“Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” (Exodus 34:29)
This coming Sunday marks the ‘Feast of the Transfiguration’ , when we remember that bizarre mountain-top experience where Jesus apparently glowed like an alien. The event is remembered in each of the first three Gospels, and in the second letter of Peter. (2 Peter 1:18).
I’m never quite sure how to handle the transfigured Jesus, yet the story is not without precedent. In Exodus, Moses’ face apparently shone after spending time with God on Mount Sinai. It seems that closeness to God can be illuminating in more ways than one!
I’ve always imagined Jesus’ transfiguration as being dream-like, with the Lord and His Heavenly companions somehow shining through the fog, but the glowing face of Moses wasn’t like that at all. The Torah says that the people found Moses’ face terrifying (Exodus 34:30), leading many ancient commentators to suggest that perhaps it had been disfigured by the force of God’s nearness. Had his skin been seriously scorched?
A similar suggestion is that Moses’ head grew horns through his encounter with God. This was an enduring church tradition, embodied in Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of Moses (see here).
The idea of the horns goes back to an ambiguity in the Hebrew wording of the text cited above. It literally reads, “Moses did not know that the skin of his face was qāran-ed”, where the Hebrew word, ‘qāran’, is normally translated as ‘shone’, and yet the verb is derived from the Hebrew word for “horn.” Accordingly, Jerome’s fourth century Vulgate translation renders the verse, “cornuta esset facies sua” – “his face was horned.”
Yes, it’s probably a mistranslation, but we shouldn’t let that detract from the insight that Moses’ closeness to God had an effect on his body that the Torah had trouble putting into words, just as the Gospels struggle to explain what really happened to Jesus in His transfiguration.
Did anyone get disfigured or burnt on the Mount of Transfiguration? Nothing in the text suggests this, but I was reminded of the saying attributed to Jesus in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas – “The one who is near me is near the fire!” (82).
We tend to think of the transfiguration as a soft and mystical affair, with the face of Jesus emanating a gentle, warming glow. Standing near a fire can be like that too, but you need to watch your step. The fire that warms is the same fire that can burn up everything in its path, and as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews warns us, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
Our Sunday Eucharist
We celebrated another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend. It was great to have my good friends, Doug Pyeatt and Andrew Madry, with me, and we were ably supported by a strong team joining us through Facebook and YouTube.
As usual, I’ve included this week’s two most popular ‘shorts’ from the last broadcast. You can view the full collection on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page or access the video archive via my YouTube channel.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, meaning that we are privileged to have David Baldwin and Tom Toby back on the panel, and we will get a pre-recorded reflection from Dr Stephen Sizer this month as well. 😊
Tune in at midday this Sunday via TheSundayEucharist.com or though Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram orFaithia.
I do look forward to being back and sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊
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What’s On?
- Saturday, March 1st – Boxing @Legends Gym in Kensington from 3.00 pm..
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It’s been a big week in terms of global events, beginning with the funeral of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine in Lebanon last Sunday.
I read Australian media reports that ‘tens of thousands’ had attended the event. Some Arabic sources though suggested that there were 1.4 million in attendance (see here)! Given that Lebanon only has a population of five and a half million people, this means that more than a quarter of the population of the country attended that funeral!
That must be some kind of record, and it certainly indicates that support for the resistance in Lebanon is alive and well. Our dear brother, Tom, who will be on the panel this Sunday, has just returned from Lebanon after being a part of that extraordinary event. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about it, though he may have to be judicious with his words if we want to avoid censorship. According to Sky News, Tom is already being investigated by the authorities simply for attending!
And speaking of Big Brother, Australia’s thirty-nine universities have just endorsed a new definition of antisemitism, soon to be enforced on University campuses across the country. According to the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network, the definition “dangerously conflates criticism of Israel with discrimination against Jewish people”, making it more difficult for students or staff to speak out in support of Palestine.
Meanwhile, I began my week with an appearance at a conference on “Women in Contemporary Iran”, where I was privileged to share a platform with Australian senator, Fatima Payman. I have been deeply impressed with Senator Payman, who crossed the Parliamentary floor in June 2024, to support a resolution to recognise a Palestinian state. This led to her being indefinitely suspended from the Labor Party, after which she launched her own party, “Australia’s Voice”.
I was moved to hear Iranian women at the conference speak positively about their country. I found this helpful, as I’m used to only hearing critical perspectives on the situation of women in Iran. Even so, the Australian media has subsequently attacked both Senator Payman and NSW Minister for Women, Jodie Harrison, for their participation in the conference (see here), and both women have subsequently distanced themselves from the event – Payman apologising for positive comments she made about women in Iran, and Harrison apparently apologising for showing up!
It seems that it’s as dangerous to say nice things about Iran as it is to say bad things about the state of Israel! What happened to free speech? I have a nasty feeling that all this is going to end up with me doing a prison term, as I intend to continue to speak and publish the truth as I see it so long as I have breath in my body.
,So … please continue to support our work, and do take time each week to check in on sites like www.israelandpalestine.org and www.prayersforsyria.com. Such sites are constantly under attack by hackers but I have a fine support team looking after my server, and I’m reasonably confident that, even if I do get de-platformed from some of my social media accounts, these key websites will continue to function.
We are indeed in the midst of a spiritual war. It’s a battle between light and darkness, between truth and propaganda, and it’s sometimes very difficult to work out which side people are on, let alone who is winning! Even so, this week we remember that our God is a shining light that cannot be quenched, and that Christ can (and will) penetrate the world’s darkness with His transfigured radiance!
May the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work to which you have been called.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Over half hour trying and still cant find the Sunday Eucharist page