TABERNACLES, FEAST OF

resembling the Tabernacle of §§ 4-8. It is only in the Books of Chronicles, in certain of the Psalms, and in passages of the pre-exilic writings which have passed through the hands of late post-exilic editors that such references are found. An illuminating example occurs in 2 Ch 1". compared with 1 K 3^-.

Apart, therefore, from the numerous difficulties presented by the description of the Tabernacle and its furniture, such as the strangely inappropriate brazen altar (§ 4 (6)), or suggested by the unexpected wealth of material and artistic skill necessary for its construc-tion, modern students of the Pentateuch find the picture of the desert sanctuary and its worship irreconcilable with the historical development of religion and the cultus in Israel. In Ex 25 and following chapters we are dealing not with historical fact, but with ' the product of religious idealism'; and surely these devout idealists of the Exile should command our admiration as they deserve our gratitude. If the Tabernacle is an ideal, it is truly an ideal worthy of Him for whose worship it seeks to provide (see the exposition of the general idea of the Tabernacle in § 3, and now in full detail by M'Neile as cited, § 6 above). Nor must it be forgotten, that in reproducing in portable form, as they unquestion-ably do, the several parts and appointments of the Temple of Solomon, including even its brazen altar, the author or authors of the Tabernacle believed, in all good faith, that they were reproducing the essential features of the Mosaic sanctuary, of which the Temple was supposed to be the replica and the legitimate successor. A. R. S. Kennedy.

TABERNACLES, FEAST OF.— 1 .OT references.-In Ex 23" 3422 it is called the Feast of Ingathering, and its date is placed at the end of the year.

In Dt 16'*-" its name is given as the Feast of Taber-nacles or Booths (possibly referring to the use of booths in the vineyard during the vintage). It is to last 7 days, to be observed at the central sanctuary, and to be an occasion of rejoicing. In the 'year of release,' i.e. the sabbatical year, the Law is to be publicly read(Dt31">-"). The dedication of Solomon's Temple took place at this feast; in the account given in 1 K 8'' the seven-day rule of Deut. is represented as being observed; but the parallel narrative of 2 Ch T^-'" assumes that the rule of Lev. was followed.

In Lv 233«- and Nu 29i2-»9 we find elaborate ordi-nances. The feast is to begin on 16th Tishrl (October), and to last 8 days, the first and the last being days of holy convocation. The people are to live in booths improvised for the occasion. A very large number of offerings is ordained; on each of the first 7 days 2 rams and 14 lambs, and a goat as a sin-offering; and success-ively on these days a diminishing number of bullocks: 13 on the 1st day, 12 on the 2nd, and so on till the 7th, when 7 were to be offered. On the 8th day the special offerings were 1 bullock, 1 ram, 7 lambs, and a goat as a sin-offering.

We hear in Ezr 3* of the observance of this feast, but are not told the method. The celebration in Neh 8'* followed the regulations of Lev., but we are expressly informed that such had not been the case since Joshua's days. Still, the feast was kept in some way, for Jeroboam instituted its equivalent for the Northern Kingdom in the 8th month (1 K 1282- as).

2. Character of the feast. — It was the Jewish harvest- home, when all the year's produce of corn, wine, and oil had been gathered in; though no special offering of the earth's fruits was made, as was done at the Feasts of Un-leavened Bread and Pentecost. (The reason was perhaps a desire to avoid the unseemly scenes of the Canaanite vintage-festival, by omitting such a significant point of resemblance; cf. Jg 9^'.) It was also regarded as commemorating the Israelites' wanderings in the wilder-ness. It was an occasion for great joy and the giving of presents; it was perhaps the most popular of the

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TABOR (MOUNT)

national festivals, and consequently the most generally attended. Thus Zee 14" names as the future sign of JUdah's triumph the fact that all the world shall come up yearly to Jerusalem to keep this festival.

3. Later customs. — In later times novel customs were attached to the observance. Such were the daily pro-cession round the altar, with its sevenfold repetition on the 7th day; the singing of special Psalms; the procession on each of the first 7 days to Siloam to fetch water, which was mixed with wine in a golden pitcher, and poured at the foot of the altar, while trumpets were blown (cf. Jn 7^'); and the illumination of the women's court in the Temple by the lighting of the 4 golden candelabra (cf. Jn 8'^). The 8th day, though appearing originally as a supplementary addition to the feast, came to be regarded as an integral part of it, and is so treated in 2 Mao 10", as also by Josephus. A. W. F. Blunt.

TABITHA.— See Dobcas.

TABLE.— See House, § 8; Meals, §§ 3. 4. For 'Table of Shewbread' see Shewbread, Tabernacle, § 6 (a). Temple, §§ 5. 9. 12.

TABLE, TABLET.— 1. Writing tablet is indicated by the Heb. lUach, which is also applied to wooden boards or planks (Ex 27» 38' in the altar of the Tabernacle, Ezk 27' in a ship, Ca 8' in a door) and to metal plates (in the bases of the layers in Solomon's Temple. 1 K 78«). It is, however, most frequently applied to tables of stone on which the Decalogue was engraven (Ex 24'^ 31'* etc.). It is used of a tablet on which a prophecy may be written (Is SOs, Hab 2^), and in Pr 3^ 7* and Jer 17' figuratively of the 'tables of the heart.' In all these passages, when used of stone, both AV and RV translate 'table' except in Is 30* where RV has 'tablet.' luach generally appears in LXX and NT as plax (2 Co 3', He 9«). The 'writing table' (RV 'tablet') of Lk 1«» was probably of wax.

2. A female ornament is indicated by Heb. kUmaz, AV 'tablets,' RV 'armlets,' RVm 'necklaces,' Ex 35^2, Nu 31'° — probably a pendant worn on the neck.

The word 'tablets' is also the tr. of hotls hannephesh in AV Is 32° (RV 'perfume boxes,' lit. 'houses of the soul'). It is doubtful if nephesh actually means 'odour,' but from meaning ' breath ' it may have come to mean scent or smell. On theother hand, the idea of life may suggest that some life-giving elixir, scent, or ointment was contained in the vessels; but the meaning is doubtful.

The 'tablet* (gilldyon) inscribed with a stylus to Maker-shalal-hash-baz. Is 8' ( AV ' roll ' ), signifies a polished surface. The word occurs again in Is 3^ where it probably refers to 'tablets of polished metal' used as mirrors (AV 'glasses').

W. F. Boyd.

TABOR.— 1. A town in the tribe of Zebulun, given to Levites descended from Merari (1 Ch 6"). Its site is unknown. Perhaps it is to be identified with Ohisloth-tabor in the same tribe (Jos 19"). 2. A place near Ophrah (Jg 8'«). 3. The Oak (AV 'plain') of Tabor was on the road from Ramah S. to Gibeah (1 S 100. 4. See next article. H. L. Willett.

TABOR (MOUNT) .—A mountain in the N.E. corner of the plain of Esdraelon, some 7 miles E. of Nazareth. Though only 1843 feet high. Tabor is, from its isolation and remarkable rounded shape, a most prominent object from great distances around; hence, though so very different in size from the great mountain mass of Hermon, It was yet associated with it (Ps 89'^). It was a king among the mountains (Jer 46'8). It is known to the Arabs as Jebel et-Tur, lit. 'the mountain of the mount,' the same name as is applied to the Mount of Olives. From the summit of Tabor a magnificent outlook is obtained, especially to the W., over the great plain of Esdraelon to the mountains of Samaria and Carmel. It was on the borders of Zebulun and Issachar (Jos 1912- 22); it was certainly an early sanctuary, and probably the reference in Dt 33'8- " is to this mountain. Here the forces under Deborah and Barak rallied to fight Sisera (Jg 4«- '2). Whether the reference