马太福音 17:10

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

門徒就問他：“那麼經學家為甚麼說，以利亞必須先來呢？”

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
门 徒 问 耶 稣 说 ： 文 士 为 甚 麽 说 以 利 亚 必 须 先 来 ？

Contextual Overview

¹ Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, up on a high mountain by themselves. ² While they watched, Jesus' appearance was changed; his face became bright like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. ³ Then Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. ⁴ Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you want, I will put up three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁵ While Peter was talking, a bright cloud covered them. A voice came from the cloud and said, "This is my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!" ⁶ When his followers heard the voice, they were so frightened they fell to the ground. ⁷ But Jesus went to them and touched them and said, "Stand up. Don't be afraid." ⁸ When they looked up, they saw Jesus was now alone. ⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone about what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ Then his followers asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Why: Matthew 17:3, Matthew 17:4, Matthew 11:14, Matthew 27:47-49, Malachi 4:5, Malachi 4:6, Mark 9:11, John 1:21, John 1:25

Reciprocal: Malachi 3:1 - and he Mark 6:15 - it is Elias Luke 9:8 - General Revelation 20:4 - the souls

Cross-References

Genesis 17:3
Then Abram bowed facedown on the ground. God said to him,

Genesis 17:6
I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you.

Genesis 17:9
Then God said to Abraham, "You and your descendants must keep this agreement from now on.

Genesis 17:11
Cut away your foreskin to show that you are prepared to follow the agreement between me and you.

Genesis 17:12
From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave, who is not one of your descendants.

Genesis 17:18
Then Abraham said to God, "Please let Ishmael be the son you promised."

Genesis 17:19
God said, "No, Sarah your wife will have a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him to be an agreement that continues forever with all his descendants.

Genesis 17:25
And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

Genesis 17:26
Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day.

Genesis 34:15
But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And his disciples asked him, saying,.... That is, these three, Peter, James, and John, before they came to the rest; whilst they were going down the mountain, or from it, to the place where the others were; for the rest knew nothing of the appearance of Elias, and so cannot be thought to join in a question concerning him.

Why then say the Scribes, that Elias must first come? That is, come before the Messiah comes; for certain it is, that this was the sense of the Scribes, as it was of the ancient Jews, and is still the opinion of the modern ones. They say h,

"that in the second year of Ahaziah, Elias was hid; nor will he appear, till the Messiah comes; then he will appear, and will be hid a second time; and then will not appear, till Gog and Magog come.''

And they expressly affirm i, that

"before the coming of the son of David, יבא אליהו לבשר, "Elias will come to bring the good news" of it.''

And this, they say k, will be one day before the coming of the Messiah. And Maimonides l observes,

"that there are of their wise men that say, המשיח יבא אליהו

שקודם ביאת, "that before the coming of the Messiah, Elias shall come".''

So Trypho the Jew, the same with R. Tarphon, so often mentioned in Talmudic writings, disputing with Justin Martyr, tells him m, that the Messiah,

"shall not know himself, nor have any power, μεχρι αν ελθων

Ηλιας, "till Elias comes", and anoints him, and makes him known to all.''

And hence the Targumist n often speaks of Messiah and Elias as together, and of things done by them; and in their prayers, petitions are put for them, as to come together o: this is founded upon a mistaken sense of Malachi 4:5 and which is the general sense of their commentators p. Now the Scribes made use of this popular sense, to disprove Jesus being the Messiah: they argued, that if he was the Messiah, Elias would be come; but whereas he was not come, therefore he could not be the Messiah. The disciples having just now seen Elias, are put in mind of this tenet of the Scribes, and of their use of it; and inquire of Christ, not so much about the truth of it, and the reason of their imbibing it, as why they were suffered to make use of it, to his disadvantage; and especially why they, the disciples, should be forbid publishing what they had seen; whereas, were they allowed to divulge this vision, and bear their testimony to this truth, that Elias had appeared, and they had seen him, it might be a means of stopping the mouths of these Scribes; and of convicting men of the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus, upon their own principles, and of confirming them that believed it: or else the sense is, whereas they had seen Elias, and he was gone again, without making any public appearance in the nation, their question is, how came the Scribes to say, that he should come first? and if there was any truth in this, how came it to pass, that he did not come sooner, even before Christ came in the flesh; and inasmuch as he did now appear, why he did not appear more publicly, as the person that was to come, at least, before the setting up of the kingdom and glory of the Messiah; which they might hope were at hand, and that Elias was come to usher it in: but that he did not appear publicly, and they were not allowed to speak of it, they wanted to know Christ's sense of these things; and took this opportunity as they came from the mountain, to converse with him about it.

h Seder Olam Rabba, p. 45, 46. i Gloss. in T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 43. 2. k R. Abraham ben David in Misn. Ediot, c. 8. sect. 7. l Hilch. Melacim, c. 12. sect. 2. m Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 226. n In Exod. xl. 10. Deut. xxx. 4. & Lam. iv. 22. o Seder Tephillot, fol. 56. 2. & 128. 2. p Aben Ezra, Kimchi, & Abarbinel in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See also Mark 9:11-13.

Why then say the scribes ... - The disciples appear to have been satisfied now that he was the Messiah. The transfiguration had taken away all their doubts, but they recollected that it was a common doctrine among the Jews that Elijah would appear before the Messiah came, and they did not then recollect that he had appeared. To this difficulty the word then refers. “We are satisfied that thou art the Christ, but Elijah has not yet come, as was expected; what, then, is the meaning of the common opinions of our learned men, the scribes? Were they right or wrong in their expectation of Elijah?” See the notes at Matthew 11:14.

Matthew 17:11

Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things - He did not mean by this that Elijah was yet to come, for he tells them immediately Matthew 17:12 that he had come; but he meant to affirm that it was a true doctrine which the scribes taught, that Elijah would appear before the coming of the Messiah. To “restore” means to put into the former situation. See Matthew 12:13. Hence, it means to heal, to correct, to put in proper order. Here it means that Elijah would put things in a proper state; he would be the instrument of reforming the people, or of restoring them, in some measure, to proper notions about the Messiah and preparing them for his coming. Before the coming of John their views were erroneous, their expectations were worldly, and their conduct were exceedingly depraved. He corrected many of their notions about the Messiah (see Matthew 3:0), and he was the instrument of an extensive reformation, and thus restored them, in some degree, to correct views of their own system and of the Messiah, and to a preparation for his advent.

Matthew 17:12

Elias is come already - That is, John the Baptist has come, in the spirit and power of Elias. See Luke 1:17.

They have done unto him whatsoever they listed - The word “list” is an old English word, signifying to choose, to desire, to be inclined. See Judges 3:8. It means, here, that they had done to John as they pleased; that is, they had put him to death, Matthew 14:10.

Mark adds Mark 9:12 that Jesus told them that it was “written of the Son of man that he must suffer many things, and be set at naught.” This was written of him particularly in Isaiah 53:1-12. To be set at naught is to be esteemed as worthless or as nothing; to be cast out and despised. No prophecy was ever more strikingly fulfilled. See Luke 23:11, Luke 23:14-21. This narrative, with some additions, is found in Mark 9:14-29, and Luke 9:37-43.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 17:10. His disciples — instead of HIS disciples, some MSS., with the Coptic, Armenian, Vulgate, all the Itala except two, and Origen, read simply, οι μαθηται, THE disciples, i.e. those only who had been with him on the mount, Peter, James, and John.

Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? — As the disciples saw that Elijah returned to heaven, knowing the tradition of the elders, and the prophecy on which the tradition was founded, Malachi 4:5-6, Behold I send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come; and he shall turn the hearts, &c., it was natural enough for them to inquire what the meaning of the tradition, and the intention of the prophecy, were.