claimed the honor--but Hermon was doubtless the "high mountain." This
kingly height of the Lebanon range was a fitting place for Jesus the
King. The glittering splendor of its snows is a fitting emblem of His
character. It was the highest earthly spot on which He stood. From it He
had His most extensive views. Here He had His most exalted earthly
experience. Peter rightly named it "the Holy Mount" because of its
"glory that excelleth" all other mountains.

We do not know the thoughts or feelings or words of the nine when Jesus
"taketh with Him the three." We wonder whether their wonder was at all
mixed with jealousy. As they saw the three "apart by themselves," their
lessening forms ascending Hermon, and at last hidden from their view by
the evening shades, can it be that the dispute began which cast a gloom
over their Lord when He descended from that mountain of glory?

And the three themselves--what were their emotions as they looked down
upon their companions in the plain below, and upward to the height
whither their Master was bringing them. Did they whisper together
concerning the word He had just spoken--that He must die. They must have
had such mingling of feelings as they never had before.

It was the evening after a Sabbath. At the close of the weary summer
day, after the long and steep ascent of the mountain, and in the strong
mountain air, it is no wonder that the three disciples were "weighted
with sleep."

Luke not only tells us that Jesus went up "to pray" but also that "He
prayed." Would that John had recorded that prayer, as he did those
supplications in the Upper Room and in Gethsemane. "As we understand
it," says Edersheim, "the prayer with them had ceased, or merged into