Luke 9:28

ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτώ. This is not a case of the schema Pindaricum where a singular verb (ἐγένετο) is attached to a plural substantive. The ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτώ is a sort of parenthetic clause without regular connexion. See Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13. This is merely the inclusive reckoning which St Luke saw in his written sources, and means exactly the same thing as “after six days” in Mark 9:2. (This explains Matthew 27:63.)

παραλαβών. The solemnity of this special choice is marked in the other Gospels by the additional word ἀναφέρει, “He leads them up” (cf. Luke 24:51). Matthew 26:37.

Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην καὶ Ἰάκωβον. See Luke 6:14; Luke 8:51. The object of this occasion was to fill their souls with a vision which should support their faith amid the horrors which they afterwards witnessed.

εἰς τὸ ὄρος. ‘Into the mountain.’ The others say ‘into a lofty mountain.’ There can be little doubt that Mount Hermon (Jebel esh Sheikh) is intended, in spite of the persistent, but perfectly baseless tradition which points to Tabor. For (i) Mount Hermon is easily within six days’ reach of Caesarea Philippi, and (ii) could alone be called a “lofty mountain” (being 10,000 feet high) or “the mountain,” when the last scene had been at Caesarea. Further, (iii) Tabor at that time in all probability was (Jos. B. J. I. 8, § 7, Vit. 37), as from time immemorial it had been (Joshua 19:12), an inhabited and fortified place, wholly unsuited for a scene so solemn; and (iv) was moreover in Galilee, which is excluded by Mark 9:30. “The mountain” is indeed the meaning of the name “Hermon,” which being already consecrated by Hebrew poetry (Psalms 133:3, and under its old names of Sion and Sirion, or ‘breastplate,’ Deuteronomy 4:48; Deuteronomy 3:9; Song of Solomon 4:8), was well suited for the Transfiguration by its height, seclusion, and snowy splendour.

προσεύξασθαι. The characteristic addition of St Luke. That this awful scene took place at night, and therefore that He ascended the mountain in the evening, is clear from Luke 9:32-33 : comp. Luke 6:12. It is also implied by the allusions to the scene in 2 Peter 1:18-19.