THE LORD SPOKE (January 17)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Genesis 41-42

The last time he saw those ten faces, he was looking up from a pit. Yet “as soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them” (Gen. 42:7).

What unfolds is déjà vu for Joseph. Just as he’d dreamed those many years before, here were his brothers bowing before him. Naturally, he was anxious to find out about his father and his little brother, Ben. Unwittingly, the brothers spill out just the information he wants to hear. Now... how to organize the reunion?

In the process Joseph learned some things, like the brothers’ remorse over what they’d done to him, like Reuben’s feeble attempt to save him, like his father’s fragile health. He still had some lessons to learn from God through this experience too. But what’s so gratifying in the text is the change in the brothers’ attitudes.

When struck with apparent calamity, they ask, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Gen. 42:28). At last, they have come to the point of recognizing God’s hand in their lives and seeking His direction instead of plowing through without Him. Enough of their own determination. Isn’t it time we seek His face?

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

Adelaide A. Pollard


New Testament: Matthew 17

Where and when did it happen? The traditional site of the Mount of Transfiguration is Mt. Tabor on the north edge of the Jezreel Valley, near Nazareth. But that mountain had a large Roman fort on top during the first century. It’s possible that Jesus was transfigured in the middle of a Roman fort but not very likely. Matthew appears to place the event in the region of Caesarea Philippi (see Mat. 16:13) and a much more likely candidate is Mt. Hermon or one of its lower slopes. It is identified as “a high mountain” (17:1) and the brightness (“shone like the sun”, “white as light”) seems to fit Hermon’s snow-covered peaks.

Peter’s desire to put up three shelters (huts, tabernacles?) may be a hint as to the time of year. The Feast of Tabernacles is called Sukkot in Hebrew, which word means “shelters” or “huts”. It falls in September/October and commemorates the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness. For one week families build huts behind their houses, eating meals and occasionally sleeping inside with their children to tell them the story of the wilderness wanderings and God’s mighty provision in bringing them to the Promised Land. Did Peter want to detain Moses and Elijah for awhile in his sukkah? Wouldn’t they have had some magnificent stories to share in the huts?

Moses and Elijah are there to represent “The Law” and “The Prophets”. In other words, all of Scripture was there to support the testimony about the Christ. Jesus was the final objective of the Law (= the “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ”) and the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies. How fitting that these two Old Testament characters should be present to give testimony to this.

You can hardly blame Peter for piping up and jabbering in his joy at the occasion. But the booming voice of God comes down, as if to say, “Will you just shut up for awhile and listen?!” The words must have stayed ringing in Peter’s ears for some time afterwards: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (17:5). What a fantastic confirmation of Peter’s own confession in the previous chapter!

As always in Scripture upon seeing any manifestation of God, whether angel or otherwise, the reaction of those present was utter fear. The disciples fall on their faces, quaking. Jesus’ comforting words begin with, “Don’t be afraid.” There follows a sensitive “teaching moment”. Don’t you wish you could have been there? Especially for the part where “they saw no one except Jesus” (17:8)?!