Mount Tabor - location profile

Tabor College draws its name from Mount Tabor in Israel.  This mountain has been associated with the event known as the Transfiguration of Christ in the New Testament.  It has been chosen as the name of the College because of our vision to enhance the transformation of the life and character all who participate as staff, students and or as beneficiaries of the ministry of our graduates.

Location and Setting

• Mount Tabor is a fairly steep-sided hill rising 1,350 feet above the Plain of Jezreel.
• It lies some ten miles from the Sea of Galilee and six miles southeast of Nazareth.
• The mountain is symmetrical, resembling an upside down tea cup, standing alone in the plain.
• The top of Mount Tabor offers a panoramic view of the area, with the Nazareth Ridge nearby on the northwest, Mount Carmel to the west, the Hill of Moreh beside it to the south, and Mount Gilboa beyond Moreh.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Mount Tabor was the staging area for the armies of Deborah and Barak, as they faced the assembly of Canaanites and their chariots arrayed below them on the plain to the west (Judg 4:6, 12, 14).
• It was on Mount Tabor that the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna killed Gideon’s brothers (Judg 8:18).
• Many identify Mount Tabor as the site of the Transfiguration. This is disputed by some scholars.

Bibliography

Alden, R.L. "Mount Tabor." The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.

Lockyer, Sr., Herbert, ed. Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.

Longenecker, Richard N. and Merrill C. Tenney, eds. New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1974.

Payne, D.F. "Tabor, Mount" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.