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I. A mountam on the confines of Zebulun and Naplitali, standing out in the north-east border of the plain of Esdraelon, the name of which appears. among Greek and Roman writers in the forms of Itabyrion and Atabyrion, and which is now known by the name of)...4v Yebel Tun It is men tioned in Josh. xix. 22 ; Judg. iv. 6 ; viii. 18 ; Ps. lxxxix. 12 ; Jer. xlvi. IS ; Hos. v. r). Mount Tabor stands out alone and eminent above the plain, with all its fine proportions from base to summit displayed at one view. It lies at the dis tance of two hours and a quarter south of Nazareth. According to the barometrical measurements of Schubert, the height of Tabor above the level of the sea is 1748 Paris feet, and 13to Paris feet above the level of the plain at its base. Seen from the south-west, it presents a semi-globular appearance ; but from the north-west it more resembles a trun cated cone. 13y an ancient path, which winds con siderably, one may ride to the summit, where is a small oblong plain, with the foundations of ancient buildings. The view of the country from this place is very beautiful and extensive. The moun tain is of limestone, which is the general rock of Palestine. The sides of the mountain are mostly covered with bushes, and woods of oak trees (ilex and agi/ops), with occasionally pistachio trees, presenting a beautiful appearance, and affording a fine shade. There are various tracks up its sides, often crossing one another. The ascent usually occupies an hour, though it has been done in less time. The crest of the mountain is table-land, of some six or seven hundred yards in height front north to south, and about half as much across ; and a flat field of about an acre occurs at a level of some twenty or twenty-five feet lower than the eastern brow. There are remains of several small ruined tanks on the crest, which still catches the rain-water dripping through the crevices of the rock, and preserves it cool and pure, it is said, throughout the year. The view from the summit, though one edge or the other of the table-land, wherever one stands, always intervenes to make a small break in the distant horizon, is declared by Lord Nugent to be the most splendid Ile could recollect having ever seen from any natural height.
This writer cites an observation made many years ago, in his hearing, by Mr. Riddle, that he had never been on any natural hill, or rock, or moun tain, from which could be seen an unbroken cir cumference with a radius•of three miles in every part. This, his lordship says, has been verified in all his own experience, and it was so at Mount Tabor, although there are many abrupt points of vantage ground on the summit (Lands Classical and Sacred, ii. 2o4, 20.5).
This mountain is several times mentioned in the O. T. (Josh. xix. 12, 22 ; Judg. iv. 6, I2, 14) • but not in the New. Its summit has however 'been usually regarded as the high mountain apart,' where our Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. But the probability of this is opposed by circumstances which cannot be gain said. It is manifest that the Transfiguration took place in a solitary place, not only from the word apart,' but from the circumstance that Peter in his bewilderment proposed to build three taber nacles' on the spot (Matt. xvii. r-8 ; Luke bc. 28 36). But we know that a fortified town occupied the top of Tabor for at least 220 years before and 6o years after the birth of Christ, and probably much before and long after (Polybius, v. 7o. 6 ; foseph. Antig. xiv. 6. 3 ; De Bell. i. 8. 7 ; Li. 2c). 6 iv. 1. 8 ; Vita, sec. 37) ; and the tradi tion itself cannot be traced back earlier than towards the end of the 4th century, previously to which we have in the Onomasticon notices of Mount Tabor, without any allusion to its being regarded as the site of the Transfiguration. It may further be re marked that this part of Galilee abounds with high mountains apart,' so that in removing the scene of this great event from Tabor there is no difficulty in providing other suitable sites for it (Robinson, EX. Researches, iii. 2ro-227 ; Lord Nugent, ii.s. 198-2°4 ; Schubert, Morgenland, iii. 174-18o ; Burckhardt, Syria, pp. 332-336 ; Stephens, ii. 317-319 ; Elliot, ii. 364).—J. K.
2. The name of a grove of oaks in the vicinity of Benjamin, in r Sam. x. 3, the topography of which chapter is usually much embarrassed by the ,-;roundless notion that Mount Tabor is meant. 1[PLAINs.] 3. A Levitical city in Zcbulun, situated upon Mount Tabor (t Chron. vi. 77).