Mark 9:2-9 “And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly when they looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.”
QUESTION: How did the apostles recognize Moses and Elijah when they have not seen them face to face for they were long gone before their time?
Possible reasons for this would be the following:
1. They heard their (Jesus, Elijah, and Moses) conversation and Jesus mentioned their names.
2. It is revealed to them by the Holy Spirit.
Though these explanations are very possible, the Scripture is nevertheless silent on how they really did recognize the two prophets based on the two possible explanations. It is said on verse four that the prophets were talking to Jesus, but it didn’t say what they were talking about nor did it say that Jesus mentioned their names. Neither was it mentioned that they were near enough to be “hearable”.
Likewise, it wasn’t mentioned that the identities of the two men were revealed to them by the Holy Spirit.
Unlike in Mt 16:15-17 when Jesus asked Peter who do they think He was, Jesus mentioned that what Peter has said was revealed to him by the Father. However, in this instance (Transfiguration) the scripture was silent about it.
Another possible explanation is that the apostles were able to recognize the prophets because they were able to see images of them in synagogues. SIMILAR TO HOW EARLY CHRISTIANS SAW JESUS CHRIST AND MADE HIS IMAGE WHICH THANKFULLY ALLOWED US CATHOLICS TO RECOGNIZE HIM.
In 1932, an ancient synagogue was uncovered at Dura-Europos, Syria. Built in the early days at which THE LAST PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION was done at around 244 CE. Take note, this synagogue was built way back and was only finished in that time frame. The contents of which are according to wikipedia…
“The synagogue contains a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and animals, and a Torah shrine in the western wall facing Jerusalem. The painting cover the walls of the main “Assembly Room” using three levels of pictures over a dado frieze of symbols in most places, reaching a height of 7 metres. The scenes depicted are drwan from the Hebrew Bible and include many narrative scenes, and some single figure “portraits” – 58 scenes in tota, probably representing 60% of the original number. They include the sacrifice of Isaac and other Genesis stories, Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law, Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, the visions of Ezekiel and many others.”
It is not uncommon for the believers of Yahweh to do these works as shown in Jewish art. (www.richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/finding-moses-part-i)
This in turn explains why the prophets from the Old Testament were recognized by his apostles, and in a similar way we recognize Jesus Christ, His apostles and his saints thru these sacred images and paintings. After all, even St Luke is known to have made a number of paintings depicting the Blessed Mother and the child Jesus. (www.wherewewalked.info/Luke/lukeicons.htm) (www.pazhatayu.blogspot.com/2010/10/paintings-by-apostle-luke-rare-portrait.htm)