B. IN CRITICISM
11. FURTHER ARGUMENTS FOR EARLY DATE OF TABLE
Limits of its information. — For the early date of the Table also speaks the limited geographical knowledge displayed. Sargon of Agade warred both on the East and the West of Babylonia, but he seems to have made no expeditions to the North, and certainly did not touch either Egypt or Ethiopia. This suggests not only that the information available was later than his time, but also that it was obtained from merchants, travelers, envoys and ambassadors. The scantiness of the information about the North of Europe and Asia, and the absence of any reference to the Middle or the Far East, imply that communications were easiest on the West, the limit of trade in that direction being apparently Spain. If it could be proved that the Phoenicians came as far westward as Britain for their tin, that might fix the latest date of the compilation of the Table, as it must have been written before it became known that their ships went so far; but in that case, the date of their earliest journeys thither would need to be fixed.
Noteworthy is the absence of any reference to the Iranians (Aryan Persians) on the East. These, however, may have been included with the Medes (Madai), or one of the unidentified names of the descendants of Japheth in <011002>Genesis 10:2,3.
See SHEM; HAM; JAPHETH, and the other special articles in this Encyclopedia; also, for a great mass of information and theories by many scholars and specialists, Dillmann, Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Altes Testament, “Die Genesis,” Leipzig, 1882; W.
Max Muller, Asien und Europa, Leipzig, 1893; and F. Hommel, Grundriss der Geographic und Geschichte des alten Orients, Munich, 1904.
T. G. Pinches TABLET
<tab’-let>: A rigid flat sheet (plate, pad or slab) used to receive writing.
Stone, clay, wood and perhaps bronze, gold and lead tablets, at least, are mentioned in the Bible. In the Old English sense of “locket” the word is incorrectly used in the King James Version also of what the Revised Version (British and American) translates as “armlets,” margin “necklaces”
(<023522>Exodus 35:22; <043150>Numbers 31:50) and “perfume boxes” (<230320>Isaiah
3:20).
The technical Hebrew word for tablet, j”Wl [luach], is generally
translated in both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) as “table.” This is used for stone, wood or metal plates or tablets with or without writing. In Isaiah (30:8) where the Revised Version (British and American) translates “tablet,” it is contrasted with the “roll”
and probably means the wood or waxed tablet. In Habakkuk (2:2, the American Standard Revised Version “tablet,” the King James Version and the English Revised Version “table”) it perhaps refers to a metal tablet to be erected on a wall, but more likely it refers to the wooden tablet. It is also used in Proverbs (3:3; 7:3, the American Standard Revised Version
“tablet,” the King James Version and the English Revised Version “table”) and in Jeremiah (17:1) figuratively of the writing upon the tablets of the heart, the word being rendered in the Septuagint by the same word (plax) used by Paul (2 Corinthians 3:3, “tables” in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) in the same figure. In other cases (<022412>Exodus 24:12, etc.) it is used of the tablets of stone containing the Decalogue.
The word ˆwOyL;GI [gillayon] (<230801>
Isaiah 8:1), which is translated in the Revised Version (British and American) “tablet” and in the King James
Version “roll,” is elsewhere (<230323>Isaiah 3:23) translated “mirror,” and is thought to mean a blank polished surface for writing, particularly because in later use it means the blank margin of a roll.
See ROLL.
The clay tablet is referred to in Ezekiel (4:1, English Versions of the Bible
“tile”), and its use there for a map of the city has been strikingly illustrated in modern excavation by a tablet map discovered at Nippur (Hilprecht, Explorations, 518). Jeremiah (32:14, the Revised Version (British and American) “deeds,” the King James Version “evidences”) may also refer to clay tablets, but not surely, since roll deeds were also kept in earthen jars.
Job (19:24) is thought by some to refer to the writing on leaden tablets, such as were in very common use in antiquity and in the Middle Ages for the writing of charms and especially curses, but more hold that inscriptions filled with lead are meant here. The plate of pure gold (<022836>Exodus 28:36;
<030809>Leviticus 8:9), engraved like the gravings of a signet, which was on
Aaron’s miter, may also be properly described as a tablet, recalling the silver treaty between the Hittites and Egyptians and the gold plate on which Queen Helena of Adiabene (Yoma’ 37a; Jewish Encyclopedia, VI, 334) had engraved a passage from the Pentateuch (<040519>Numbers 5:19-22).
Bronze tablets ([de>ltov, deltos]) are several times referred to in 1 Maccabees (8:22; 14:18,27,48).
“Daleth” ([daleth] or [deleth]), the Semitic (Phoenician) original from which the generic Greek word for tablet (deltos) is derived (Gardthausen, p. 124, note 1), is perhaps not found strictly in this meaning in the Old Testament. The word is used, however, of two kinds of written documents and in such a way as to suggest that one is the original of, and the other derived from, the “daleth”-tablet. In <050609>Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20 it is enjoined that the laws of Yahweh shall be written upon the gates of the houses, and in each case the “daleths” (doors) are meant, since the door- posts are also mentioned, and in <092113>1 Samuel 21:13, where David
“scrabbles,” it is expressly said to be upon the “doors” (“daleths”) of the gate. This practice of writing upon house doors and city gates corresponds to the modern posting of notices on church doors and scoring of tallies on a door by the rural innkeeper; and the name seems to have passed from this great door tablet to the portable tablet. On the other hand Jeremiah (36:23) uses “daleths” (English Versions of the Bible “leaves”) for the columns of a
roll, obviously transferring the term from the panel form of the folding tablets.
[Pinaki>v, pinakis], or [pinaki>dion, pinakidion], is found in <260902>Ezekiel 9:2,11 in the version of Symmachus in place of the “writer’s inkhorn,” and pinakidion, in <420163>Luke 1:63, of the (wooden) tablet on which Zacharias wrote the name of John. Puxion is used several times by Septuagint as the translation for [luach], and once (<220514>Song of Solomon 5:14) for ivory tablets. Sanis is used as the translation of “daleth” or [luach] 2 or 3 times in the Septuagint and still oftener in the other versions. The most common Greek term both in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 3:3; <580904>Hebrews 9:4) and in the Greek Old Testament is [pla>x, plax], most often used of the tables of stone. This, like platos, which is also used for [luach] in Septuagint, is not recognized in the modern textbooks (Thompson, Gardthausen, Birt).
LITERATURE.
Gardthausen, Griechische Palaeog., Leipzig, I (1911), 123-32; compare pp.
24-45.
See also literature under WRITING.
E. C. Richardson TABOR
<ta’-ber>, <tar’-bor> (rwObT; [tabhor]; Codex Vaticanus [Qacceia>,
Thachcheia]; Codex Alexandrinus [Qabw>r, Thabor]): One of the towns in the territory of Zebulun, given to the Merarite Levites (<130677>
1 Chronicles 6:77). The parallel list in <062124>Joshua 21:24 f contains no name like this.
There is no indication of its position. Some have thought that it may correspond to Daberath in the territory of Issachar (21:28), now
represented by Deburiyeh on the western slope of Mt. Tabor; others that it may be the mountain itself; and yet others that it may be a city on the mountain, which probably was occupied from very early times. There is a Tabor mentioned as on the border of Issachar (<061922>Joshua 19:22); but that is almost certainly the mountain. It has been suggested that Tabor in <130617>1 Chronicles 6:17 may be a contraction of Chisloth-tabor (<061912>Joshua 19:12), the modern Iksal, 3 miles West of the mountain. No certainty is possible.
W. Ewing
TABOR, MOUNT
(rwObT; [tabhor], rwObT;rh” [har tabhor]; [o[rov Qabw>r, oros Thabor], [to< jItabu>rion, to Itaburion]): This mountain seems to be named as on the border of Issachar (<061922>Joshua 19:22). It is possibly identical with the mountain to which Zebulun and Issachar were to call the peoples (<053319>Deuteronomy 33:19). Standing on the boundary between the tribes, they would claim equal rights in the sanctuary on the top. The passage seems to indicate that it was a place of pilgrimage. The worshippers, bringing with them the “abundance of the sea” and the
“treasures of the sand,” would be a source of profit to the local authorities.
The mountain can be no other than Jebel et-Tur, an isolated and shapely height, rising at the northeast corner of the Plain of Esdraelon, about 5 miles West of Nazareth. The mountain has retained its sacred character, and is still a place of pilgrimage, only the rites being changed. The present writer has mingled with great interest among the crowds that assemble there from all parts at the Feast of the Transfiguration.
It was on the summit and slopes of this mountain that Deborah and Barak gathered their forces; and hence, they swept down to battle with Sisera in the great plain (<070406>Judges 4:6,12,14). Here probably the brothers of Gideon were murdered by Zeba and Zalmunna (<070818>Judges 8:18). Moore (“Jgs,” ICC, at the place) thinks the scene of the slaughter must have been much farther South. He does not see what the brothers of Gideon were doing so far North of their home in Abiezer. There is, however, no reason for placing Ophrah so far to the South as he does; and in any case the men were probably captured and taken to Tabor as prisoners. Josephus (Ant., VII, ii, 3) says it was in one of Solomon’s administrative districts (compare
<110417>
1 Kings 4:17). Such a prominent and commanding position must always have invited fortification. In the time of Antiochus the Great, 218 BC, we find a fortress here, which that king took by stratagem, Atabyrion by name (Polyb. v. 70, 6). It was recovered by the Jews, and was held by them under Janneus, 105-70 BC (Ant., XIII, xv, 4). The place fell to the Romans at the conquest under Pompey; and not far from the mountain Alexander, son of Aristobulus II, suffered defeat at the hands of Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, 53 BC (Ant., XIV, iv, 3; BJ, I, viii, 7). Josephus, who
commanded in Galilee at the outbreak of the Jewish war, recognized the importance of the position, and built a wall round the summit. After the disaster to Jewish arms at Jotapata, where Josephus himself was taken
prisoner, many fugitives took refuge here. Placidus the Roman general did not attempt an assault upon the fortress. Its defenders were by a feint drawn into the plain, where they were defeated, and the city surrendered.
A tradition which can be traced to the 4th century AD places the scene of the Transfiguration on this mountain. Allusion has been made above to the sacred character of the place. To this, and to the striking appearance of the mountain, the rise of the tradition may have been due. Passing centuries have seen a succession of churches and monasteries erected on the mountain. The scene of the Transfiguration was laid at the southeastern end of the summit, and here a church was built, probably by Tancred. Hard by was also shown the place where Melchizedek met Abraham returning from the pursuit of Chedorlaomer. The mountain shared to the full the vicissitudes of the country’s stormy history. In 1113 AD the Arabs from Damascus plundered the monasteries and murdered the monks. An unsuccessful attack was made by Saladin in 1183, but 4 years later, after the rout of the Crusaders at Hattin, he devastated the place. Twenty-five years after that it was fortified by el-Melek el-`Adel, brother of Saladin, and the Crusaders failed in an attempt to take it in 1217. In 1218, however, the Saracens threw down the defenses. Sultan Bibars in 1263 ordered the destruction of the Church of the Transfiguration, and for a time the mountain was deserted. The Feast of the Transfiguration, however, continued to be celebrated by the monks from Nazareth. During the last quarter of the 19th century much building was done by the Latin and Greek churches, who have now large and substantial monasteries and churches.
They have also excavated the ruins of many of the old ecclesiastical buildings. The remains now to be seen present features of every period, from Jewish times to our own.
Mt. Tabor rises to a height of 1,843 ft. above the sea, and forms the most striking feature of the landscape. Seen from the South it presents the shape of a hemisphere; from the West, that of a sugar loaf. Its rounded top and steep sides are covered with thick brushwood. It is about half a century since the oak forest disappeared; but solitary survivors here and there show what the trees must have been. A low neck connects the mountain with the uplands to the North. It is cut off from Jebel ed-Duchy on the South by a fertile vale, which breaks down into Wady el-Bireh, and thence to the Jordan. A zigzag path on the Northwest leads to the top, whence most interesting and comprehensive views are obtained. Southward, over Little Hermon, with Endor and Nain on its side, and Shunem at its western base,
we catch a glimpse of Mt. Gilboa. Away across the plain the eye runs along the hills on the northern boundary of Samaria, past Taanach and Megiddo to Carmel by the sea, and the oak forest that runs northward from the gorge of the Kishon. A little to the North of West, 5 miles of broken upland, we can see the higher houses of Nazareth gleaming white in the sun. Eastward lies the hollow of the Jordan, and beyond it the wall of Gilead and the steep cliffs East of the Sea of Galilee, broken by glens and watercourses, and especially by the great chasm of the Yarmuk. The mountains of Zebulun and Naphtali seem to culminate in the shining mass of Great Hermon, rising far in the northern sky. Standing here one realizes how aptly the two mountains may be associated in the Psalmist’s thought, although Hermon be mighty and Tabor humble (<198912>Psalm 89:12). Tabor is referred to by Jeremiah (46:18), and Hosea alludes to some ensnaring worship practiced on the mountain (5:1).
The present writer spent some weeks on Mt. Tabor, and as the result of careful observation and consideration concluded that the scene of the Transfiguration cannot be laid here. The place would appear to have been occupied at that time; and the remoteness and quiet which Jesus evidently sought could hardly have been found here.
See TRANSFIGURATION, MOUNT OF.
W. Ewing TABOR, OAK OF
(PLAIN OF TABOR in the King James Version) (rwObT;ˆwOlae [elon tabhor];
[hJ dru~v Qabw>r, he drus Thabor]): A place mentioned only in Samuel’s directions to Saul after his anointing (<091003>1 Samuel 10:3). It lay between the city where the two met and Gibeah whither Saul was returning. Ewald and Thenius thought it might be identical with the palm tree of Deborah, but there is nothing to support this conjecture. Others have thought we might read “oak of Deborah,” as signifying the place where Rachel’s nurse was buried (<013508>
Genesis 35:8). The truth is that nothing whatever is now known of the site.
W. Ewing TABRET; TIMBREL
<tab’-ret>, <tim’-brel>.
See MUSIC, III, 3, (1).
TABRIMMON
<tab-rim’-on>, <tab’-ri-mon> (ˆwOMrib]f” [Tabhrimmon], “Rimmon is
good”; Codex Vaticanus [Taberema>, Taberema]; Codex Alexandrinus [Tabenrahma>, Tabenraema]): The son of Hezion and father of BEN- HADAD (which see) (<111518>1 Kings 15:18, the King James Version,
“Tabrimon”).
TACHES
<tach’-iz>.
See CLASPS.
TACHMONITE
<tak’-mo-nit>.
See TASCHEMO-NITE.
TACKLING
<tak’-ling>.
See SHIPS AND BOATS, II, 2, (2).
TADMOR
<tad’-mor>, <tad’-mor> (rmod]T” [tadhmor]): A city built by Solomon
in the wilderness (<140804>2 Chronicles 8:4), the Roman Palmyra. Tadmor is the native name and is found on inscriptions. It occurs also in the Kere of <110918>1 Kings 9:18, where the Kethibh or consonants read “Tamar” (compare
<264719>Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28). It is famous in Arabian as well as in Hebrew
literature, and enters Roman history in connection with Zenobia and Longinus. The inscriptions, which belong for the most part to the latter period (266-73 AD), have been published by Dawkins and Wood and also by M. Waddington and the Duc de Luynes. Popular works on the subject are An Account of Palmyra and Zenobia by W. Wright, and The Last Days and Fall of Palmyra by W. Ware.
See TAMAR.
Thomas Hunter Weir TAHAN; TAHANITES
<ta’-han>, <ta’-han-its> (ˆj”T” [tachan], ynIj”T” [tachani]): The
name of two Ephraimites who lived toward the end of the exodus of the Israelites (circa 1415 BC).
(1) The head of one of the families of the tribe of Ephraim (<042635>Numbers 26:35).
(2) The son of Telah and father of Ladan, also of the tribe of Ephraim
(<130725>1 Chronicles 7:25 f).
TAHAPANES
<ta-hap’-a-nez> (sjen]P”jiT” [tachpanchec]).
See TAHPANHES.
TAHASH
<ta’-hash> (vj”T” [tachash]; [To>cov, Tochos]; the King James
Version Thahash): A son of Nahor by his concubine Reumah (<012224>
Genesis 22:24). The word [tachash] means a kind of leather or skin, and perhaps the animal yielding it, probably the “dugong” (compare Brown, Briggs, and Driver). [Tachash] has been identified by Winckler with Tichis (Egypt), located on the Orontes, North of Kadesh.
TAHATH (1)
<ta’-hath> (tj”T” [tachath], “below”): A wilderness station of the
Israelites (<043326>Numbers 33:26,27), between Makheloth and Terah.
See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.
TAHATH (2)
(1) A Kohathite Levite (<130624>1 Chronicles 6:24).
(2) The name is mentioned twice among the sons of Ephraim (<130720>1
Chronicles 7:20); two families may be meant, or perhaps the name has been accidentally repeated.
TAHCHEMONITE
<ta-ke’-mo-nit>, <ta’-ke-mon-it> (ynImoK]H]T” [tachkemoni]): Name of a
family to which Jashobeam, the chief captain in David’s army, belonged
(<102308>2 Samuel 23:8; <131111>1 Chronicles 11:11). In 1 Chronicles it is
“Hachmonite.”
TAHPANHES
<ta’-pan-hez>, <ta-pan’-hez> (usually in the Old Testament
sHen]P”HT” [tachpanchec]; Septuagint [Tafna>v, Taphnas]; Coptic, Taphnes): The various spellings of the Hebrew text are fairly well indicated in the King James Version by Tahapanes (<240216>Jeremiah 2:16); Tahpanhes
(<244307>Jeremiah 43:7-9; 44:1; 46:14); Tehaphnehes (<263018>Ezekiel 30:18), while
an Egyptian queen (XXIst Dynasty) is named Tahpenes (<111119>1 Kings 11:19,20). Tahpanhes was a city on the eastern frontier of Lower Egypt, represented today by Tell Defenneh, a desert mound lying some 20 miles Southwest from Pelusium (Biblical “Sin”) and a little North of the modern Al-Kantarah (“the bridge”), marking the old caravan route from Egypt to Palestine, Mesopotamia and Assyria. Its Egyptian name is unknown, but it was called [Dafnai>, Daphnai], by the Greeks, and by the modern Arabs Def’neh. The site is now desolate, but it was a fertile district when watered by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile (compare <231906>
Isaiah 19:6,7). Tahpanhes was so powerful that Jeremiah can say that it, with Memphis, has “broken the crown” of Israel’s head (2:16), and Ezekiel can speak of its
“daughters” (colonies or suburban towns), and names it with Heliopolis and Bubastis when the “yokes Septuagint “sceptres”) of Egypt” shall be broken by Yahweh (30:18). In a later passage Jeremiah describes the flight of the Jews from their ruined capital to Tahpanhes after the death of Gedaliah (43:1-7) and prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar shall invade Egypt and punish it, establishing his throne upon the brick pavement (the King James Version “kiln”) which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s royal palace at Tahpanhes (<244308>Jeremiah 43:8-11). He calls Tahpanhes as a witness to the desolation of the cities of Judah (<244401>Jeremiah 44:1), but prophesies an equal destruction of Tahpanhes and other Egyptian cities (probably