Mark 9:8

And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

MacLaren's Expositions

Mark

THE TRANSFIGURATION

JESUS ONLY!

Mark 9:8.

The Transfiguration was the solemn inauguration of Jesus for His sufferings and death.

Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the restorer, of the Jewish polity, the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, were present. The former had died and been mysteriously buried, the latter had been translated without ‘seeing death.’ So both are visitors from the unseen world, appearing to own that Jesus is the Lord of that dim land, and that there they draw their life from Him. The conversation is about Christ’s ‘decease,’ the wonderful event which was to constitute Him Lord of the living and of the dead. The divine voice of command, ‘Hear Him!’ gives the meaning of their disappearance. At that voice they depart and Jesus is left alone. The scene is typical of the ultimate issue of the world’s history. The King’s name only will at last be found inscribed on the pyramid. Typical, too, is it not, of a Christian’s blessed death? When the ‘cloud’ is past no man is seen any more but ‘Jesus only.’

I. The solitary Saviour.

The disciples are left alone with the divine Saviour.

1. He is alone in His nature. ‘Son of God.’

2. He is alone in the sinlessness of His manhood. ‘My Beloved Son!’

3. He is alone as God’s Voice to men. ‘Hear Him!’

The solitary Saviour, because sufficient. ‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want.’

Sufficient, too, for ever.

His life is eternal.

His love is eternal.

The power of His Cross Is eternal.

II. The vanishing witnesses.

1. The connection of the past with Christ. The authority of the two representatives of the Old Covenant was only {a} derived and subordinate; {b} prophetic; {c} transient.

2. The thought may be widened into that of the relation of all teachers and guides to Jesus Christ.

3. The two witness to the relation of the unseen world to Jesus Christ.

{a} Its inhabitants are undying.

{b} Are subject to the sway of Jesus.

{c} Are expectantly waiting a glorious future.

4. They witness to the central point of Christ’s work-’His decease.’ This great event is the key to the world’s history.

III. The waiting disciples.

1. What Christian life should be. Giving Him our sole trust and allegiance.

{a} Seeing Him in all things.

{b} Constant communion. ‘Abide in Me.’

{c} Using everything as helps to Him.

2. What Christian death may become.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-13 Here is a prediction of the near approach Christ's kingdom. A glimpse of that kingdom was given in the transfiguration of Christ. It is good to be away from the world, and alone with Christ: and how good to be with Christ glorified in heaven with all the saints! But when it is well with us, we are apt not to care for others, and in the fulness of our enjoyments, we forget the many wants of our brethren. God owns Jesus, and accepts him as his beloved Son, and is ready to accept us in him. Therefore we must own and accept him as our beloved Saviour, and must give up ourselves to be ruled by him. Christ does not leave the soul, when joys and comforts leave it. Jesus explained to the disciples the prophecy about Elias. This was very suitable to the ill usage of John Baptist.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He wist not - He "knew not." He was desirous of saying something, and he knew not what would be proper.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 9

Mr 9:1-13. Jesus Is Transfigured—Conversation about Elias. ( = Mt 16:28-17:13; Lu 9:27-36).

See on [1462]Lu 9:27-36.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 9:2"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And suddenly, when they had looked round about,.... Upon hearing the voice, to see if they could observe any other object, by whom it was pronounced, and whether the same they had seen continued:

they saw no man any more; neither Moses, nor Elias, not at that time, nor ever after;

save Jesus only with themselves: the voice only regarded him, and being directed to them; See Gill on Matthew 17:8.

Geneva Study Bible

And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 9:8. ἐξάπινα, suddenly, a form belonging to late Greek = ἐξαπίνης = ἐξαίφνης: here only in N. T.; several times in Sept[72] Kypke cites examples from the Psalms of Solomon and Jamblichus. The word here qualifies not περιβλεψάμενοι, but the change in the state of things which they discovered (εἶδον) on looking around.—οὐκέτι οὐδένα ἀλλὰ, etc.; no longer any one except (ἀλλὰ = εἰ μὴ after a negative).—τὸν Ἰησοῦν, etc.: Jesus alone with themselves: the whole celestial vision gone as quickly as it came.

[72]Septuagint.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. when they had looked round about] At first (1) they fell prostrate on their faces (Matthew 17:6; comp. Exodus 3:6; 1 Kings 19:13), then (2) recovering from the shock of the Voice from heaven (Matthew 17:6; comp. Exodus 20:19; Habakkuk 3:2; Habakkuk 3:16; Hebrews 12:19), they (3) suddenly gazed all around them, and saw no man, save Jesus only. “Hinc constat, hunc esse Filium, audiendum, non Mosen, non Eliam.” Bengel. “Quæ ex Verbo cœperunt, in Verbo desinunt.” S. Ambrose.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 9:8. Ἐξάπινα) This is an adverb often found in the LXX.—μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν, with themselves) because He was still about to suffer.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves. St. Matthew here says (Matthew 17:6), "When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sere afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid." St. Mark omits this; but in his characteristic manner states that which implies what St. Matthew has recorded. It was the "touch" of Jesus that caused them to look round about; and then in a moment they perceived that they were alone with Jesus, as they were before this manifestation began. The order of incidents in the Transfiguration appears to have been this: Our Lord is praying. The disciples, fatigued with the ascent of the mountain, are heavy with sleep; and Christ is transfigured. Then appear Moses and Elijah; and they are talking with Jesus about his exodus - his decease to be accomplished at Jerusalem. The disciples mused from their sleep by the supernatural brightness, and by the conversation, and now, fully awake, behold the glory of Jesus, and Hoses and Elijah talking with him. As Moses and Elijah are preparing for their departure, Peter, excited, enchanted, bewildered, and yet grieved to see that they were going, seeks to detain them by the proposal to make some temporary resting-place for them. Then comes the bright overshadowing cloud, and a voice out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son: hear ye him." At the sound of this voice the disciples fall terrified to the earth. But they are soon comforted by Christ, and, looking up, they see him alone with themselves. Mark 9:8

Vincent's Word Studies

Suddenly (ἐξάπινα)

The Greek word only here in the New Testament.