Mount Tabor
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
Tabor, Mount —A notable landmark, of rare beauty and symmetry, six miles east of Nazareth, on the north-east arm of the plain of Esdraelon. In the works of Josephus and the Septuagint its designation is Itabyrion ; in Polybius, Atabyrion ; elsewhere, Thabor . The modern Arabic name—identical with the name of the Mount of Olives—is Jebel et-Tur . Mount Tabor stands apart, clear and distinct, from the rugged elevations grouped around it, except on its western side, where a low narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Galilee. Its apparent isolation, and its noble domelike contour, rising directly from the level of the Plain,, make it the most conspicuous mountain in Lower Galilee. Its outline varies somewhat when viewed from different positions. As seen from the south and south-west, it resembles the segment of a sphere; from the north-west a truncated cone. Its true figure, according to W. M. Thomson, is an ‘elongated oval, the longitudinal diameter running nearly east and west.’ Its flattened summit, not easily distinguishable from the levels near its base, is 1400 feet above the average elevation of the plain, and almost 1900 above sea level. Like the hills south and west of it, Tabor is a mass of cretaceous limestone, and the soil on its summit and sides is deep and rich. It is conspicuous among the mountains of this section for its wooded slopes and leafy glades, as well as for its regular form and graceful outline, and yet it is not ‘densely wooded,’ as some have described it. There are dense clumps of undergrowth in places, but the trees, which for the most part are scrub and evergreen oaks, resemble the growth of an orchard or park rather than of a forest. The summit of the mountain is a flattened platform, oval in outline, and thickly strewn along its outer edges with ruined walls and massive substructions of different periods and styles of architecture.
A tradition as old as the 4th cent, locates the scene of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and until the middle of the 19th cent, this was the generally accepted place of pilgrimage and devotion in commemoration of this event. The earliest references in this connexion are by Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome, and others ( Cat. xii. 16; Epp. 44 and). In the 6th cent., three churches, corresponding to the three tabernacles of Peter ( Mark 9:5), were built on its summit. Saewulf speaks of three monasteries ( c. [Note: circa, about.] a.d. 1103), which, with later reconstructions by the Crusaders, were destroyed in the 13th century. There is no mention of Mount Tabor in the NT, and no intimation which in any way connects it with the scene of the great Epiphany. It is an unquestioned fact, based upon the statement given above, that Tabor at the date of this occurrence was not a suitable place for a quiet retreat, such as is implied in the narrative of the Evangelists. Apart from this objection, not in itself decisive, all the events immediately associated with it unquestionably took place on or about the southern slope of Mount Hermon ( Matthew 16:17-28, Mark 8:27-38, Luke 9:18-37). Of the six days which followed the prophetic declaration of Jesus concerning His approaching sufferings and death, there is no record, but it is in keeping with the entire narrative to assume that they were spent in retirement and prayer. There is no intimation that He passed the momentous hours of this transition period in travel, or that He sought another place in the most densely populated part of Galilee for this crowning manifestation of His Divinity and Messiahship. On the contrary, it is asserted in Mark 9:30 that Jesus ‘passed through Galilee’ after He had healed the spirit-possessed child at the foot of the mountain. While, for the reasons given, the time-honoured tradition which connects this ‘strange and beautiful mountain’ with the Transfiguration has been almost universally abandoned, it is nevertheless true that it was one of the most prominent objects of vision from the outskirts of the early home of Jesus, and its graceful outlines were often before Him, as He journeyed to and fro during the greater part of His public ministry.
Literature.—Thomson, Land and Book , ii. 136; Schaff, Through Bible Lands , 330–336; Baedeker-Socin, Pal. [Note: Palestine, Palestinian.] 364; Stanley, SP [Note: P Sinai and Palestine.] 419; Merrill, Galilee , 54; Robinson, BRP [Note: RP Biblical Researches in Palestine.] ii. 353, and iii. 221; Ritter, Erdkunde , xvi. 391; Andrews, Life of our Lord , 357, 358; PEF [Note: EF Palestine Exploration Fund.] Mem. i. 388–391; de Vogüé, Églises de la Terre Sainte , 353; G. A. Smith, HGHL [Note: GHL Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] 394, 408, 417; C. W. Wilson in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iv. 671 f.; Buhl, GAP [Note: AP Geographic des alten Palästina.] 107 f., 216 f .
R. L. Stewart.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
( תּבור , tābhōr , תּבור הר , har tābhōr ; ὄρος Θαβώρ , óros Thabṓr , τὸ Ἰταβύριον , tó Itabúrion ): This mountain seems to be named as on the border of Issachar ( Joshua 19:22 ). It is possibly identical with the mountain to which Zebulun and Issachar were to call the peoples ( Deuteronomy 33:19 ). Standing on the boundary between the tribes, they would claim equal rights in the sanctuary on the top. The passage seems to indicate that it was a place of pilgrimage. The worshippers, bringing with them the "abundance of the sea" and the "treasures of the sand," would be a source of profit to the local authorities. The mountain can be no other than Jebel eṭ - Ṭūr , an isolated and shapely height, rising at the northeast corner of the Plain of Esdraelon, about 5 miles West of Nazareth. The mountain has retained its sacred character, and is still a place of pilgrimage, only the rites being changed. The present writer has mingled with great interest among the crowds that assemble there from all parts at the Feast of the Transfiguration.
It was on the summit and slopes of this mountain that Deborah and Barak gathered their forces; and hence, they swept down to battle with Sisera in the great plain ( Judges 4:6 , Judges 4:12 , Judges 4:14 ). Here probably the brothers of Gideon were murdered by Zeba and Zalmunna ( Judges 8:18 ). Moore ("Jgs," ICC , at the place) thinks the scene of the slaughter must have been much farther South. He does not see what the brothers of Gideon were doing so far North of their home in Abiezer. There is, however, no reason for placing Ophrah so far to the South as he does; and in any case the men were probably captured and taken to Tabor as prisoners. Josephus ( Ant. , VII, ii, 3) says it was in one of Solomon's administrative districts (compare 1 Kings 4:17 ). Such a prominent and commanding position must always have invited fortification. In the time of Antiochus the Great, 218 BC, we find a fortress here, which that king took by stratagem, Atabyrion by name (Polyb. v. 70, 6). It was recovered by the Jews, and was held by them under Janneus, 105-70 Bc ( Ant. , Xiii , xv, 4). The place fell to the Romans at the conquest under Pompey; and not far from the mountain Alexander, son of Aristobulus II, suffered defeat at the hands of Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, 53 Bc ( Ant. , Xiv , iv, 3; BJ , I, viii, 7). Josephus, who commanded in Galilee at the outbreak of the Jewish war, recognized the importance of the position, and built a wall round the summit. After the disaster to Jewish arms at Jotapata, where Josephus himself was taken prisoner, many fugitives took refuge here. Placidus the Roman general did not attempt an assault upon the fortress. Its defenders were by a feint drawn into the plain, where they were defeated, and the city surrendered.
A tradition which can be traced to the 4th century Ad places the scene of the Transfiguration on this mountain. Allusion has been made above to the sacred character of the place. To this, and to the striking appearance of the mountain, the rise of the tradition may have been due. Passing centuries have seen a succession of churches and monasteries erected on the mountain. The scene of the Transfiguration was laid at the southeastern end of the summit, and here a church was built, probably by Tancred. Hard by was also shown the place where Melchizedek met Abraham returning from the pursuit of Chedorlaomer. The mountain shared to the full the vicissitudes of the country's stormy history. In 1113 Ad the Arabs from Damascus plundered the monasteries and murdered the monks. An unsuccessful attack was made by Saladin in 1183, but 4 years later, after the rout of the Crusaders at Hattin, he devastated the place. Twenty-five years after that it was fortified by el - Melek el - ‛Adel , brother of Saladin, and the Crusaders failed in an attempt to take it in 1217. In 1218, however, the Saracens threw down the defenses. Sultan Bibars in 1263 ordered the destruction of the Church of the Transfiguration, and for a time the mountain was deserted. The Feast of the Transfiguration, however, continued to be celebrated by the monks from Nazareth. During the last quarter of the 19th century much building was done by the Latin and Greek churches, who have now large and substantial monasteries and churches. They have also excavated the ruins of many of the old ecclesiastical buildings. The remains now to be seen present features of every period, from Jewish times to our own.
Mt. Tabor rises to a height of 1,843 ft. above the sea, and forms the most striking feature of the landscape. Seen from the South it presents the shape of a hemisphere; from the West, that of a sugar loaf. Its rounded top and steep sides are covered with thick brushwood. It is about half a century since the oak forest disappeared; but solitary survivors here and there show what the trees must have been. A low neck connects the mountain with the uplands to the North. It is cut off from Jebel ed - Duḥy on the South by a fertile vale, which breaks down into Wâdy el - Bı̄reh , and thence to the Jordan. A zigzag path on the Northwest leads to the top, whence most interesting and comprehensive views are obtained. Southward, over Little Hermon, with Endor and Nain on its side, and Shunem at its western base, we catch a glimpse of Mt. Gilboa. Away across the plain the eye runs along the hills on the northern boundary of Samaria, past Taanach and Megiddo to Carmel by the sea, and the oak forest that runs northward from the gorge of the Kishon. A little to the North of West, 5 miles of broken upland, we can see the higher houses of Nazareth gleaming white in the sun. Eastward lies the hollow of the Jordan, and beyond it the wall of Gilead and the steep cliffs East of the Sea of Galilee, broken by glens and watercourses, and especially by the great chasm of the Yarmūk . The mountains of Zebulun and Naphtali seem to culminate in the shining mass of Great Hermon, rising far in the northern sky. Standing here one realizes how aptly the two mountains may be associated in the Psalmist's thought, although Hermon be mighty and Tabor humble ( Psalm 89:12 ). Tabor is referred to by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 46:18 ), and Hosea alludes to some ensnaring worship practiced on the mountain ( Hosea 5:1 ).
The present writer spent some weeks on Mt. Tabor, and as the result of careful observation and consideration concluded that the scene of the Transfiguration cannot be laid here. The place would appear to have been occupied at that time; and the remoteness and quiet which Jesus evidently sought could hardly have been found here. See Transfiguration , Mount Of .
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [3]
An isolated cone-shaped hill, 1000 ft. in height and clothed with olive-trees, on the NE. borders of Esdraëlon ( q. v .), 7 m. E. of Nazareth. A tradition of the 2nd century identifies it as the scene of the Tranfiguration, and ruins of a church, built by the Crusaders to commemorate the event, crown the summit.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
For the latest description and plan of Jebel et-Tor, see the Memoirs to the Ordnance Survey, 1:388 sq.
