The Source of the Story of the Transfiguration

Chapter III

The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them

Section VI

The Texts which were quoted from the Old Testament, but they have not been attributed directly to it

In this section will examine the texts which were quoted from the Old Testament, but they have not been attributed directly to it, as is the case in the previous sections, which I call it Storyline or Plot-story or screenplay of the Gospels, where we will review the most of the events and stories and sayings that mentioned in the Gospels, and comparing them with the Old Testament and with Jesus as was portrayed in the Gospels, and his attributes in the laws of the faith of the churches as well.

10 - The Source of the Story of the Transfiguration

This story written by Matthew, Mark and Luke, as in the following texts:

Matthew 17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;

Matthew 17:2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Matthew 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Matthew 17:4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Matthew 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"

Matthew 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

Matthew 17:7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."

Matthew 17:8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Mark 9:1 And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power."

Mark 9:2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.

Mark 9:3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

Mark 9:4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Mark 9:5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" —

Mark 9:6 because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.

Mark 9:7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Mark 9:8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.

Luke 9:28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 9:29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.

Luke 9:30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah,

Luke 9:31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Luke 9:32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.

Luke 9:33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said.

Luke 9:34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.

Luke 9:35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Luke 9:36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

This story raises some notes that I'd like to record before talking about its source from the texts of the Old Testament.

The first note is on what I had talked about it earlier; that there are no sayings attributed directly to the God except two sayings. The first is "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!", (Matthew 3:17), (Mark 1:11) and (Luke 3:22), which are repeated in this story. The second is "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again", (John 12:28), unlike the Old Testament which is filled with the texts that say that the Lord said, and the Lord made, etc.!

The second note is on the saying "Hear him".

So, have the disciples and the churches heard Jesus?

When Jesus said "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" and "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel".

Have they heard him, or they went to call all nations except the Jews?

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.

Matthew 10:6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."

Matthew 15:24 But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

When Jesus said "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple".

Have they heard him and borne their crosses and gone after him, or all of them deserted him and fled?!

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:27 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 

Matthew 26:56 "But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

Mark 14:50 Then they all forsook Him and fled.

Mark 14:51 Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him,

Mark 14:52 and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

When Jesus said "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I did not come to destroy but to fulfill".

Have they heard him and committed to the commandments of the Law or they violated most of them, particularly worship the Lord alone, circumcision and the prohibition of pork and committed to the Sabbath and other laws that were mentioned in the Law?

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Matthew 5:19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

When Jesus said to the disciples "Watch and pray".

Have they heard him, or they spent the night asleep?!

Matthew 26:38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."

Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

Matthew 26:40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?

Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."

Matthew 26:43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

The third note is on why John didn't mention this story in his Gospel; especially he was there, as is written in the other Gospels?!

Did John hid this story as is his approach to hiding a lot of the events of Jesus' life as he stated in his Gospel? As in the following texts:

John 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;

John 20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

Or that he did not pay attention to the texts which were relied upon by the other Gospels authors, as is their method and approach of writing the Gospels, which is the quoting from the texts of the Old Testament and reformulating them in their narratives of Jesus' life.

So what is the source of this story?

Let's read the following texts:

Exodus 19:24 Then the LORD said to him, "Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them."

Exodus 20:21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 24:1 Now He said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.

Exodus 24:2 "And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him."

Exodus 24:15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

Exodus 24:16 Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

Exodus 34:29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.

Exodus 34:30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

Exodus 34:31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.

Exodus 34:32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

Exodus 34:33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

These texts talk briefly about Moses when he went up into Mount Sinai, and the glory of the Lord has appeared on Mount Sinai, and the Lord spoke to Moses out of the midst of the cloud, and gave him the commandments, and then the skin of Moses' face became shining when came down from Mount Sinai, forcing him to put a veil on his face.

So, if we compare between two stories, we find several notes that confirm that the story of the Gospels is not real and not true, and they have quoted it from the story of Moses.

The first note is on the story of Moses as is written in the Old Testament which says that he went up to meet the Lord, and away from my belief that the Lord does not come down personally in the cloud as is understood from the story, yet we find that the story talks about a meeting between two, whom have totally different attributes. The first is the LORD the Creator. The second is one of the creatures, thus the meeting between them is a matter of a meeting between two figures, while the story of the Gospels raises several problems with the laws of faith of the churches that say that the three Hypostases are united with each other and not separated, which means that the meeting was between the one with himself, and what is the need to meet the one with himself?!

One may say that this may happened for a reason, such as increasing the faith of the disciples who were with him!

Or receiving laws as what happened with Moses for he received in this story the Ten Commandments.

These views might be true if the disciples were really intended in the story, but the Gospels authors have pointed out that they were greatly afraid, and were heavy with sleep, so that Peter did not know what he says!

And Jesus has not received any laws as well, unlike what happened with Moses.

The second note is on the effect of this meeting on Moses and Jesus; Moses, when he came down from Mount Sinai his face became shining, forcing him to put a veil, while the shining of Jesus' face has disappeared at the end of the story, because the Gospels authors will compose after a few pages that Jesus was slapped and spat on his face, and in the next day will be crucified with two robbers. So it was difficult for them to write that his face has remained shining, unlike Moses who will continue to lead his people to the Holy Land according to the promises of the Lord.

From all this, I can say that this story is not true, and was quoted from the story of Moses in the Old Testament, as is the method and approach of writing the Gospels away from the historical events and the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as shown in this book, to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on the Gospels, which means that the law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to this story.