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tion, and appropriates as his own the language of the psahnist (Ixxxix, 11, 12) —
"The heavens are thine, the earth nlso is thine; The world and the fulness thereof, ihou hast founded
them. The north and the sonth thou hast created theni; Tabor and Harmon shall rejoice in thy name."
2. History. — Tabor is not expressly mentioned in the New Test., but makes a i^rominent figure in the OKI. The book of Joshua (xix, 'li) names it as the boundary between Issachar and Zebulon (see ver. 12). Barak, at the command of Deborah, assembled his forces on Ta- bor, and, on the arrival of the opportune moment, de- scended thence with " ten thousaiul men after him" into the plain, and conquered Sisera on the banks of the Kishon (^.Judg. iv, G-15). The brothers of Gideon, each of whom "resembled the chihlren of a king," Avere mur- dered here by Zebah and Zalmuima (viii, 18, 19). Some writers, after Herder and others, think that Tabor is in- tended when it is said of Issachar and Zebulon in Deut. xxxiii, 19, that " they shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteous- ness." Stanley, who holds this view (Sinai and J'ales- iine, p. 351), remarks that he was struck with the as- pect of the open glades on tiie summit as specially fitted for the convocation of festive assemblies, and could well believe that in some remote age it may have been a sanctuary of the northern tribes, if not of the whole na- tion. The prophet in Hos. v, 1 reproaches the priests and royal family with having "been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor." The charge against them probably is that they had set up idols and i)rac- ticed heathenish rites on the high places which were usually selected for such worship. The comparison in Jer. xlvi, 18, "As Tabor is among the mountains and Carmel by the sea," imports apparently that those heights were proverbial for their conspiciiousness, beau- ty, and strength.
After the close of Old-Test, history, Tabor continued to be a strong fortress. In the year B.C. 218, Antiochus the Great got possession of it bj' stratagem and strength- ened its fortifications. The town existed on the sum- mit in New-Test, times, but the defences had fallen into decay, and Josephus caused them to be rebuilt ( War, iv, i; 8).
3. Present Condition. — Dr. Robinson (Bibl. lies, ii, 353) has thus described the ruins which are to be seen at pres- ent on the summit of Tabor: "All around the top are tlie foundations of a thick wall built of large stones, some of which are bevelled, showing that the entire wall was perhaps originally of that character. In sev- eral parts are the remains of towers and bastions. The chief remains are upon the ledge of rocks on the south of the little basin, and especially towards its eastern end; here are, in indiscriminate confusion, walls and arches and foundations, apparently of dwelling-houses, as well as other buildings, some of hewn, and some of large bevelled stones. The walls and traces of a fortress are seen here, and farther west along the southern brow, of which one tall pointed arch of a Saracenic gateway is still standing, and bears the name of Bab el-Hawa, ' Gate of the Wind.' Connected with it are loopholes, and others are seen near by. These latter fortifications belong to the sera of the Crusades ; but the large bevel- led stones we refer to a style of architecture not later than the times of the Romans, before which period, in- deed, a town and fortress already existed on Mount Ta- bor. In the days of the Crusaders, too, and earlier, there were here churches and monasteries. The summit has many cisterns, now mostly dry." The same wrjter found the thermometer here, 10 A.M. (June 18), at 98^ Fahr., at sunrise at (U^, and at sunset at 74°. The Latin Christians have now an altar here, at which their jiriests from Nazareth perform an annual mass. The Greeks also have a chapel, where, on certain festivals, they assemble for the celebration of religious rites. Stanley, in his Notices of Localities Visited wilk the
Prince of Wahs. remarks, "The fortress, of which the ruins crown the summit, had evidently four gatewavs, like those by wiiicli the great Komau camps of our own country were entered. By one of these gateways my attention was called to an Arabic inscription, said to be the only one on the moiuitain." It records the build- ing or rebuikling of " this blessed fortress" by the order of the sultan Abii-Bekr on his return from the East A. 11. (507. In 1S73 the nioidvs began the construction of a convent on the north-east brow of the mountain.
4. Traditional Importance. — In the monastic ages. Tabor, in consequence partly of a belief that it was the scene of the Saviour's transfiguration, was crowded with hermits. It was one of the shrines from the earliest period which pilgrims to the Holy Land regarded as a sacred duty to honor with their presence and their prayers. Jerome, in his Itinerary of Paula, writes, '• Scandebat montem Thabor, in quo transfignratus est Dominus; aspiciebat procul Hermon et Hermonim et campos latissimos GaliUeaj (Jesreel), in quibus Sisara prostratus est. Torrens Cison qui mediam planiticm dividebat, et oppidum juxta, Naim, monstrabantur." This idea that our Saviour was transfigured on Tabor prevailed extensively among the early Christians (see Robinson, Bill. Pes. ii, 358 sq.), who adopted legends of this nature, and often reappears still in po])ular religions works. If one might choose a place which he would deem peculiarly fitting for so sublime a transaction, there is certainly none which would so entirely satisfy our feelings in this respect as the lofty, majestic, beauti- ful Tabor. It has been thought difficult, however, to acquiesce in the correctness of this opinion. The sum- mit of Tabor appears to have been occupied by a town as early as the time when the Israelites took possession of the country (Josh, xix, 22). Indeed, such a strong position would scarcely be left unoccupied in those stormy times of Syria's history. Accordingly, as above seen, it is susceptible of proof from the Old Test., and from later history, that a fortress or town existed on Tabor from very early times down to B.C. 60 or 53; and, as Josephus says that he strengthened the fortifica- tions of a city there, about A.D. CO, it is certain that Tabor must have been inhabited during the intervening period, that is, in the days of Christ (comp. Polybius, v, 70, 6 , Josephus, Ant. xiv, 6, 3 ; ]Vai; ii, 20, 1 ;"iv, 1, 8; Life, § 37). But as in the account of the transfigura- tion It is said that Jesus took his disciples " up into a high mountain apart and was traiusfigured before them" (Jlatt. xvii, ], 2), we must understand that he brought them to the summit of the mountain, where they were alone by themselves (icor' Iciov). Yet it is not proba- ble that the whole mountain was occupied by edifices, and it is quite possible that a solitarj' spot might have been found amid its groves, where the scene could have taken place unobserved. The event has, indeed, been referred by many to Mount Hermon, on the ground that our Lord's miracle immediately preceding was at Caesarea- Philippi ; but the interval of a whole week ("six days," Matt, xvii, 1, INIark ix, 2, "eight days," Luke ix, 28) decidedly favors the idea of a considerable journey in the interval. See TKA^SFIGURATlo^•.