1And after six days Jesus took Peter, Jacob, and John his brother, and led them up into a high mountain by themselves; 2and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4Then 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. 5While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. 6And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly terrified. 7And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and do not be terrified. 8And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 9Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. 10And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? 11And Jesus answered and said to them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer under them. 13Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Immerser. 14And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and suffers miserably; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16And I brought him to Your disciples, but they were not able to cure him. 17Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me. 18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? 20And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible unto you. 21However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. 22And while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorrowful. 24And when they had come to Capernaum, those who received the tribute came to Peter and said, Does your Teacher not pay the tribute? 25He said, Yes. And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers? 26Peter said to Him, From strangers. Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free. 27Nevertheless, that we not offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 22 HEALING OF A DEMONIAC BOY--SECOND EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT BY OUR LORD OF HIS APPROACHING DEATH AND RESURRECTION. ( = Mark 9:14-32;
Luke 9:37-
Luke 9:45). (
Matt 17:14-
Matt 17:23)
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them--Mark (
Mark 9:30), as usual, is very precise here: "And they departed thence"--that is, from the scene of the last miracle--"and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it." So this was not a preaching, but a private, journey through Galilee. Indeed, His public ministry in Galilee was now all but concluded. Though He sent out the Seventy after this to preach and heal, He Himself was little more in public there, and He was soon to bid it a final adieu. Till this hour arrived, He was chiefly occupied with the Twelve, preparing them for the coming events.
The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men . . . And they were exceeding sorry--Though the shock would not be so great as at the first announcement (
Matt 16:21-
Matt 16:22), their "sorrow" would not be the less, but probably the greater, the deeper the intelligence went down into their hearts, and a new wave dashing upon them by this repetition of the heavy tidings. Accordingly, Luke (
Luke 9:43-
Luke 9:44), connecting it with the scene of the miracle just recorded, and the teaching which arose out of it--or possibly with all His recent teaching--says our Lord forewarned the Twelve that they would soon stand in need of all that teaching: "But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, He said unto His disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears; for the Son of man shall be delivered," &c.: "Be not carried off your feet by the grandeur you have lately seen in Me, but remember what I have told you, and now tell you again, that that Sun in whose beams ye now rejoice is soon to set in midnight gloom." Remarkable is the antithesis in those words of our Lord preserved in all the three narratives--"The son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men." Luke adds (
Luke 9:45) that "they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not"--for the plainest statements, when they encounter long-continued and obstinate prejudices, are seen through a distorting and dulling medium--"and were afraid to ask Him"; deterred partly by the air of lofty sadness with which doubtless these sayings were uttered, and on which they would be reluctant to break in, and partly by the fear of laying themselves open to rebuke for their shallowness and timidity. How artless is all this!
24 THE TRIBUTE MONEY. (
Matt 17:24-
Matt 17:27)
And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money--the double drachma; a sum equal to two Attic drachmas, and corresponding to the Jewish "half-shekel," payable, towards the maintenance of the temple and its services, by every male Jew of twenty years old and upward. For the origin of this annual tax, see
Exod 30:13-
Exod 30:14;
2Chr 24:6,
2Chr 24:9. Thus, it will be observed, it was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical tax. The tax mentioned in
Matt 17:25 was a civil one. The whole teaching of this very remarkable scene depends upon this distinction.
came to Peter--at whose house Jesus probably resided while at Capernaum. This explains several things in the narrative.
and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?--The question seems to imply that the payment of this tax was voluntary, but expected; or what, in modern phrase, would be called a "voluntary assessment."
25 He saith, yes--that is, "To be sure He does"; as if eager to remove even the suspicion of the contrary. If Peter knew--as surely he did--that there was at this time no money in the bag, this reply must be regarded as a great act of faith in his Master.
And when he was come into the house--Peter's.
Jesus prevented him--anticipated him; according to the old sense of the word "prevent."
saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?--using his family name for familiarity.
of whom do the kings of the earth take custom--meaning custom on goods exported or imported.
or tribute--meaning the poll-tax, payable to the Romans by everyone whose name was in the census. This, therefore, it will be observed, was strictly a civil tax.
of their own children, or of strangers--This cannot mean "foreigners," from whom sovereigns certainly do not raise taxes, but those who are not of their own family, that is, their subjects.
26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers--"of those not their children."
Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free--By "the children" our Lord cannot here mean Himself and the Twelve together, in some loose sense of their near relationship to God as their common Father. For besides that our Lord never once mixes Himself up with His disciples in speaking of their relation to God, but ever studiously keeps His relation and theirs apart (see, for example, on the last words of this chapter)--this would be to teach the right of believers to exemption from the dues required for sacred services, in the teeth of all that Paul teaches and that He Himself indicates throughout. He can refer here, then, only to Himself; using the word "children" evidently in order to express the general principle observed by sovereigns, who do not draw taxes from their own children, and thus convey the truth respecting His own exemption the more strikingly:--namely, "If the sovereign's own family be exempt, you know the inference in My case"; or to express it more nakedly than Jesus thought needful and fitting: "This is a tax for upholding My Father's House. As His Son, then, that tax is not due by Me--I AM FREE."
27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend--stumble.
them--all ignorant as they are of My relation to the Lord of the Temple, and should misconstrue a claim to exemption into indifference to His honor who dwells in it.
go thou to the sea--Capernaum, it will be remembered, lay on the Sea of Galilee.
and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money--a stater. So it should have been rendered, and not indefinitely, as in our version, for the coin was an Attic silver coin equal to two of the afore-mentioned "didrachms" of half a shekel's value, and so, was the exact sum required for both. Accordingly, the Lord adds,
that take, and give unto them for me and thee--literally, "instead of Me and thee"; perhaps because the payment was a redemption of the person paid for (
Exod 30:12) --in which view Jesus certainly was "free." If the house was Peter's, this will account for payment being provided on this occasion, not for all the Twelve, but only for him and His Lord. Observe, our Lord does not say "for us," but "for Me and thee"; thus distinguishing the Exempted One and His non-exempted disciple.