“While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said: this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. The divine interruption of Peter's speech: the bright cloud — the Shekinah glory of the divine presence, the same cloud that filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34–35) — overshadows them and the Father speaks. The voice repeats the baptism declaration (Matthew 3:17) with the addition of listen to him. The addition is the answer to Peter's three-tent proposal: the disciples are not to build monuments but to listen to Jesus.
Church Fathers on Matthew 17:5
While they thought only of an earthly tabernacle of boughs or tents, they are overshadowed by the covering of a bright cloud; 'While he yet spake there came a bright cloud and overshadowed them.
When the Lord threatens, He shews a dark cloud, as on Sinai [margin note: Ex 19:9,16]; but here where He sought not to terrify but to teach, there appeared a bright cloud.
The bright cloud overshadowing the Saints is the Power of the Father, or perhaps the Holy Spirit; or I may also venture to call the Saviour that bright cloud which overshadows the Gospel, the Law, and the Prophets, as they understand who can behold His light in all these three.
Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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