Luke 9:28-36 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.… There can be little doubt that Mount Hermon (Jebel es Sheikh) is intended, in spite of the persistent, but perfectly baseless tradition which points to Tabor. For(1) Mount Hermon is easily within six days' reach of Ceesarea Philippi, and(2) could alone be called a "lofty mountain" (being 10,000 feet high), or "the mountain," when the last scene had been at Caesarea. Further(3), Tabor, at that time, in all probability was (Jos. B. J. 1:8, § 7, Vit. 37), as from time immemorial it had been (Joshua 19:12), an inhabited and fortified place, wholly unsuited for a scene so solemn; and(4) was moreover in Galilee, which is excluded by Mark 9:30. "The mountain' is indeed the meaning of the name "Hermon," which being already consecrated by Hebrew poetry (Psalm 133:3), and under its old names of Sion and Sirion, or "breastplate" (Deuteronomy 4:48; Deuteronomy 3:9; Song of Solomon 4:8), was well suited for the Transfiguration by its height, seclusion, and snowy splendour. (Archdeacon Farrar.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. |
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