tabor Summary and Overview

a height. (1.) Now Jebel et-Tur, a cone-like prominent mountain, 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. It is about 1,843 feet high. The view from the summit of it is said to be singularly extensive and grand. This is alluded to in Ps. 89:12; Jer. 46:18. It was here that Barak encamped before the battle with Sisera (q.v.) Judg. 4:6-14. There is an old tradition, which, however, is unfounded, that it was the scene of the transfiguration of our Lord. (See HERMON T0001754.) "The prominence and isolation of Tabor, standing, as it does, on the border-land between the northern and southern tribes, between the mountains and the central plain, made it a place of note in all ages, and evidently led the psalmist to associate it with Hermon, the one emblematic of the south, the other of the north." There are some who still hold that this was the scene of the transfiguration (q.v.). (2.) A town of Zebulum (1 Chr. 6:77). (3.) The "plain of Tabor" (1 Sam. 10:3) should be, as in the Revised Version, "the oak of Tabor." This was probably the Allon-bachuth of Gen. 35:8.

TA'BOR (mound, height). 1. A mountain of Palestine; by Greek and Roman writers called Itabyrion and Atybyrion; now known by the Arabic name of Jebel et-Tor. Tabor is situated on the north-eastern edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, and on the borders between Zebulun and Naphtali. It is 6 miles south of east from Nazareth, and 10 miles south of west from the southern extremity of the Sea of Tiberias. History. - The position of Tabor, overlooking the great battle-plain of Palestine, Esdraelon, made it a suitable place for the Israelites to assemble for battle. There Barak gathered his forces - 10,000 men - for the overthrow of Sisera. Jud 4:6-14. Some of Israel's warriors had been slain there by the Midianites before Gideon's victory. Jud 8:18. Tabor is extolled with Hermon in Ps 89:12, and mentioned with Carmel in Jer 46:18. Idolatries practised upon that mountain were a "net spread upon Tabor." Hos 5:1. Tabor is not mentioned in the N.T. A tradition dating certainly as early as Origen and Jerome made this the Mount of Transfiguration. Mark 9:2-10. But the summit of Tabor must at that time have been covered with houses, since the town was then existing which Antiochus the Great founded, b.c. 218, on the top of the hill. Furthermore, the Mount of Transfiguration was probably in the region of Caesarea-Philippi, as the transfiguration occurred only a few days after Christ had arrived at that place and solicited the great confession of Peter. However, the legend attached to Tabor led to the erection, before the end of the sixth century, of three churches, in memory of the three tabernacles. Afterward the Crusaders erected a church and a monastery, which were destroyed by the Muslims. Present Appearance. - Mount Tabor is one of the most remarkable of the mountains of Palestine. It rises from the plain as an isolated mass, only connected on the west by a low and narrow ridge with the hills of Nazareth. Its appearance varies with the point of observation. From the south it has the form of a dome or the arc of a circle; from the west-north-west, that of a truncated cone. It rises from the surrounding table-land to the height of 1053 feet, and its summit is 2018 feet above the Mediterranean. The ascent is steep and rugged, but persons can reach the summit on horseback. The time required for ascending is about an hour. The southern slope is of barren limestone rock; the other sides are wooded with the oak, terebinth, mockorange, and trees "resembling the scattered glades in the outskirts of the New Forest." The soil is fertile, yielding luxuriant pasture. Partridges, hares, foxes, and other kinds of game abound. Porter speaks of seeing jackals, wolves, and a panther while he was visiting Tabor. The mountain has a flat summit a little less than a quarter of a mile long and an eighth of a mile wide. Two monasteries of comparatively modern date occupy the top of the hill, one belonging to the Greeks and the other to the Latins. There are also ruins of towers, fortifications, vaults, cisterns, and other structures of various periods, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Christian, Saracenic, Frank, and Turk, blended together in a confused mass. The view from the summit of Tabor is the best in all Central Palestine. To the north and east are Mount Hermon, the Sea of Galilee, the mountains of Bashan and Gilead; to the south and west, the great plain of Esdraelon, Gilboa, Carmel, and the Mediterranean. Standing on this spot, the traveller sees why Tabor was the gathering-place of the northern tribes, and can trace out the great battlefields below. 1. A city in Zebulun, assigned to the Mount Tabor. (After a Photograph.) Levites. 1 Chr 6:77. Probably the same as Chisloth-tabor, which see.

("height, mound"); (tabar related to tsabar). 1. Psalm 89:12, "the N. and S. Tabor (i.e. the W.) and Hermon (E. of Jordan) shall rejoice," etc. Their existence and majestic appearance are a silent hymn to their Creator's praise; the view from Tabor comprises as much of natural beauty and sacred interest as any in the Holy Land. Accurately corresponding to its name; a large isolated mound-like mountain, 1865 ft. high, N.E. of Esdraelon plain. On the W. however a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth, which lies six or eight miles off due W. The southern end of the lake of Galilee lies 12 miles off to the E. It consists of limestone; thick stone; thick forests of oak, etc., cover the sides, affording covert to wolves, boars, lynxes, and reptiles. The summit is a mile and a half in circuit, surmounted with a four-gated fortress' ruins, with an Arabic inscription on one of the gateways recording its building or rebuilding by the sultan Abu Bekr. Named among Issachar's boundaries (Joshua 19:22), but the fortified city at Mount Tabor's base may be meant there. (See CHISLOTH TABOR.) From Tabor Barak descended with his 10,000 men into the plain, at Deborah's command, and conquered Sisera at the Kishon (Judges 4:6-15). (See KEDESH.) Here Zebah and Zalmunna slew Gideon's brothers (Judges 8:18-19). Herder makes Tabor to be meant when Hoses says of Issachar and Zebulun (Deuteronomy 33:19), "they shall call the people unto the mountain, there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness." The open glades on the summit would form a suitable sanctuary, and were among "the high places" which ensnared Israel in idolatry; so Hosea 5:1, "a net spread upon Tabor." Jewish tradition states that liers in wait in Tabor and Mizpah intercepted and murdered Israelites going from the northern kingdom up to Jerusalem to worship in Jehovah's temple (compare Hosea 5:2). Jeremiah 46:18, "as Tabor is among the mountains," i.e. as it towers high and unique by itself, so Nebuchadnezzar is one not to be matched as a foe. The large, beveled stones among the ruins at the top belong to Roman times. The Lord's transfiguration Jerome and others assigned to Tabor. But the buildings on Tabor (see Josephus, B.J. 4:1, section 8, and 1 Chronicles 6:77) are inconsistent, with the solitude "apart" of which the narrative (Matthew 17:1-2) speaks. Moreover, the transfiguration took place near Caesarea Philippi; this fact, and the reference to the "snow," accord best with Mount Hermon being the scene (Mark 8:27; Mark 9:1-3). 2. The city of the Merarite Levites (1 Chronicles 6:77). (See CHISLOTH TABOR; Joshua 19:12). 3. "The plain of Tabor." Eelon, rather "the oak of Tabor" (1 Samuel 10:3). Identified by Ewald with the oak of Deborah (or Tabor differently pronounced), Rebekah's nurse (Genesis 35:8), and the palm of Deborah the prophetess (Judges 4:5; the distance from Rachel's sepulchre at Bethlehem is an objection), and the oak of the prophet of Bethel (1 Kings 13:14).