A Random Thought about Matthew 17.

This year in Come Follow Me we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants, but I am also reading the New Testament in Latin as part of my four year cycle to keep up on my ancient languages. This week in the New Testament I read about the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17.  It is an interesting coincidence since both the reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and my Bible reading recount an important theophany.  In both cases God the father and Jesus reveal themselves in their glory to disciples that are destined to become the leaders of the organized church in their dispensation. The two events have a lot of the same elements. 

•  In both cases the participants went into a wilderness place apart.  For Peter James and John, Jesus lead them to a high mountain.  For Joseph Smith, he went into the woods.
• In both cases, the theophany was accompanied by great light. In Matthew it says "and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." In JS History 1:17, Joseph Smith describes the beings "When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air."
• In both cases, the Father introduces the Son in the same way, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." in Matthew, and "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" in JS History.

What struck me this time reading through is that this form of theophany draws both from the Old Testament and Roman traditions. In the Old Testament, the presence of God is associated with a pillar of fire or light. The pillar of fire leads the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21), and when the temple is built in Jerusalem, a pillar of light fills the temple to show that God has accepted it (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). In Joseph Smith's 1835 account of the first vision, he states that the personages appeared as if in a pillar of fire, and he was surprised that the forest didn't catch on fire.  

The idea that God has a son, born of a mortal mother, and a divine father is not really an Old Testament idea. It is, however, all over Greek and Roman theology.  All the great heroes of these mythologies-- Hercules, Theseus, Odysseus, Jason, et alii--are demi-gods, with a mortal parent and a divine parent. It is no wonder that the idea of Christianity, with its half god/half mortal founder, would be successful in the Roman world. In Greek mythology, the gods also have a divine glory associated with fire and light. In the story of Zeus and Semele, Semele is burnt up when Zeus is tricked into showing himself to her in all his glory. Of course, that story doesn't have much to do with Joseph Smith, but it does show that the idea of the divine revealing themselves to mortals, accompanied by light/fire, is an old one that crosses cultures. 

In D&C 1: 24 God tells the world "after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding."  That doesn't just mean words.  It means that God uses images and symbols that are part of our culture to communicate important ideas. Both Joseph Smith's first vision and the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration are examples of God using symbols the from people's culture to communicate truth.