Scripture
Mark 9:2-13
Introduction
In the ANE mountains were the abodes of the gods, the elohim.
Eden was the mountain where heaven and earth met [Ezekiel 28:13-14]. When Adam and Eve were driven from Eden they were separated from YHWH. The Tower of Babel was a foolish attempt to build a mountain to bring heaven and the gods down. Moses encountered YHWH on Mount Sinai on his way back to Egypt and then returned to the land of slavery to take the Israelites back to Mount Sinai to encounter YHWH. Jesus announced his kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7].
For example, Mount Olympus was the home of the Ancient Greek Pantheon. Mount Carmel was where Elijah took on the prophets of Baal.
The name the mountain [v2] is not given but it is almost certainly Mount Hermon as Jesus and the disciples were in Caesarea Philippi…
The site was famous in the ANE as a center of the worship of Pan and for a temple to the high god Zeus, considered in Jesus’ day to be incarnate in Augustus Caesar.1
“More than twenty temples have been surveyed on Mt. Hermon and its environs. This is an unprecedented number in comparison with other regions of the Phoenician coast. They appear to be the ancient cult sites of the Mt. Hermon population and represent the Canaanite/Phoenician concept of open-air cult centers dedicated, evidently, to the celestial gods.”2
The reference in the quotation to “celestial gods” takes our minds back to the “host of heaven,” the sons of God who were put in authority over the nations at Babel (Deut 32:8–9) who were not to be worshiped by Israelites (Deut 4:19–20; 17:3; 29:25).”3
It is here that Peter has just professed that Jesus is the Messiah [Mark 8:27-38]. Matthew gives us more detail…
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it!
Matthew 16:18
The “gates of hell” was a cave at the bottom of Mount Hermon…
“The pagans of Jesus' day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves.”
“To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld… In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.
“When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Caesarea Philippi was like a red-light district in their world and devout Jews would have avoided any contact with the despicable acts committed there.”4
The definitive war of YHWH against the gods of Canaan and the Graeco-Roman world, i.e. the gods of this world, is about to begin! This is an Exodus, out of the slavery of Egypt, its gods defeated and the journey into THE promised land.
Questions
2a And after six days, Jesus took along Peter and James and John, and led them to a high mountain by themselves alone.
1. What is the mountain? What is its significance? What were the “Gates of Hell” [Matthew 16:18]?
2b And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothing became radiant—extremely white, like no cloth refiner on earth can make so white.
2. Why is Jesus radiant [Exodus 3:1-4:17]?5
4 And Elijah6 appeared to them together with Moses7, and they were talking with Jesus.
3. Elijah and Moses are real but also archetypal. What does each represent in the biblical narrative?
Peter, at some level, is “joining the dots”…
5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! And let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (For he did not know what he should answer, because they were terrified.)
Peter is “terrified”, confused but knows something huge, apocalyptic, is happening. Why does he want to make shelters, or tents?8
7a And a cloud came, overshadowing them,
5. What do clouds indicate?9
7b and a voice came from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!”
6. This is the second time the Father/YHWH speaks from heaven over the incarnate Jesus. What was the first time? What will be the third time?10
8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus alone.
Eden was about to be restored. In a moment it is gone! But this was an apocalypse, a glimpse into what is being planned in heaven.
9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, he ordered them that they should tell no one the things that they had seen, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 And they kept the matter to themselves, discussing what this rising from the dead meant.
7. Why the secrecy [1 Corinthians 2:8]?
11 And they asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
This is a reference to Malachi 4:5-6.
12 And he said to them, “Elijah indeed does come first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
Jesus is probably linking the son of man of Daniel 7 [especially vv13-14] with the “suffering servant” passage of Isaiah 52:13–53:12.
13 But I tell you that indeed Elijah has come [perfect], and they did [aorist] to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written [perfect] about him.”
8. So who is the returning Elijah? John the Baptist or Jesus?11
More
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 284.
Arav, “Hermon, Mount (Place),” he Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (ed. David Noel Freedman; New York: Doubleday, 1992) 159.
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 284.
‘Gates of Hell’. That the World May Know. Accessed 7 January 2023. https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/gates-of-hell-article.
The Satan in Eden was a sparkling cherubim [Ezekiel 28:13]. He rebelled and ruled over this world [Matthew 4:8-9] with the rebellious elohim [Psalm 82]. Jesus is revealed as THE elohim, the splendorous shining one who is going to take over where the rebellious elohim failed [Psalm 82]. Unlike Moses, who reflected YHWH’s glory [Exodus 34:29-35], Jesus shines his own light.
Elijah is a type of all the prophets and John the Baptist, as an Elijah, had passed the baton to Jesus [and hence those confusing references in the gospels as to who is Elijah]. YHWH had defeated Baal and demonstrated himself as the El Elyon, through Elijah, on Mount Carmel. Jesus will now take on all the gods of the nations from their mountain overlooking the Promised Land. We remember that after his baptism Jesus entered the wilderness and was taken to a high mountain by [the] Satan and offered the kingdoms of the world in return for falling down before the devil and worshipping him [Matthew 4:7-11].
Moses was a priest and the lawgiver/judge. Jesus assumed the role of Moses in the Sermon on the Mountain [Matthew 5-7] in that both events were preceded and succeeded by miracles and were given from a mountain.
"Israelites annually built tabernacles, or booths, commemorating the time when God’s presence was with them in the wilderness, so Peter would know how to build one." Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 150.
Cloud indicates heaven and the presence of YHWH [Exodus 13:21-22; Job 22:14, 37:15-16; Revelation 14:14]. They are enveloped by heaven. Heaven has come down to the mountain peak. Eden will be restored!
The first was his baptism [Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–23]. The third will be at the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem [John 12:28-29]. The destruction of the rulers of this world is imminent [see Psalm 2]. This is not a reference to the ontological trinity but the well-understood, at that time, norm that the king was a son of a god.
The aorist permits an ongoing Elijah role first by John and now Jesus. John was Elijah, as discussed above, but the role for sure, was fulfilled, sensus plenior by Jesus. Sensus plenior fulfilment of prophecy is about a fuller “metaphorical” meaning. It is a very broad term that requires us not to insist on a literal, in the sense of unique, interpretation of any text.