Matt 17.1-27 will tell us about discernment and understanding, the transfiguration with idioms relating to the festival of Sukkot which teaches the kingdom of God, concepts relating to the coming of one in the spirit and power of Elijah, concepts relating to fasting and the half-shekel Temple tax of Exo 30.
v 1…And six days later (this alludes to after the 6000 years of the Olam Ha Zeh, this present world) Yeshua took with him (a picture of the believer being taken in the Natzal, gathering or rapture; a higher level of insight) Peter and James and John his brother (those that would not see death till they see Yeshua coming in his kingdom-Matt 16.28), and brought them up (ascending to greater spiritual insight) to a high mountain (mountains are symbolic of kingdoms) by themselves.
v 2…And he was transfigured before them; and his face shone like the sun (his “kivod” or radiance and glory-the sun is also seen as a picture of the Messiah-Mal 4.2; Psa 19.1-6) and his garments became white as light (they are getting a glimpse into the Olam Haba-1 Pet 5.1. Luke 9.28-36; the kingdom is pictured by the feast of Sukkot which is called the “Festival of Lights”).
v 3…And behold Moses and Elijah (personifying the two witnesses of the Torah and the Prophets) appeared to them, talking with him,
v 4…And Peter answered and said to Yeshua, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tabernacles (Hebrew “sukkot”=Peter clearly ties this event to the feast of Sukkot and the coming of the kingdom) here, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
v 5… While he was still speaking, behold, a cloud (symbolic of the Shekinah) overshadowed them; and behold a voice (a “bat kol” or “daughter of the voice” is heard. This is feminine in Hebrew, as is Ruach Ha Kodesh or Holy Spirit, and Shekinah; the Scriptures clearly teach the “feminine” aspect of Yehovah and the kingdom in Gen 1.27 and Gal 4.25 for instance) out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well-pleased; hear him (this voice is obviously the Father repeating what is taught in the Torah-Deut 18.15)!”
v 6…And when the talmidim heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid.
v 7…And Yeshua came to them and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”
v 8…And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Yeshua himself alone.
v 9…And as they were coming down from the mountain, Yeshua commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man (a messianic title “bar Enosh” from Dan 7.13) has risen from the dead.”
v 10…And his talimidim asked him saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first (this is an eschatological question meaning if Yeshua was offering the kingdom, then to be the Messiah, there must be an Elijah)?”
v 11…And he answered and said, “Elijah is coming (he has yet to come eschatologically, in the last days) and will restore all things;
v 12… but I say to you (and yet) that Elijah already came (the kingdom is being offered and Yochanon Ha Matvil or John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah-Luke 1.17. There is a teaching concerning Elijah and Jacob/Israel in a book called, “The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet” by Rabbi Michael Munk, Artscroll Series, Mesorah Publications, p. 95, that we thought was interesting. This book goes into the various meanings of each Hebrew letter. According to the book, the letter vav is the symbol for completion, redemption and transformation. There is an interesting quote about Elijah and Israel that says, “The vav in the name of Elijah the Prophet is a symbol of the complete inner harmony that will once more be Israel’s in Messianic times. Tradition teaches that Elijah will appear to herald the coming of the Messiah. His mission will be to establish peace on earth-as it is said (Mal 3.23): “He will return the heart of the parents to their children and the heart of the children to their parents.” Elijah’s name concludes with a hey and vav which, as we have seen earlier, is a name of God. This implies that his presence among the Jewish people in time to come will prove that God’s presence and glory will have been restored to Israel and creation, as it was intended to be. During the thousands of years of Israel’s dispersion, and even during the many years when it fell short of perfection in its land, the world at large and Israel in particular fell short of its goal. This failure is alluded to by the five times in Scripture that Elijah’s name is spelled defectively-minus the vav. On the other hand, the name of Jacob is spelled with an added vav five times in Scripture. The Midrash explains that Jacob “seized” the vav from Elijah, as it were, as a guarantee that the prophet would indeed carry out his charge to herald Israel’s redemption.”) and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
v 13…Then the talmidim understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.
v 14… And when they came to the multitude, a man came up to him, falling on his knees before him, and saying,
v 15… “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic (epileptic-Mark 9.17) and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water.
v 16…And I brought him to your talmidim, and they could not cure him.”
v 17…And Yeshua answered and said, “O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you (he is talking to the talmidim who should have been able to deal with this situation-Mark 9.14-19)?” How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”
v 18…And Yeshua rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once (this was a time of great demonic activity, as it was in the time of Moses and will be again before Yeshua returns).
v 19…Then the talmidim came to Yeshua privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
v 20…And he said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith (faith is “emunah”=action, confidence) for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed (an idiom for “small”), you shall say to this mountain (an obstacle), ‘move from here to there,’ and it shall move, and nothing shall be impossible to you (Why don’t we see these miracles today? Yes, the talmidim had a special relationship with Yeshua and were offering the kingdom, but the Torah has been rejected by people who claim to believe in Yehovah. This applies to the non-Jews who follow a Replacement Theology “Jesus” and to the Jews who reject Yeshua, who was the living, breathing Torah).
v 21…But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting (they did not separate themselves to hear from God on how to deal with this. Ezra 8.21-31 teaches that Ezra prayed and fasted for direction on how to deal with a situation in his days).”
v 22… And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Yeshua said to them, “The Son of Man (Bar Enosh, a messianic title from Dan 7.13) is going to be delivered into the hands of men;
v 23…and they will kill him, and he will be raised again on the third day (that is why he came).” And they were deeply grieved.
v 24…And when they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax (or half-shekel of Exo 30.11-16-This was a religious tax, not civil, and was given to repair the Temple and help with its upkeep, worship and services) came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher pay the two-drachma tax?”
v 25…And he said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Yeshua spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From who do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers (regular subjects to the king)?
v 26…And upon his saying, “From strangers (regular subjects to the king),” Yeshua said to him, “Consequently the sons are exempt (free).
v 27… But, lest we give them offense, go to the sea, and throw in a hook and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth (some say this was an idiom saying that the fish was to be sold, and there would be enough money to pay the tax), you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and me (the “exempted” one. Here is what he is saying. This will be similar to the idea in Matt 12 about the Sabbath. Yeshua is not saying you can break this Torah command, but what he is saying is his presence on the earth took precedence over the needs of the Temple. If the people understood, they would have seen that they had a “greater than the Temple” standing among them because he is the image of Yehovah-Col 2.17; Heb 8.5, 10.1. He doesn’t need to pay this religious tax for Temple upkeep because he is the Son of God, the king and greater than the Temple-Matt 12.6. Since this was for the Temple and its services for worship, he didn’t owe it. But, rather than cause an offense and exert his right not to do so because he is the Son of God, he tells Peter to go fishing. He finds a enough money to pay the tax. Yeshua didn’t owe it, but Peter did, but there was enough for both. This was also saying that Yeshua was God and Lord of the Temple. And we know that after Yeshua was gone, they would continue to attend and support the Temple).
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