Matthew 17:5

The cloud was bright, Matthew said. This was undoubtedly the shekinah glory of God. God had hidden Himself in a cloud through which He spoke to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:16). He led the Israelites with it after the Exodus (Exodus 13:21-22), and it manifested His glory to His people in the wilderness (Exodus 16:10; Exodus 24:15-18; Exodus 40:34-38). The prophets predicted that Messiah would come to set up His kingdom with clouds and that clouds would overshadow the kingdom (Psalms 97:2; Isaiah 4:5; Daniel 7:13). [Note: See Richard D. Patterson, "The Imagery of Clouds in the Scriptures," Bibliotheca Sacra 165:657 (January-March 2008):13-27.] If the three disciples remembered these passages, they would have seen another reason to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. The presence of the bright cloud should have reminded them of the closeness of God’s presence and linked Jesus with God in their thinking.

The cloud may have "overshadowed" (NASB) or "enveloped" (NIV) them. The Greek word epeskiasen permits either translation (cf. Exodus 40:35). However, Luke wrote that they entered into the cloud (Luke 9:34). The voice from the cloud essentially repeated what the voice from heaven had said at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17). It confirmed Jesus’ identity as both God’s Son and His Suffering Servant (cf. Psalms 2:7; Isaiah 42:1). Thus the voice from the cloud, God’s voice, identified Jesus as superior to Moses and Elijah. Previously the voice from heaven (Matthew 3:16-17) was for Jesus’ benefit, but now it was for the benefit of Peter, James, and John.

The words "Hear Him" or "Listen to Him" with Moses present indicated that Jesus was the prophet greater than Moses whom Moses predicted would come (Deuteronomy 18:15-18; cf. Acts 3:22-23; Acts 7:37). God had said through Moses of that prophet, "You shall listen to Him" (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus was the climax of biblical revelation, and now people should listen to what He said (cf. Hebrews 1:1-2).

"The voice is that of God, and for the second time [cf. Matthew 3:17] God bursts into the world of Matthew’s story as ’actor’ and expresses his evaluative point of view concerning Jesus’ identity." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 79.]

"The injunction to hear Jesus is an exhortation . . . that the disciples are to attend carefully to Jesus’ words regarding the necessity both of his own going the way of suffering (Matthew 16:21) and of their emulating him (Matthew 16:24)." [Note: Ibid., p. 140.]