The transfiguration
illustrates both the natural and mythical methods of interpretation. It
is a reflection of the scene which transpired on Sinai at the giving of
the law. The gospel account is an Ossianic fancy. Something merely
objective presented itself to the disciples, and this explains how an
object was perceived by several at once. They deceived themselves, when
awake, as to what they saw. That was natural, because they were all born
within the same circle of ideas, were in the same frame of mind, and in
the same situation. According to this opinion, the essential fact in the
scene on the mountain is a secret interview which Jesus had concerted,
and, with a view to which, he took with him the three most confidential
of his disciples. Paulus does not venture to determine who the two men
were with whom Jesus held this interview; Kuinoel conjectures that they
were secret adherents of the same kind as Nicodemus; and according to
Venturini, they were Essenes, secret allies of Jesus. Jesus prayed
before these arrived, and the disciples, not being invited to join,
slept.
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