The Grace Commentary – Your free verse-by-verse Bible commentary Matthew 17

Matthew 17:1

Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

(a) Six days later. A more accurate translation may be “after six days,” and this is how the interval is translated in many Bibles. It was closer to a week than six days. Luke records that it was “about eight days later” (Luke 9:28).

(b) Peter. Simon Peter; see entry for Matt. 4:18.

(d) John; see entry for Matt.4:21.

Matthew 17:2-3

And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Moses and Elijah. The Mount of Transfiguration was like a stage play with three characters. On one side stood Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets.

Matthew 17:4

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

The disciples marveled to see these two pillars of the old covenant talking with Jesus. But this was no cast of equals, for the spotlight shone only on one (see next verse).

Matthew 17:5

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

(a) This is My beloved Son. The heavenly voice repeats the affirmation heard at Christ’s baptism. See entry for Matthew 3:17.

(b) Listen to Him. Initially, all three actors spoke. Then the Director of the transfiguration play gave his instruction: “Listen to Jesus.” What happened to Moses and Elijah? They exited stage left, leaving the Son of promise to stand alone. The ministries of Moses and Elijah were glorious, but theirs was a fading glory. They could not share the stage with the more glorious ministry of Jesus. By the mandate of heaven, Jesus, the new covenant messenger, speaks alone.

Matthew 17:10

And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

(a) Scribes; see entry for Matt. 5:20.

(b) Elijah must come. The scribes quoted the prophet Malachi who said “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5). The disciples had just seen Elijah, but then he disappeared.

Matthew 17:11

And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

(a) Elijah is coming. Jesus quotes the old prophecy before saying it has been fulfilled in John the Baptist (see next verse). The angel Gabriel told Zacharias that his unborn son John would minister in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17).

(b) Restore all things. Jesus is paraphrasing Malachi who said Elijah would “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). The original word for restore in Malachi 4:6 means turn or return. Gabriel told Zacharias that his son would “turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16).

Matthew 17:12

but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

(a) Elijah already came, not literally, but spiritually in the form of John the Baptist (see next verse). Elijah and John were both old covenant prophets cut from the same cloth.

(b) The Son of Man; see entry for Matt. 8:20.

Matthew 17:13

Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

John the Baptist; see entry for Mark 1:4.

Matthew 17:20

And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

(a) Because of the littleness of your faith. Which is to say they had no faith at all. They were unbelieving (see verse 17).

(b) If you have faith. The question is not how much faith you have but whether you have any. You don’t need a lot of faith: you just need some. The smallest amount of faith will suffice for the largest of challenges. The message Jesus had for his apostles was, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22).

(c) Faith is knowing and trusting the Father’s love (1 John 4:16). It is resting in the confident assurance that God is good and he longs to be good to you. Saving faith confesses that Jesus is Lord, and that God has raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9).

(d) Faith the size of a mustard seed. We don’t need great faith to draw upon the abundance of God’s grace. Even a small mustard-seed amount of faith is enough to move mountains. We don’t need more faith as much as we need a deeper revelation of God’s love for us. It is his goodness that inspires us to trust him.

Matthew 17:23

and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

The third day. On several occasions Jesus prophesied that he would be killed and raised on the third day (Matt. 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, Luke 9:22, 18:33). That prophecy came true when the women discovered his empty tomb (Mark 16:1). Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation (Friday morning; see Mark 15:42) that preceded the Sabbath (the second day), and his empty tomb was discovered the day after the Sabbath (Sunday morning, the third day).

Further reading: “Good Friday Timeline.”

Matthew 17:24

When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”

(a) Those who collected the tax were not tax collectors working for the Romans, but religious officials collecting funds for the temple treasury from every adult male (Ex. 30:13–16). Since Peter lived in Capernaum (Matt. 8:14), they probably came to Peter’s house to collect the tax.

(b) The two-drachma tax paid to support the temple.

(c) Drachma. A Greek drachma was roughly equal to a Roman denarius. Since a denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer (Matt. 20:2), the temple tax was equivalent to two days’ wages.

Matthew 17:25

He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”

(a) He said, “Yes.” Peter misspoke. He presumed that Jesus would pay the temple tax.

(b) Jesus spoke to him first. Either Jesus overheard Peter’s conversation with the collectors of the temple tax, or he had a word of knowledge.

Matthew 17:26

When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt.

Peter told the collectors of the temple tax that Jesus would pay the two-drachma tax (see previous verse). Jesus spoke to correct Peter’s presumption. Jesus did not need to pay the temple tax because the temple belonged to his Father (Luke 2:49). It’s like he was saying, “Why would I pay rent for my own home?”

Matthew 17:27

“However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

(a) So that we do not offend them. The tenants of the temple (the priests) had no business asking the Lord of the temple (Jesus) to pay for his Father’s house, but so as not to create trouble, Jesus voluntarily chose to pay the temple tax. No doubt Peter breathed a sigh of relief (see verse 25).

(b) A shekel was a unit of weight and also a unit of currency whose value fluctuated across cultures and historical periods. The coin in the fish’s mouth is assumed to be a shekel, since it paid the temple tax for both Jesus and Peter. (The temple tax was a half-shekel (Ex. 30:13) or two drachmas (Matt. 17:24).)

A Greek drachma was roughly equivalent in value to a Roman denarius, so a shekel was worth four denarii. Since a denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer (Matt. 20:2), a shekel was worth four days’ wages.

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Matthew 17