiritual world this is actually the case; for those evil loves sometimes appear there as mountains, and the faith of what is false derived from evil as a sycamore tree; and each can be rooted up and cast into the sea by an angel through faith from the Lord. AE 815. See also Exposition, chap. 13:31.

Verses 22, 23. Jesus said to them, &c. - See Exposition, chap. 20:18, 19.

Verses 24-27. Does not your Master pay tribute, &c. - By paying tribute or custom, was signified to be subject and to serve, wherefore tributes were imposed on strangers, who were not of the sons of Israel, as is evident from the historicals of the Word; by the sons of Israel, amongst whom was the church, were signified the spiritual, and by strangers the natural; and the natural principle is subject to the spiritual, and serves it, for the spiritual man is as a lord, and the natural man as a servant; and inasmuch as the natural are servants, and hence are meant by tributaries, therefore it was effected that neither the Lord nor Peter gave tribute, but a fish, by which is signified the natural man. AE 513, 820.

By giving tribute or custom, are meant those who serve, wherefore it is said that strangers should give, and that the sons were free, for strangers were servants; by Peter taking a fish out of the sea, and finding in its mouth a piece of money, which he was to give, was represented that the lowest natural principle, which is a principle of service, should do this; for fish signify that natural principle. AC 6394.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS.

Chapter XVII.

verse 4.It is good for us to be here.-What is here rendered good, is expressed in the original by the term kalon. See note, chap. vii. verse 17, for the distinction between kalon and agathon.

Verse 17. O faithless and perverse generation, &c. - The intelligent reader will not fail here again to remark the reference to the marriage of good and truth, or of their opposites, according to which the Lord continually spoke, whilst he observes that faithless has relation to the want of truth or faith, and perverse to the want of good or charity; and whilst he attends further to the two significant questions which the Lord proposes on the occasion, "How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" for the first question relates to His Divine presence with man, by the good of His love, and the second to His Divine presence with man, by the truth of His wisdom.

Verse 21. This kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting.-See note, chap. vi. verse 18.

Verse 34. The didrachmas.-The didrachma was a piece of Jewish coin of the value of two drachmas, usually paid for tribute.

Verse 26. Jesus says to him.-It is remarkable that the term says,in this passage, is expressed in the original Greek by the verb ethe.

Verse 27. You shall find a stater.-The stater was a piece of Jewish money of the value of four drachmas, or two didrachmas. The stater, in a spiritual view, is still to be found in the fish's mouth, in other words, every living scientific, signified by a fish, is in connection with the Divine Truth signified by the stater, but the latter can only be found by opening the mouth of the former.