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 Avas 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 86). In the 6th cent., three churches, corresponding to the three tabernacles of Peter
I
TALENT
TALEXTS
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(Mk 9^), were built on its summit. Saewulf speaks of three monasteries (c. A.D. 1103), which, with later reconstructions by the Crusaders, were de- stroyed in the 13th century. There is no mention of Mount Tabor in the NT, and no intimation Avhich in any way connects it witli the scene of the great Epipliany. 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 (Mt 16i'-28, Mk 8-^-3», Lk 9i8-37)_ Qf the six days which followed the prophetic declaration of Jesus con- cerning 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 transi- tion jieriod in travel, or that He sought another l^lace in the most densely populated part of Galilee for this crowning manifestation of His Divinity and Messiahship. On the contrary, it is asserted in Mk 9^° that Jesus 'passed through Galilee' after He had healed the spirit-possesseu child at tiie 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 aban- doned, 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 Through Bible Lands, 330-336 ; Stanley, SP 419 ; Merrill, Galilee, and iii. 221 ; Ritter, Erdkunde, our Lord, 357, 358 ; PEF Mem. i. la Terre Sainte, 353 ; G. A. Smith, Wilson in Hastings' DB iv. 671 f. ;
TALENT.— See Money.
and Book, ii. 136; Schaff,
Baedeker-Socin, Pal. 364 ;
54 ; Robinson, BRP ii. 353, xvi. 391 ; Andrews, Life of 383-391 ; de Vogii6, Eglises de
HGHL 394, 408, 417 ; C. W. Buhl, GAP 107 f., 216 f.
K. L. Stewart.
TALENTS (Parable of).— In Mt 25"-3o we have the story of a man who went away on a journey into a iar country, and entrusted to one of his slaves five talents, to another two, and to another one. The story resembles so closely the parable of the Pounds in Lk 19'^"^ that many scholars have considered them to be different versions of the same parable.
1. It is therefore necessary to begin with an in- vestigation of the relations between the two parables, (a) In the parable of the Talents we have three slaves mentioned, who seem from the expression chosen— -'his own slaves' — to stand in a relation of peculiar intimacy to their master. He is, there- fore, already familiar with their capacity, and allots the talents he distributes to them in harmony Avith his knowledge. To the most capable he gives five talents, to one not so capable he entrusts two, and to a third with less ability than either he entrusts one. He does not give them any instruc- tions, since they ought to understand that such large sums of money are not intended to lie idle, but should be usecl in increasing their master's possessions. As soon as his master has departed, tiie first servant goes at once and trades with his lord's money. The master is absent for a long time, so that by legitimate trading the servant doubles the capital he has received. The second servant, although of less capacity, exhibits an equal devotion to his lord's interests, and while his capital is smaller, he also succeeds in doubling it. The third servant, however, while he does not