Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor

Aerial view of the Catholic Church of Transfiguration at the summit.

Mount Tabor (Hebrew: הר תבור, Greek: Όρος Θαβώρ) is located in Lower Galilee at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 17 kilometers (11 mi) west of the Sea of Galilee. Its elevation at its summit is 575 metres (1,843 ft) above sea level. In biblical history, is believed to be site of the battle between the Israelite general Barak and the army of Jabin, commanded by Sisera. Some believe it to be the site of the Transfiguration of Christ, although Mount Hermon is considered by many to be more likely.

Two Arab towns are located at its base: Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam (east) and Daburiyya (west) as well as a Jewish community called Kfar Tavor. It is also known as Har Tavor, Itabyrium, Jebel et-Tur, and the Mount of Transfiguration.

Geology

The mountain is a horst—raised fault block bounded by normal faults formed from the extension of the Earth's crust—and is not volcanic. In spite of its proximity to the Nazareth mountains, it constitutes a separate geological form.

Despite its modest height of 1,843 ft, it represents an impressive sight, rising suddenly from a low-lying surrounding plain.

Its location on an important road junction and its commanding formation above its environment gave mount Tabor a strategic value, and several battles were conducted in its area in different periods in history. At the bottom of the mountain was an important roads junction: Via Maris passed there from the Jezreel Valley northward towards Damascus.

History

Old Testament period

Map of the Galilee region c. 50 C.E. shows Mount Tabor directly below Cana and east of Nazareth

The mountain is first mentioned in Joshua 19:22, as border of three tribes: Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali. The mountain's importance stems from its strategic control of the junction of the Galilee's north-south route with the east-west highway of the Jezreel Valley.

According to the Book of Judges, Deborah the prophetess summoned Barak of the tribe of Naphtali and gave him God's command, "Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun" (Judges (Judges 4:6). Barak agreed only on the condition that Deborah would accompany him, which they did, leading their troops to the mountain's high ground. Despite Sisera's superior strength, including 900 iron chariots, the use of Tabor's high ground gave the Israelites a decided tactical advantage. Descending from the mountain as Sisera's forces ascended, the Israelites attacked and vanquished their foes, and the heroine Jael soon killed the exhausted Sisera himself after luring him into her tent and lulling him to sleep.

Tabor was also the site of a battle between the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna and certain Israelites, in which the Midianites prevailed but we later caught and executed by Gideon (Judges 8: 18-21)

The "great tree of Tabor" was a well known landmark, possibly a sacred high place, on the way for those traveling to the holy site of Bethel, where the prophet Samuel instructed the future King Saul to meet three pilgrims and receive their gifts of bread and wine (1 Samuel 10:3). Psalm 89:12 mentions the mountain along with Mount Hermon in declaring is praise of God: "You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name." Jeremiah 46:18 likewise declares Tabor's outstanding character: "'As surely as I live,' declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty, 'one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea.'"

After the establishment of the Temple of Jerusalem, however, Tabor's high place became a target for criticism by the prophets and Jerusalem priests, who considered it, and all other unauthorized shrines, to be a source of corruption and sin:

Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites!

Listen, O royal house! This judgment is against you:

You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. (Hosea 5:1)

The Second Temple period

In the days of Second Temple, Mount Tabor was one of the mountain peaks on which it was the customed to light beacons in order to inform the northern villages of holidays and of beginnings of new months.

Alexander Maccabeus from the Hasmonean house, which lead a rebel against Aulus Gabinius, the Roman statesman of Syria, with an army of 31,000 men from Judea, was defeated during a battle next to mount Tabor. As much as 10,000 Jewish fighters were killed in the battle and Alexander himself was captured and exicuted.

In 66 C.E. during the First Jewish-Roman War, the Galilean Jews retrenched on the mountain under the command of Josephus Flavius, whence they defended against the Roman assault.

Mount Tabor was one of the 19 cities which the rebels in Galilee fortified, under the command of Yosef Ben Matityahu. According to what is written in the book "The Wars of the Jews," Vespasian sent an army of 600 riders, under the command of Platsidus, who fought the rebels. Platsidus understood that he can not reach the top of the steep mountain with his forces, and therefore he called the fortified rebels to walk down the mountain. A group of Jewish rebels descended from the mountain supposedly in order to negotiate with Platsidus, but then they attacked him. The Forces Roman forces initially retreated, but while they where in the valley they returned towards the mountain, attacked the Jewish rebellion, and killed many of them blocked the road for the remaining rebels whom tried to flee back to the top of the mountain. Many of the Jewish rebels left mount Tabor and returned to Jerusalem. The rest of the fortified rebels in the fortress on the mountain surrendered after the water which they possessed ran out, and they handed over the mountain to Platsidus.

After the destruction of the second temple the Jewish settlement in mount Tabor was renewed.

The Byzantine period and the middle ages

Due to the importance of Mount Tabor in the Christian tradition, it became the focus of pilgrimage which began during the 4th century. According to descriptions of the pilgrims, during the 6th century there were three churches on the top of the mountain, and during the 8th century there were four churches and a monastery. During the Arab period, in 947, a battle occurred in mount Tabor between different streams on the control of the land of Israel on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate.

During the period of the Crusades, the mountain changed hands many times between Muslims and Christians. In 1099 the crusaders fortified the area of the church and the monastery which was on the peak of the mountain, in order to protect the pilgrims from the Muslims attacks. In 1212 the mountain was occupied by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Adil I which established on it a larger fortress but in 1229 it was occupied again by the Christians. In 1263 the Mamluk ruler Baibars occupied the fortress and ruined the buildings on the mountain.

Modern times

Mount Tabor, 1851

In 1799, during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to the land of Israel, in the valley between mount Tabor and the Moreh hill was held a battle in which a French foce of about 3,000 soldiers in the command of Napoleon and general Jean Baptiste Kléber against a Mamluk force of about 20,000 soldiers.

At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning the 20th century the beduin tribe Arab-A Tzabiach settled in the mountain. The tribe members were employed by different members of the neighbouring Jewish settlements Kfar Tavor and Ilaniya but had disputed with them due to thefts.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War members from the Arab-A Tzabiach tribe participated in the army of the Arab Liberation Army of Fawzi al-Qawuqji and amongst others killed seven members of the village Beit Keshet. In the start of May 1948 the Golani Brigade occupied Mount Tabor. The members of the tribe fled to Syria and to the kingdom of Jordan, except for one stream of the tribe, the clan of Shibli, which it's members collaborated with the members of the Haganah forces and stayed in Israel. After the war their village was established, Arab Al-Shibli which is nowadays part of the village Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam.

Place of Christian pilgrimage

According to Christian tradition, Mount Tabor is the site of the Transfiguration of Christ, during which Jesus began to radiate light and was seen conversing with Moses and Elijah. The scene is in the Synoptic Gospels, as well as alluded to in 2 Peter, but neither account identifies the "high mountain" of the scene by name. The earliest identification of the Mount of Transfiguration as Tabor is by Origen in the 3rd century. It is also mentioned by St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Jerome in the 4th century. It is later mentioned in the in the 5th century Transitus Beatae Mariae Virginis.

In 1101, when Crusaders controlled the area, the Benedictine monks rebuilt a ruined basilica and erected a fortified abbey.

Currently, on the mountaintop there are two Christian monasteries. In 1924, an impressive Roman Catholic church of the Franciscan order was built on the peak of Mount Tabor, Church of the Transfiguration. The church was built upon the ruins of a Byzantine church from the fifth or sixth century and a Crusader church from the 12th century. The monastery's friars have lived near the church since the Ottoman control in 1873.

The Greek Orthodox church, sacred to the Transfiguration of Christ, is located nearby. An All-Night Vigil is held there every year on the Orthodox Feast of the Transfiguration (August 19, which is August 6 according to the Julian Calendar).

Vegetation

Mount Tabor was entirely covered with typical Israeli vegetation until the reign of the Ottoman Turks, during which period most of the trees were felled. As part of the Jewish National Fund's efforts to recreate the landscapes of the country, the area was reforested with trees which are similar to its original vegetation. Today, most of Mount Tabor is covered with pine trees.

Tourism

Accessibility

Mount Tabor is located off of Highway 65, and its summit is accessible by personal vehicle via Shibli's access road. The peak itself is also traversed by the Israel National Trail.

Nowadays the reaching the top of the mountain itself does not demand great effort, but before circa 1,600 years ago one had to walk up no less than 4,340 staircase in order to arrive at the peak of the mountain.

Walking paths

There are two paths: the long track, which starts from the bedoiun village Shibli, which length is about five kilometers long and a short nature track of about 2.5 kilometers at the summit.

The track which surrounds the mountain passes in well developed Mediterranean woodlands. the color marking alternates to green at the eastern part of the track. Behind the monastery its possible to see remnants from the First Jewish–Roman War. In the path there is a view of the Jezreel Valley, Mount Gilboa, Samaria mountains, Mount Carmel, the Golan Heights, Gilead, the Lowert Galilee and the Upper Galilee. On days with good sight one could also see the Mount Hermon.

Israel National Trail goes up the mountain from mount Tabor the Gazit junction and the Shibli village, surrounding the summit and descends across the arab village of Daburiyya towards the Nazareth mountains.

Activities on Mount Tabor

• In April each year, the regional council of Lower Galilee holds a marathon race around Mount Tabor in memory of Yitzhak Sadeh, the first commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the State of Israel's independence.
• By obtaining a game permit issued by the Ministry of the Interior, hunting of small animals is allowed in certain designated seasons.
• The churches located on the mountain allow visits at specific hours. (Modest attire required).
• Approximately three quarters of the way up the mountain, a path circles it entirely and is accessible for private vehicles as well (four-wheel drive advised).
• The mountain serves as one of Israel's preferred locales for hang gliding.

Notes

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