Mount Tabor
March 8, 2021
Christians honor Mt. Tabor as the “high mountain” where Jesus’ face shone like the sun, transfigured before Peter, John and James (4.1.). Then Moses and Elijah appeared. Jesus, bearer of the new covenant, conversed with them, and a voice spoke from heaven:
“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!”
The magnificent Church of the Transfiguration (1924) caps Tabor’s summit, already 1400 feet above the Jezreel Plain. The large arch of the Church’s entrance echoes the perfectly rounded shape of the mountain. It is flanked by two massive towers containing the chapels of Moses and Elijah. Between them rises the higher facade, representing Jesus. Inside, in the curve of the apse above the Crusader altar, a mosaic shows Jesus transfigured against a background of gold.
The nearby Franciscan hospice’s terrace affords a panorama over the Jezreel plain to the vital pass beside Megiddo, in Hebrew Har Megiddo: Armageddon. At our feet spreads the setting for the Song of Deborah (4.2.); to Tabor, we recall, Barak mustered his troops (4.3.).
Northwest of us we can see the “brow of the hill” on which Nazareth was built (4.4.).
4.1. Matthew 17
4.2. Judges 5
4.3. Judges 4:6
4.4. Luke 4:29
