Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 17:9

"And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead." — Matthew 17:9 (ASV)

This is Jesus’ fifth and last command in Matthew for the disciples to be silent . This time Jesus permits his disciples to tell everything after the Son of Man “has been raised from the dead.” Jesus could scarcely have attached this permission to earlier warnings to keep silent (16:20), since he had not yet spoken clearly about his sufferings and death. Nevertheless the same salvation-historical change—first silence, then proclamation—occurs as early as 10:27.

Why did Jesus command silence here? (1) The story would only stir up superficial political messianism, already a menace (see comment on Mk 1:44). (2) The strongest evidence for Jesus’ messiahship would be his resurrection, by which he “was declared with power to be the Son of God” (Romans 1:4). Premature self-disclosure in a direct fashion, without the supreme “sign of Jonah,” the Resurrection , would not only foster false expectations but would also quickly disillusion those who held them. Thus Jesus knew it was better to wait till after the Resurrection before allowing Peter, James, and John to tell what they had seen.