TABERNACLES 



5674 



TABOR 



the care of the Levites, who camped round 

 about it. Above it hovered the pillar of cloud 

 by day and the pillar of fire by night; these 

 were the signs of Jehovah's presence. After 

 the conquest of Canaan the tabernacle was set 



ERECTING THE TABERNACLE 

 (Drawn from illustration in Story of the Bible.) 



up at Shiloh and afterward removed to Nob 

 and then to Gibeon. From the latter place it 

 was brought to Jerusalem at the time of the 

 dedication of Solomon's Temple, probably be- 

 ing preserved as a relic within the Temple 

 walls. See TEMPLE. 



Consult Kennedy's "Tabernacle," in Hastings' 

 Dictionary of the Bible. 



TABERNACLES, FEAST OF, an autumn festi- 

 val of the Hebrews of Biblical days, lasting 

 seven days, during which the people lived in 

 booths, in commemoration of the time when 

 their forefathers dwelt in tents in the wilder- 

 ness. It also celebrated the ingathering of the 

 harvest (Deut. XVI, 13). The dedication of 

 the Temple by Solomon was held at the time 

 of the Feast of Tabernacles (7 Kings, VIII, 65), 

 its length, on this occasion, being extended 

 seven days. After the Exile, a number of rites 

 were added, such as the ceremony of the wav- 

 ing of palms, the libation of water, etc. As at 

 the Feast of Weeks and the Passover, all males 

 were required to be present at the sanctuary 

 during this feast. Following the final destruc- 

 tion of the Temple, the rabbis ordered its cele- 

 bration continued at the individual synagogues, 

 and it is thus celebrated by the Jews to the 

 present day. 



TABOO, taboo', also spelled TABU, a word 

 of Polynesian derivation which has made its 

 way into the current speech of civilized peoples, 

 by whom it is employed with much the same 



meaning as exclude or ostracize. It is used as 

 a noun, verb or adjective, as in the following 

 sentences : 



A taboo Is placed on profanity among the Boy 

 Scouts. 



The legislature will taboo any member accept- 

 ing a bribe. 



Coarse manners are taboo. 



The practice of taboo among the Polynesians 

 and various other primitive peoples consists in 

 setting apart certain objects as unclean or sa- 

 cred or as having the power to injure. Such ob- 

 jects must not be touched. This custom pre- 

 vails among tribes in America, Africa, Central 

 Asia and India, and has a counterpart in cer- 

 tain religious practices of the Greeks, Romans 

 and Jews. 



Taboo takes various forms. There are taboos 

 of foreigners, of innovations, of burial grounds, 

 of parts of one's person, of objects set apart 

 for kings, chiefs and priests, of sick persons, of 

 sorcerers, and so on indefinitely. Taboo objects 

 are marked by various methods, such as using 

 a piece of white cloth, a stick with dry leaves 

 or a bundle of branches painted red and white. 

 The numerous restrictions imposed by the old 

 Hebrew law in regard to sacred and unclean 

 things were in effect examples of taboo. 



TABOR, ta'bcr, MOUNT, a mountain of 

 Northern Palestine, which is conspicuous by 

 reason of its isolation rather than because of 

 its size. Rising abruptly to a height of about 

 1,000 feet above the plain of Esdraelon, it 

 stands, a wooded, shapely cone, a landmark 

 through all Galilee. The roads to the top lead 

 through groves and thickets of oak, walnut and 

 roses, in which wolves, foxes and other wild 

 animals find hiding places, but the steepness 

 and perhaps danger of the ascent are compen- 

 sated for by the beautiful view to be obtained 

 from the summit. All Galilee, Samaria and 

 Perea lie spread out before the eye, with their 

 villages, cultivated fields and water courses. 



Like most other mountains of the Holy Land, 

 Tabor was early looked upon as a sacred spot. 

 The Old Testament refers to it as the site of a 

 sanctuary, and as the place to which Barak 

 summoned his forces for the desperate conflict 

 with Sisera (Judges IV). As it was but seven 

 miles from Nazareth, the boyhood home of 

 Jesus, it must have been a familiar spot to 

 Him, yet the New Testament makes no men 

 tion of it. The early Christians looked upon 

 it as the mount of Christ's transfiguration, and 

 built upon it churches and monasteries, but re- 

 search has proved that during all the period of 



