- TABITHA (in Greek called Dorcas), gazelle, a disciple at Joppa. She was
distinguished for her alms-deeds and good works. Peter, who was sent for
from Lydda on the occasion of her death, prayed over the dead body, and
said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes and sat up; and Peter
“gave her his hand, and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he
presented her alive” (Acts 9:36-43). - TABLES (Mark 7:4) means banqueting-couches or benches, on which the
Jews reclined when at meals. This custom, along with the use of raised
tables like ours, was introduced among the Jews after the Captivity.
Before this they had, properly speaking, no table. That which served the
purpose was a skin or piece of leather spread out on the carpeted floor.
Sometimes a stool was placed in the middle of this skin. (See
ABRAHAM’S BOSOM; BANQUET; MEALS.) - TABLET probably a string of beads worn round the neck (Exodus 35:22;
Numbers 31:50). In Isaiah 3:20 the Hebrew word means a perfume-box, as
it is rendered in the Revised Version. - TABOR a height. (1.) Now Jebel et-Tur, a cone-like prominent mountain,
11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. It is about 1,843 feet high. The view
from the summit of it is said to be singularly extensive and grand. This is
alluded to in Psalm 89:12; Jeremiah 46:18. It was here that Barak
encamped before the battle with Sisera (q.v.) Judges 4:6-14. There is an old
tradition, which, however, is unfounded, that it was the scene of the
transfiguration of our Lord. (See HERMON.) “The prominence and
isolation of Tabor, standing, as it does, on the border-land between the
northern and southern tribes, between the mountains and the central plain,
made it a place of note in all ages, and evidently led the psalmist to
associate it with Hermon, the one emblematic of the south, the other of the
north.” There are some who still hold that this was the scene of the
transfiguration (q.v.).
(2.) A town of Zebulum (1 Chronicles 6:77).
(3.) The “plain of Tabor” (1 Samuel 10:3) should be, as in the Revised
Version, “the oak of Tabor.” This was probably the Allon-bachuth of
Genesis 35:8.
- TABRET (Hebrews toph), a timbrel (q.v.) or tambourine, generally played
by women (Genesis 31:27; 1 Samuel 10:5; 18:6). In Job 17:6 the word