TRANSGRESSION

Its value is symbolic. Silence regarding it is enjoined by Jesus, and practised by tlie disciples until the Resur-rection, with which it is closely connected in significance. The problem of the transfigured body of Jesus and of the Resurrection body is the same. The event is referred to by Jesus Himself as a vision (ftorflmo, Mt 17') ; it is vouched lor by the three Synoptists (Lk 9"-3«, Mk Q^-", Mt l?'-"'). Elsewhere in the NT it is referred to only in 2 P l"-'*. The Fourth Evangelist, after his own manner, un-doubtedly expresses its inner significance tor faith in Jn l225-3». The mountain on which it took place was probably Hermon. The time was night (Lk 9"). It was as ' he was praying ' that the transfiguration of face and raiment appeared.

As regards the inner significance of the occurrence, one expression in St. Luke's narrative is of great importance— leukos exastraptBn (v.»),' was white and glistering' (AV). The sense is really 'gleamed old white." The glory is not that of reflected light; its source is inward. It is the manifestation of a mental process. The note of time (' six days after ' [Mt. Mk.] ; ' about eight days after ' [Lk.]) affords the key to His thoughts and the subject of His prayers. After what? After Peter's confession (Lk 9's-"), and the prediction of Christ's death (v."). Recognized as Messiah by the disciples, He must now prepare them to meet the stumbling-block of the cross. Thus the Transfiguration had (1) a deep significance for Jesus Himself. He was strengthened by the appearance of Moses and Ellas, who spoke of His decease (Lk 9^'). They represented the saints in heaven, who understood. Again the Voice stood for the acceptance of His work by God, and He was enabled to yield up His heart and life anew to the will of God. (2) The great lesson for the disciples was that the dreadful shame of His cross was really glory, and that all suffering is ultimately radiant with heavenly beauty, being perfected in Christ. Peter's suggestion of the three tents is an attempt to material-ize and make permanent the vision, to win the crown without the cross. The vision vanished, and they saw 'Jesus only.' It was real, but only a glimpse and foretaste. By loyalty once more to the Master, in the conm[ion ways of life to which they returned, the disciples would come to share the eternal glory of the Risen Lord. R. H. Stbachan.

TBANSGRESSION.— See Sm.

TRAVAIL. — The Fr. travail, meaning 'labour or trouble,' was taken into Eng. without alteration of meaning or spelling. This spelling is found in AV, and it is still sometimes used, especially for the labour of child-birth. But the spelling 'travel' afterwards became common, and the word was then confined to journeying, that being a recognized form of toil and trouble in those days. In Nu 20" 'Thou knowest all the travel that hath befallen us,' the meaning is more than journeying, and so RV spells the word 'travail,' which was the original spelling of AV also.

TREASURE, TREASURY, TREASURER.— 1. In OT 'treasure' and 'treasury' stand for various Heb. terms, but both words usually render 'Dtsdr. This shows that 'treasure' and 'treasury' are not carefully distinguished in EV, or else that 'StsUr itself may stand for either. As a matter of fact the truth lies with both alternatives. Strictly, a treasure is a store ol wealth, while a treasury is a storehouse, a place where treasure is kept. Sometimes, however, 'treasure' occurs In AV where 'treasury' is meant, as Job 38^2 'Hast thou entered into the treasures (RV 'treasuries') of the snow?'; and, on the other hand, 'treasury' is some-times found where ' treasure ' would be the more correct rendering, as Jos 6"- " and RV of Ezr 2". The inde-terminateness of 'dtsar is shown by its constant employ-ment for ' treasure ' and ' treasury ' alike. The ' treasure (RV 'store') cities' of Ex 1" (cf. 1 K 9", 2 Ch 8') are cities in which provisions were stored up (cf. Gn

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TRIBES OF ISRAEL

2. In NT we find a like ambiguousness in the use of 'treasure,' and also of the Gr. thSsauros for which it stands. The treasures of the Magi (Mt 2") and the treasure in heaven (Mt IQ^') refer to precious stores; but it is out of his treasury rather than his treasure that the good man brings forth good things (Mt 12"), and the householder things new and old (13'^). In Ac 8" 'treasure' renders gaza, a word of Persian origin. In Mt 27" 'treasury' represents korbanOs (the depository of the 'corban,' see Sacrifice and Offering, § 1 (a)), the sacred treasury into which the chief priests would not put Judas' 30 pieces of silver. For the treasury of the Temple (gazophylakion) into which Jewish worshippers cast their offerings (Mk 12"- ", Lk 21') see Temple, § 11 (6). When Jesus is said to have spoken 'in the treasury' (Jn 8™), the meaning probably is that He was teaching in the colonnade of the Temple where stood the treasure-boxes into which the offerings were cast.

Treasurer occurs in OT in Neh 12", Ezr is 7«, Is 22", Du 3^- ', representing a different term in each writer. The word is found in NT only in RV of Ro 16» as substitute for AV 'chamberlain' (Gr. oikonomos), but the Ethiopian eunuch is said to have had charge of all the treasure of queen Candace. J. C. Lambebt.

TREE. — 'Tree' is used as a poetic name for the Cross in Ac S'" 10" 13", 1 P 2"; cf. Gal 3". For sacred trees see Hian Place, 1; and Israel, ii. 1 (5); and, for the various trees of the Bible, the artt. under their respective names.

TRESPASS-OFFERING.— See Sacrifice, § 15.

TRIAL. — See Temptation.

TRIBES OF ISRAEL.- The number of the tribes of Israel varied at different periods. The number 12 is an artificial one, as is seen from its application to the descendants of Ishmael (Gn 172» 25"-"), of Nahor (Gn 22M-21), and of Esau (Gn 36"-"- "-"). Simeon and Levi were ' divided in Jacob and scattered In Israel ' (Gn 49') when the tribe of Benjamin arose, so that at that time there would be not 12 but only 11 tribes. Reuben, likewise, in the period of the kings, was an insignificant remnant, and, though mentioned in 1 Ch 5*5 as still existing in 734, had apparently become disintegrated long before. As Stade (GVI i. 146) correctly remarks, several of the largest tribes — Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, Gad — contained many minor tribes which surpassed in number, possessions, and political significance several of those counted In the twelve tribes.

The number of the tribes, according to JE's genealogy (Gn 29-30), is not 12 but 13, and in the following order:

. 4

. 2

. 2

. 2

. 2

. 1

Leah tribes — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah.

Bilhah (Rachel) tribes — Dan, Naphtali

Zilpah (Leah) tribes — Gad, Asher

Leah tnbes — Issachar, Zebulun

Rachel tribes — J oseph= (Manasseh, Ephraim)

Benjamin (bom in Palestine), Gn 35'^

13

To obtain the number 12 from this scheme it is necessary to omit Levi, or to count Manasseh and Ephraim as one.

Why the number twelve was chosen cannot be answered with certainty. Whether it is astronomical or mythological, i.e. connected with the 12 signs of the Zodiac and the 12 months in the year — in which case it would be traceable to Babylonia, as Gunkel suggests in his Genesis (p. 300), and Winckler holds (.Gesch. Israels, ii. p. 57, where he connects the 'Zwblf Sohne' (Jacob's) with the' Zwolf Monaten'), or whether it rests upon Solomon's partition of the land into 12 divisions so that each might provision the royal house-hold one month in the year (1 K 4'), as Luther thinks (ZATW xxi. 34), or whether the true explanation

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