The Messenger. [volume] (Georgetown, Del.) 1858-18??, 1859-12-15
A SIX Z.
MOUNT TABOR-WAS 1T THE
SCENE OF THE TRANsFIGU-
10 'ao1i RATIoN2

bHE ,Maa8 tt4t
ALLusroN has been made to the
old tradition which assigned the
transfguration TO Mount Tabor.
The founders Of that tradition seem
TO have taken for granted-hrst,
that the event occurred in Galilee;
and next, that in the form and po-
sition Of Tabor there was something
answering exactly to the Statement
about Jesus taking the three disci-
pies, and bringing "them up into
high mountain apart" because Ia
bor is the only mountain Of Galilee
that stands dpart from the rest OF
the Galilean hills.-This whole the
ory is founded ON double mistake.
The event did not occur in Galilee;
and the term apart is not meant to
imply to- the mountains, but to. the
disciples. Apart-that is, IN a
lonely, sequestered situation-they
could not possibly nave been ON 9
little Hill like Tabor, with q town on
it's summit and another at its base
The account of the TRANSPORTATION
is found in three Of the evangelist'
(Matt. xviii, Mark TX, Luke tx. In
all the three it is distinctly intima
ted in the preceding context, tha
Immediately before the event, Jesus
had gone over to the eastern side o
the Sea Of Galilee, apparently to b.
out Of the way of the murderer o
John the Baptist. by two of thes
evangelists, Matthew and Mark,
Is expressly stated that on leaving
that place he came, the one says
ssinto the COASTS the other, ''int
the towns" of "Cesarea-PhSlippi.
BY these two evangelists it is sal
that the TRANSPORTATION took plac
sssix days. after he came into tha
district. Luke, on the other han
-==whose narrative passes ON at ono
60 the event Of the TRANSPORTATION
without introducing the circumstant
Of his having gone meanwhile to tn
country of Cesarea-Philippi-say
shat the TRANSPORTATION took pla'
about az eight days after" the o
currences he had just described
happening in the desert place b
Sond the Sea of Galilee. 1t is
teresting to notice the minute acc
racy Of this Incidental statemer
Part of two days would probably
occupied in journeying northwar
through Bashan before reaching t
neighborhood Of Cesarea-Philipl
thus making Luke's account of t
time at which the transfgurati
happened, to correspond to the Il
ter with that of Mathew and Mar
There is no hint in any Of t
three evangelists that he return
from the east side of the Jordan
after the TRANSPORTATION; and nc
in Matthew or Mark of his havi
left the district of Cesarea@Phili
till the TRANSPORTATION had. tai
place. Mark, indeed, plainly IL
mates that he did not leave it
that great event had happened;
Immediately after relating it, he s.
--"And they departed thence
rassed through Galilee,"
These facts settle very conclusi
ly these two points--frst, that
TRANSPORTATION did not occur
Tabor, and, next, that it did oc
somewhere about Cesarea-Philil
Ifso, where could it have happel
but on some one or other of
heights of Hermon? The mount
of the TRANSPORTATION was a ''h
mountain" and mountain WI
our Lord and the three chosen
ciples could be quite alone
where in all Palestine could nc
tain be found that SO fully m
these conditions. 1t is the only
ally "high mountain" in the W
land; and it is of so vast a size
nile of mountains rather than
solitary hill-that an army m
be hidden in its ample bosom.
needs not to say what an additi
charm these considerations ler
the magnificent scenery of Bania