Leon's Message Board

In the days when the judges ruled we read of Deborah, the only woman judge, whom God used to deliver Israel from the Canaanites headquartered at Hazor. Barak led Israel’s army. The ensuing battle took place in the vicinity of Mt. Tabor. The biblical text reads:

She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold, the LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun'” (Judges 4:5-6).

Mt. Tabor in Israel. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary has this info re: Mt. Tabor:

Mountain in the valley of Jezreel. About six miles east of Nazareth, it has played an important role in Israel’s history since the period of the conquest. It served as a boundary point for the tribes of Naphtali, Issachar, and Zebulun (Josh. 19:12, 22), where the tribes worshiped early (Deut. 33:18–19). Barak gathered an army at Tabor to defend against Sisera (Judg. 4:6). Apparently, it was the site of false worship (Hos. 5:1). Tradition holds that Tabor was the site of Jesus’ transfiguration (Mark 9:2), although no evidence exists to validate the claim.

Note the last statement in the above quotation, that no evidence exists that Mt. Tabor was the site of the transfiguration. Contextually the location of Mt. Hermon is to be preferred (Matt. 17:1), as it is situated in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi where Jesus and the disciples were in Mt. 16.