Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 17:4

"And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." — Matthew 17:4 (ASV)

Lord, it is good for us to be here. For “Lord,” St. Luke has “Master,” and St. Mark (likely giving the very word uttered, as he often does) has “Rabbi.” It is not easy to trace the thoughts that passed rapidly through the disciple’s soul in that moment of amazement. Afterwards, if we may judge from St. Mark’s account, “he knew not what to answer, for they were very afraid” (Mark 9:6), or St. Luke’s, “not knowing what he said” (Luke 9:33), he could hardly explain them himself.

We may venture to see in the very naïveté of the words a touch of originality and unexpectedness which, as far as it goes, testifies to the truthfulness of the narrative. What the words seem to imply is:

1. An abounding joy at being brought into a glory that fulfilled the Apostle’s brightest hopes. It was, indeed, good to be carried, as it were, into Paradise or the third heaven, and to hear there words which human lips might not reproduce.
2. His thoughts traveled back to the records of the Exodus, when the Lord talked with Moses in the tabernacle (Exodus 33:7–10). What if similar tabernacles could now be made for those three glorious figures, so that all Israel might come to gaze, hear, and worship? Would this not be a better consummation than the shame and death at Jerusalem? Would it not fulfill the belief of the scribes and the people that “Elias must first come”?