Transfiguration (2)

Elijah and Elisha

In 2 Kings chapter 2, Elijah is on a tour of prophets with his replacement prophet. Their first stop in just Northwest of Bethel and Elijah asks Elisha to stay there. When Yahweh was about to take Elijah up in the storm to heaven, Elijah and Elisha went from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for Yahweh has sent me up to Bethel.

W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), 2 Ki 2:1–2.

This happens 3 times in the passage between 2:1 and 2:14.

First of all, 3 is a Holy number. (Trinity)

Secondly, Elijah had used an oath much like this in 1 Kings 17:1 “Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead said to Ahab, “As Yahweh lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there shall surely not be dew nor rain these years except by my command.””

It is significant because as I have mentioned, I hope, we should always quote scripture when we make an oath. We should also be very careful when making an oath. God says make your yes be yes and your no be no. Matthew 5:33–37 ““Again you have heard that it was said to the people of old, ‘Do not swear falsely, but fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, because it is the throne of God, or by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. But let your statement be ‘Yes, yes; no, no,’ and anything beyond these is from the evil one.”

Why do you suppose Elijah is trying to get Elisha to stay behind? Is he trying to spare him the loss of his friend and teacher?

Why are the prophets telling Elisha that Yahweh is going to take his master away? And why does Elisha continue to tell them to be quiet? Matthew 16:22–23 “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid, Lord! This will never happen to you!” But he turned around and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a cause for stumbling to me, because you are not intent on the things of God, but the things of people!””

In Mark 9:2–9 “And after six days, Jesus took along Peter and James and John, and led them to a high mountain by themselves alone. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothing became radiant—extremely white, like no cloth refiner on earth can make so white. And Elijah appeared to them together with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 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.” (For he did not know what he should answer, because they were terrified.) And a cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus alone. 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.” We can see this factor of three again. Why did Jesus choose three of his disciples to go to this high place and reveal himself and the Father to them? Notice that they are terrified by what they see. Perhaps Jesus decided these three were able to handle what He was reveling, or maybe that they needed to be shocked into reality.

In 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 “But if indeed our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they would not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. For God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” is the one who has shined in our hearts for the enlightenment of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” we see that our gospel is veiled. In other words, what we know is not always , or ever none by non-believers.

Exodus 34:28–35 “And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He ate no food and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words. And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony were in the hand of Moses at his coming down from the mountain; and Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him. And Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, and, to their amazement, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid of coming near to him. And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. And afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them all that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And Moses finished speaking with them, and he put a veil on his face. And when Moses came before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he went out, and he would go out and would speak to the Israelites what he had b…”

This brilliant white or shining comes from God. Moses doesn’t realize that he has a shining face, but the people can see it. Can you understand that the gospel is veiled from non-believers? That they need to see the Transfiguration, but that the three who were shown are now the ones who will share this shining moment. God calls us through His Son to teach non-believers about the gospel.