Moses and Elijah in Luke

Over the last few weeks, I have been studying the transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Lk 9:28-36). In these verses, Jesus goes up on a mountain to pray with three of his disciples, Peter, John and James. While Jesus is praying, the appearance of his face changes and his clothes glow white. Moses and Elijah appear and talk with him. Peter suggests they build three shelters for them, just before the entire group is engulfed in a cloud. A voice speaks from the cloud declaring, “This is my Son, the chosen, listen to him.” The cloud vanishes and Moses and Elijah have gone. Jesus and the disciples descend the mountain. 

The transfiguration is a very interesting passage to study as there is so much contained within these few verses. But in this post, I want to focus on the presence of Moses and Elijah. Specifically the way their appearance is introduced by Luke. Verse 30 reads “And behold two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah.” Of this sentence, I want to focus on four words: “and behold two men” or καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο in Greek. Interestingly, this phrase is found in once more in Luke’s gospel and also once in Acts.  It is found nowhere else in the New Testament.

In Luke it is used at the empty tomb (Lk 24:4). A group of women go to the tomb with spices to use on Jesus’ body. They find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Verse 4 reads “And it happened that as they were perplexed about this and behold two men (καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο) stood near them in gleaming clothing.” In this passage the two men are not identified. They tell the women that Jesus has risen and the women go and tell the rest of the disciples.

The final use in the writings of Luke is at the beginning of Acts. In Acts 1:10 Jesus has ascended and the disciples are gazing up after him: “And as they were staring into the sky at his going and behold two men (καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο) stood by them in white clothing.” These two men tell the disciples that Jesus will return in the same way that he was taken up.

Now if you compare the Greek words that I have included in brackets in Lk 24:4 and Acts 1:10 with the Greek text of Lk 9:30 you will notice that the same four words are used to describe these two men at the empty tomb and the ascension as Luke used to introduce Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration. It is also worth noting that each time these “two men” appear the description of their physical appearance changes slightly. At the transfiguration (9:31) Moses and Elijah appear “in glory”; at the empty tomb the two men are “in gleaming clothing”; and at the ascension they are “in white clothing.” This appearance is similar to that of Jesus at the transfiguration where he has “radiant white” clothing. So at the least these two men at the empty tomb and the ascension are heavenly beings. But what is their connection to Moses and Elijah?

Now let us turn to these three passages in the other Synoptic Gospels.

Mark does not introduce Moses and Elijah with “and behold two men” in his transfiguration account. Instead he says in Mk 9:4: “And there appeared to them Elijah together with Moses.” Even the order of Moses and Elijah is very different from Luke’s. Matthew, in 17:3, writes “And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah.” 

In his empty tomb scene Mark only mentions one young man who talks to the women (Mk 16:5) and Matthew specifically has an angel of God appear and roll the stone back scaring off the guards (Mt 28:2-3). 

Mark does not mention any men or angels at the ascension of Jesus (Mk 16:19-20), while Matthew doesn’t mention the ascension at all.

Thus Luke has not developed this connection from either of the other Synoptic Gospels. 

So what could this mean? Is there any relevance in the fact that Luke has used the same four Greek words in these three places? Well, it is worth remembering that both the Gospel of Luke and Acts are carefully crafted literary works. A lot of work and thought has gone into the wording of these scenes. So one thing that this could all mean is that Luke has deliberately referred to Moses and Elijah with “and behold two men” in the transfiguration account so that when the two men appear at the empty tomb and the ascension his readers pick up the use of the same language and identify these two men as Moses and Elijah.
 
However, the traditional interpretation of these two figures at both the empty tomb and the ascension in Luke-Acts has been that they are two angels. This is because Matthew mentions that it was an angel that rolled the stone away and speaks to the women. But for some reason, it would appear that Luke is hinting that these two men in his account are Moses and Elijah. This is an interesting way of interpreting these two mysterious figures.
 
But it also raises more questions than it answers. If Luke is intending his readers to understand these two men as Moses and Elijah in all three scenes, then what does that mean for how we read the empty tomb and ascension in Luke? Why are they not named? Why don’t Matthew and Mark make this connection? How can Matthew have an angel, but Luke Moses and Elijah? In the transfiguration account Jesus is pictured as greater than Old Testament figures of which Moses and Elijah are prime examples. What could this mean for how such important Old Testament figures are to be understood in light of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? Does identifying the two men with Moses and Elijah add anything to these empty tomb and ascension? If not, why not? Why make a connection in the first place?
 
Unfortunately, I don’t have answers to any of these questions. Most scholars dismiss the connection, most likely because it does raise so many questions which are difficult to answer. What I do know is that it is possible that Luke is identifying the two men at the empty tomb and the ascension with Moses and Elijah’s appearance at the transfiguration. And this raises some interesting questions for how we understand all three passages in Luke.