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Matthew 17

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Chapter of the New Testament
Matthew 17
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The Apostle Peter paying the temple tax with a coin from a fish's mouth by Augustin Tünger, 1486
BookGospel of Matthew
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part1

Matthew 17 is the seventeenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus continues his final journey to Jerusalem ministering through Galilee. William Robertson Nicoll identifies "three impressive tableaux" in this chapter: the transfiguration, the epileptic boy and the temple tribute.

Locations

The chapter opens six days after the events of the previous chapter, which take place in the region of Caesarea Philippi, near the southwestern base of Mount Hermon. Matthew in verse 16:21 states that Jesus must go to Jerusalem, but this journey does not properly begin until Matthew 19:1. With Peter, James and John, he goes to a high mountain, traditionally understood and commemorated as Mount Tabor, where he is transfigured. Mount Tabor is in the south of Galilee. By verse 14 they have returned to a location where the crowd is gathered, verse 22 notes that they are still in Galilee, and in verse 24 they have returned to Capernaum at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.

James Burton Coffman suggests that the location of the transfiguration would have been either Mount Hermon, closer to Caesarea Philippi, "or one of its adjacent peaks": "Mount Tabor, in the days of Christ and the apostles was populated and had a fortress on top of it; and Christ's taking his apostles there would not have been taking them 'apart', as Matthew said" (Matthew 17:1 in the King James Version), nor was Mount Tabor a particularly "high" mountain.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 27 verses.

Textual witnesses

Peter Finds the Silver Coin in the Mouth of the Fish by Jacob Jordaens

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Chapter organisation

The New King James Version organises this chapter as follows:

Transfiguration of Jesus (17:1–8)

Main article: Transfiguration of Jesus

The first eight verses of this chapter record the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, an event where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory on top of a mountain. The passage has parallels in other Synoptic Gospels—Mark 9:2–8 and Luke 9:28–36— and the event is referred to in the Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 1:16–18) as well as possibly alluded in the first chapter of the Gospel of John (John 1:14).

Verse 1

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

In Luke's gospel, the account of the transfiguration of Jesus comes about eight days after the previous events. Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer notes, in accordance with the observations of "Chrysostom, Jerome, Theophylact, Erasmus, and many others ... that Luke has included the dies a quo and ad quem" (i.e. inclusive of the days at the start and end of the interval).

Verse 2

And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Some versions state "white as snow" rather than "white as the light". The Jerusalem Bible notes that the angel of the resurrection in Matthew 28:3 wore a robe which was "white as snow".

Verse 3

Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

Moses and Elijah are the only figures in the Old Testament who speak with God on Mount Sinai: see Exodus 33:11 and 1 Kings 19:8-18. Dale Allison comments that "their presence together makes us think of that mountain".

Verses 14-21

Main article: Exorcising a boy possessed by a demon

Coin in the fish's mouth (17:24–27)

An Athenian tetradrachm from after 499 BCE
Tilapia zilli ("St. Peter's fish") - served in a Tiberias restaurant
Main article: Coin in the fish's mouth

The coin in the fish's mouth is one of the miracles of Jesus, told in verses 24–27.

The four-drachma (or shekel) coin would be exactly enough to pay the temple tax (a two-drachma coin) for two people. It is usually thought to be a Tyrian shekel.

See also

  • Related Bible parts: Exodus 30, Exodus 38, Mark 9, Luke 9

    • References

    1. Nicoll, W. R. (1897ff), The Expositor's Greek Testament on Matthew 17, accessed 6 December 2022
    2. Catholic Encyclopedia: Location of the Transfiguration, accessed 27 January 2017
    3. Benson, J. (1857), Benson Commentary: Matthew 17, accessed 7 March 2021
    4. Coffman, J. B. (1992), Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible: 2 Peter 1, accessed 7 March 2021
    5. Lee 2004, pp. 21–33.
    6. Lockyer 1988, p. 213.
    7. Lee 2004, p. 103.
    8. Matthew 17:1: NKJV
    9. Meyer, H. A. W., Meyer's NT Commentary on Matthew 17, accessed 19 September 2019
    10. Matthew 17:2: NKJV
    11. Matthew 17:2: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
    12. The Holy Bible – Knox Translation, Matthew 17, accessed 6 December 2022
    13. Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote b at Matthew 17:2
    14. Matthew 17:3: New Revised Standard Version
    15. Allison, D., 56. Matthew, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 866
    16. Daniel J. Scholz (2009), Introducing the New Testament ISBN 0-88489-955-1 page 86
    17. Steven L. Cox, Kendell H Easley, 2007 Harmony of the Gospels ISBN 0-8054-9444-8 page 349
    18. Herbert Lockyer, All the Miracles of the Bible (Zondervan, 1988) page 219.
    19. Keener, Craig S., 2009, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0-8028-6498-8, page 445.
    20. Hendin, David. "The coin in the fish's mouth". Coins Weekly. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
    21. Lewis, Peter E.; Bolden, Ron (2002). The Pocket Guide to Saint Paul: Coins Encountered by the Apostle on His Travels. Wakefield Press. p. 21. ISBN 9781862545625. Retrieved 19 February 2016.

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