Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 17:5

"While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." — Matthew 17:5 (ASV)

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them:

The Shekinah cloud, which was the type of the divine presence in the wilderness—bright, yet a cloud—softening the excessive glory of the face of Jesus with its overshadowing, yet casting no dimness upon it: a bright cloud overshadowed them.

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

"While he yet spake." Such wild talk might well be interrupted.

What a blessed interruption! We may often thank the Lord for stopping our babbling.

"A bright cloud overshadowed them." It was bright, and cast a shadow. They felt that they were entering it, and feared as they did so.

It was a singular experience; yet we have had it repeated in our own cases. Do we not know what it is to get shadow out of brightness, and "a voice out of the cloud"?

This is after the frequent manner of the Lord in dealing with his favored ones. The voice was clear and distinct.

First came the divine attestation of the Sonship of our Lord, "This is my beloved Son," and the Father's declaration of delight in him, "in whom I am well pleased."

What happiness for us that Jehovah is well pleased in Christ, and with all who are in him!

Then followed the consequent divine requirement, "Hear ye him."

It is better to hear the Son of God than to see saints, or to build tabernacles. This will please the Father more than all else that love can suggest.

The good pleasure of the Father in the Lord Jesus is a conspicuous part of his glory. The voice conveyed to the ear a greater glory than the luster of light could communicate through the eye. The audible part of the transfiguration was as wonderful as the visible.

While he yet spake. Such wild talk might well be interrupted. What a blessed interruption! We may often thank the Lord for stopping our babbling.

A bright cloud overshadowed them. It was bright and cast a shadow. They felt that they were entering it and feared as they did so. It was a singular experience, yet we have had it repeated in our own cases. Do we not know what it is to get shadow out of brightness and a voice out of the cloud? This is often how the Lord deals with His favored ones.

The voice was clear and distinct. First came the divine attestation of the Sonship of our Lord, This is my beloved Son, and the Father’s declaration of delight in him—in whom I am well pleased. What happiness for us that Jehovah is well pleased in Christ and with all who are in Him! Then followed the consequent divine requirement, Hear ye him. It is better to hear the Son of God than to see saints or to build tabernacles. This will please the Father more than all else that love can suggest.

The good pleasure of the Father in the Lord Jesus is a conspicuous part of His glory. The voice conveyed to the ear a greater glory than the luster of light could communicate through the eye. The audible part of the transfiguration was as wonderful as the visible. In fact, it would seem, from the next verse, to have been more so.