ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι. The inquiry whether this heavenly brightness came from within, or—as when the face of Moses shone—by reflection from communion with God, seems irreverent and idle; but we may say that the two things are practically one.

τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου. “His face did shine as the sun,” Matthew 17:2. It is interesting to see how St Luke avoids the word ‘He was metamorphosed’ which is used by the other Synoptists. He was writing for Greeks, in whose mythology that verb was vulgarised by foolish associations.

ἐξαστράπτων. Literally, ‘lightning forth,’ as though from some inward radiance. St Matthew compares the whiteness of His robes to the light (Luke 17:2), St Mark to the snow (Luke 9:3), and St Luke in this word to the lightning. See John 1:14; Psalms 104:2; Habakkuk 3:4.

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Old Testament