the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
disciples
μαθηταὶmathētai
G3101
a learner · noun — nominative plural masculine
asked
ἐπηρώτησανepērōtēsan
G1905
to ask for · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
him
αὐτόςautós
G846
the reflexive pronoun self
saying
λέγοντες·legontes
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
Why
τίti
G5101
an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
then
οὖνoun
G3767
(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
say
λέγουσινlegousin
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural
scribes
γραμματεῖςgrammateis
G1122
scribe · noun — nominative plural masculine
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
Elias
ἨλίανĒlian
G2243
Helias (i.e. Elijah) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
must
δεῖdei
G1163
also deon deh-on' · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
first
πρῶτονprōton
G4412
firstly (in time
come
ἐλθεῖνelthein
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active infinitive
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Matthew 11:14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Mark 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
John 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
Matthew 17:3-4 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Matthew 27:47-49 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
John 1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 17:1-13
We have here the story of Christ's transfiguration; he had said that the Son of man should shortly come in his kingdom, with which promise all the three evangelists industriously connect this story; as if Christ's transfiguration were intended for a specimen and an earnest of the kingdom of Christ, and of that light and love of his, which therein appears to his select and sanctified ones. Peter speaks of this as the power and coming of our Lord Jesus (Pe2 1:16); because it was an emanation of his power, and a previous notice of his coming, which was fitly introduced by such prefaces.
When Christ was here in his humiliation, though his state, in the main, was a state of abasement and afflicti…
And his disciples asked him, saying,.... That is, these three, Peter, James, and John, before they came to the rest; whilst they were going down the mountain, or from it, to the place where the others were; for the rest knew nothing of the appearance of Elias, and so cannot be thought to join in a question concerning him.
Why then say the Scribes, that Elias must first come? That is, come before the Messiah comes; for certain it is, that this was the sense of the Scribes, as it was of the ancient Jews, and is still the opinion of the modern ones. They say (h),
"that in the second year of Ahaziah, Elias was hid; nor will he appear, till the Messiah comes; then he will appear, and will be hi…
Matthew 17:9-13
Matthew 17:9-13
Mark 9:9-13
Luke 9:36
9. And as they were going down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead. 10. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? 11. And Jesus answering said to them, Elijah indeed will come first, and restore all things. 12. But I say to you, That Elijah is come already, and they did not know him, but have done to him whatever they pleased: thus also will the Son of man suffer from them. 13. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them concerning John the Baptist. [481]
9. And when they were going down…
The Church Fathers
It was a tradition of the Pharisees following the Prophet Malachi, that Elias should come before the coming of the Saviour, and bring back the heart of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, and restore all things to their ancient state. The disciples then consider that this transformation which they had seen in the mount was His coming in glory, and therefore it is said, And his disciples asked him, saying, How then say the Scribes that Elias must first come? As though they had said, If you have already come in glory, how is it that your forerunner appears not yet? And this they say chiefly because they see that Elias is departed again.
(Verse 10.) And the disciples asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Unless we know the reasons why the disciples asked about the name of Elijah, their questioning seems foolish and extraordinary. For what does it matter to inquire about the coming of Elijah, which is written above? The tradition of the Pharisees is, according to the prophet Malachi (who is the last of the twelve), that Elijah will come before the coming of the Savior and restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, and restore everything to its former state (Malachi 4). Therefore, the disciples think that this transformation of glory, which they see on the mountain, is the one they have seen, and they say: If you have already come in glory, why does your precursor not appear, especially since they saw Elijah depart? However, when they add: The scribes say that Elijah must come first; by saying 'first,' they show that unless Elijah comes, the coming of the Savior according to the Scriptures is not fulfilled.
Not then from the Scriptures did they know this, but the Scribes used to explain themselves, and this saying was reported abroad amongst the ignorant people; as about Christ also. Wherefore the Samaritan woman also said, "Messiah cometh; when He is come, He will tell us all things:" and they themselves asked John, "Art thou Elias, or the Prophet?" For the saying, as I said, prevailed, both that concerning the Christ and that concerning Elias, not however rightly interpreted by them. For the Scriptures speak of two advents of Christ, both this that is past, and that which is to come; and declaring these Paul said, "The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and righteously, and godly." Behold the one, hear how he declares the other also; for having said these things, he added, "Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." And the prophets too mention both; of the one, however, that is, of the second, they say Elias will be the forerunner. For of the first, John was forerunner; whom Christ called also Elias, not because he was Elias, but because he was fulfilling the ministry of that prophet. For as the one shall be forerunner of the second advent, so was the other too of the first. But the Scribes, confusing these things and perverting the people, made mention of that other only to the people, the second advent, and said, "If this man is the Christ, Elias ought to have come beforehand." Therefore the disciples too speak as follows, "How then say the Scribes, Elias must first come?" Therefore also the Pharisees sent unto John, and asked him, "Art thou Elias?" making no mention anywhere of the former advent. What then is the solution, which Christ alleged? "Elias indeed cometh then, before my second advent; and now too is Elias come;" so calling John. In this sense Elias is come: but if thou wouldest seek the Tishbite, he is coming. Wherefore also He said, "Elias truly cometh, and shall restore all things." All what things? Such as the Prophet Malachi spake of; for "I will send you," saith He, "Elias the Tishbite, who shall restore the heart of father to son, lest I come and utterly smite the earth." Seest thou the accuracy of prophetical language? how, because Christ called John, Elias, by reasoning of their community of…
Dictionary and topics
Transfiguration, the — Of our Lord on a “high mountain apart,” is described by each of the three evangelists (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). The fullest account is given by Luke, who, no doubt, was informed by…
Scribe (S) · Instructors in the law — Instructors in the law
Scribes · Regarded as interpreters of Scripture — Regarded as interpreters of Scripture
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Elijah’s presence at the transfiguration prompted a question about the view that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes (see Mal 4:5-6). In pointing to John the Baptist, Jesus reinforced the unexpected idea that the Messiah must suffer, even as his precursor had suffered (Matt 14:3-12).
