In the Transfiguration episode, how did the Apostle Peter correctly identify the 2 Patriarchs?
Dear brother, The Transfiguration episode is not actually unique to the Gospel of Matthew. You will also find it in the other Synoptic Gospels of Luke & Mark. What I suggest you do is to make an analytical reading of the equivalent passages in Luke & Mark and exercise extreme care in identifying subtle differences. In this light, you may want to compare these passages: Mt. 17:1-8, Mk. 9:2-8 and Lk. 9:28-36. After reading these passages carefully, did you notice some trend? It’s like there is a trend to correct (or, in fact, cover up) the Apostle Peter’s alleged statement regarding his zeal to make tents for the Prophets Moses and Elijah who supposedly appeared and accompanied the Messiah Jesus during this “miraculous event”. As you yourself have noted, how on earth could the Apostle Peter have correctly identified Moses and Elijah when there was no extant picture of these two Patriarchs handed down to the people of their Age. You are also correct to point out that at least a thousand y
The Bible does not say how peter knew it was Moses and Elijah. Perhaps Moses and Elijah told Peter who they were, perhaps Jesus identified them, perhaps Moses was holding his symbol (the two stone tablets) and Elijah was wearing his mantle. Or, given that it was a supernatural event, perhaps Peter just had a “knowing”, a intuition of who they were even though he had never seen them before. The detail of how he knew is secondary to the main event that is being described and was therefore left out in the interests of compactness. If the Bible recorded every single detail of every single event and answered every single question you could dream up, then it would have ended up being the size of the library of congress! Clearly that, while possible, would not be practical or convenient, so the Bible sticks to the main points giving just sufficient detail to get the key message across.
