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William Smith
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an obsolete English word used in the Authorized Version of ( Nahum 2:7 ) The Hebrew word connects itself with toph, “a timbrel.” The Authorized Version reproduces the original idea. The “tabour” or “tabor” was a musical instrument of the drum type which with the pipe formed the band of a country village. To “tabour,” accordingly, is to beat with loud strokes, as men beat upon such an instrument.
is mentioned in the lists of 1Chr 6 as a city of the Merarite Levites, in the tribe of Zebulun. ver. ( 1 Chronicles 6:77 ) The list of the towns of Zebulun. Josh 19 contains the name of Chisloth-tabor. ver. ( Joshua 19:12 ) It is, therefore, possible, either that Chisloth-tabor is abbreviated into Tabor by the chronicler, or that by the time these later lists were compiled the Merarites had established themselves on the sacred mountain, and that Tabor is Mount Tabor. (a mound), or Mount Tabor, one of the most interesting and remarkable of the single mountains in Palestine. It rises abruptly from the northeastern arm of the plain of Esdraelon, and stands entirely insulated, except on the west where a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth. It presents to the eye, as seen from a distance, a beautiful appearance, being symmetrical in its proportions and rounded off like a hemisphere or the segment of a circle, yet varying somewhat as viewed from different directions. The body of the mountain consists of the peculiar limestone of the country. It is now called Jebel-et-Tur . It lies about six or eight miles almost due east from Nazareth. The ascent is usually made on the west side, near the little village of Deburieh—probably the ancient Daberath, ( Joshua 19:12 )—though it can be made with entire ease in other places. It requires three quarters of an hour or an hour to reach the to the top. The top of Tabor consists of an irregular platform, embracing a circuit of half an hour’s walk, and commanding wide views of the subjacent plain from end to end. Tabor does not occur in the New Testament, but makes a prominent figure in the Old. The book of Joshua ( Joshua 19:22 ) mentions it as the boundary between Issachar and Zebulun, See ver. 12. Barak, at the command of Deborah, assembled his forces on Tabor, and descended thence, with “ten thousand men after him,” into the plain, and conquered Sisera on the banks of the Kishon. ( Judges 4:6-15 ) The brothers of Gideon each of whom “resembled the children of a king,” were murdered here by Zebah and Zalmunna. ( Judges 8:18 , 19 ) There are at present the ruins of a fortress round all the summit of Tabor. The Latin Christians have now an altar here at which their priests from Nazareth perform an annual mass. The Greeks also have a chapel, where, on certain festivals they assemble for the celebration of religious rites. The idea that our Saviour was transfigured on Tabor prevailed extensively among the early Christians, and still reappears often in popular religious works. It is impossible, however, to acquiesce in the correctness of this opinion. It can be proved from the Old Testament and from later history that a fortress or town existed on Tabor from very early times down to B.C. 53 or 50; and as Josephus says that he strengthened the fortifications there about A.D. 60, it is morally certain that Tabor must have been inhabited during the intervening Period that is in the days of Christ. Tabor, therefore, could not have been the Mount of Transfiguration [see Hermon ]; for when it is said that Jesus took his disciples “up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them ( Matthew 17:1 , 2 ) we must understand that he brought them to the summit of the mountain, where they were alone by themselves.
This is an incorrect translation, and should be THE Oak OF Tabor , Tabor . It is mentioned in ( 1 Samuel 10:3 ) only, as one of the points in the homeward journey of Saul after his anointing by Samuel.
(Heb. toph). In old English tabor was used for any drum. Tabouret and tambourine are diminutives of tabor, and denote the instrument now known as the tambourine. Tabret is a contraction of tabouret. The Hebrew toph is undoubtedly the instrument described by travellers as the duff or diff of the Arabs. It was played principally by women, ( Exodus 15:20 ; Judges 11:34 ; 1 Samuel 18:6 ; Psalms 68:25 ) as an accompaniment to the song and dance. The diff of the Arabs is described by Russell as “a hoop (sometimes with pieces of brass fixed in it to make a jingling) over which a piece of parchment is stretched. It is beaten with the fingers, and is the true tympanum of the ancients.” In Barbary it is called tar .
(The event in the earthly life of Christ which marks the culminating point in his public ministry, and stands midway between the temptation in the wilderness and the agony in Gethsemane, ( Matthew 17:1-13 ; Mark 9:2-13 ; Luke 9:28-36 ) Place . Though tradition locates the transfiguration on Mount Tabor there is little to confirm this view and modern critics favor Mount Hermon, the highest mountain-top in Gaulanitis, or one of the spurs of the Anti-Lebanus. Time .—The transfiguration probably took place at night, because it could then be seen to better advantage than in daylight, and Jesus usually went to mountains to spend there the night in prayer. ( Matthew 14:23 , 24 ; Luke 6:12 ; 21:37 ) The apostles were asleep, and are described its having kept themselves awake through the act of transfiguration. ( Luke 9:32 ) The actors and witnesses .—Christ was the central figure, the subject of transfiguration. Moses and Elijah appeared from the heavenly world, as the representatives of the Old Testament, the one of the law the other of prophecy, to do homage to him who was the fulfillment of both. Mr. Ellicott says, “The close of the ministry of each was not after the ’common death of all men.’ No man knew of the sepulchre of Moses, (34:6) and Elijah had passed away in the chariot and horses of fire. ( 2 Kings 2:11 ) Both were associated in men’s minds with the glory of the kingdom of the Christ. The Jerusalem Targum on ( Exodus 12:1 ) ... connects the coming of Moses with that of the Messiah. Another Jewish tradition predicts his appearance with that of Elijah.” Moses the law giver and Elijah the chief of the prophets both appear talking with Christ the source of the gospel, to show that they are all one and agree in one. St. Luke, ( Luke 9:31 ) adds the subject of their communing: “They spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Among the apostles the three favorite disciples, Peter, James and John were the sole witnesses of the scene— “the sons of thunder and the man of rock.” The event itself .—The transfiguration or transformation, or, as the Germans call it, the glorification, consisted in a visible manifestation of the inner glory of Christ’s person, accompanied by an audible voice from heaven. It was the revelation and anticipation of his future state of glory, which was concealed under the veil of his humanity in the state of humiliation. The cloud which overshadowed the witnesses was bright or light-like, luminous, of the same kind as the cloud at the ascension. Significance of the miracle .— It served as a solemn inauguration of the history of the passion and final consummation of Christ’s work on earth. It confirmed the faith of the three favorite disciples, and prepared them for the great trial which was approaching, by showing them the real glory and power of Jesus. It was a witness that the spirits of the lawgiver and the prophet accepted the sufferings and the death which had shaken the faith of the disciples as the necessary conditions of the messianic kingdom.—Ellicott. As envoys from the eternal Majesty, audibly affirmed that it was the will the Father that with his own precious blood he should make atonement for sin. They impressed a new seal upon the ancient, eternal truth that the partition wall which sin had raised could he broken down by no other means than by the power of his sufferings; that he as the good Shepherd could only ransom his sheep with the price of his own life.-Krummacher. It furnishes also to us all a striking proof of the unity of the Old and New Testaments, for personal immortality, and the mysterious intercommunion of the visible and invisible worlds. Both meet in Jesus Christ; he is the connecting link between the Old and New Testaments, between heaven and earth, between the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. It is very significant that at the end of the scene the disciples saw no man save Jesus alive. Moses and Elijah, the law and the promise, types and shadows, pass away; the gospel, the fulfillment, the substance Christ remains—the only one who can relieve the misery of earth and glorify our nature, Christ all in all. (chiefly from Smith’s larger Bib. Dic.—ED.)
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