Walking With Christ

The Transfiguration is one of the most remarkable events in Jesus’ ministry.  But where did it happen?  Many assume Mount Tabor, following early Christian tradition, but a closer look at Scripture and geography suggests otherwise.  Based on Jesus’ travel path and historical evidence, Mount Hermon is a far more likely location.  Let’s examine why.

Matthew 17:1-3  (1)And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  (2)And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  (3)And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.(ESV)

I like to read Matthew quite a bit because my brain works along the same lines as his seems to have worked.  Most of his book is written in a chronological format that is almost a bullet-point list of events.  For Matthew, the details mattered.  When I came to the transfiguration, I found a key detail was missing:  the location.  A quick internet search showed that Mount Tabor is the traditional site of the transfiguration.  The series of events before and after this event left me scratching my head just a bit.

The bible never specifically states where the transfiguration took place other than to say that it was a high mountain.  The traditional site, Mt. Tabor, is in the Galilee region.  When did this happen and how?  What led early figures to mark this as the location?  According to Orthodox Christianity Then and Now, Origen stated, ‘Tabor is the mountain of Galilee on which Christ was transfigured’ (Commentary on Psalm 89). This marks him as one of, if not the, first to list Tabor as the transfiguration site.  The biggest problem with this is that he was born 200 years after the event (A.D. 231-254).  There are no immediate witnesses to the event who identify which mountain this happened on.

Let’s trace the path that Jesus took first.  According to Matthew, these are the locations we know of where Jesus went before and after the transfiguration.

Known path of Jesus prior to the transfiguration:

1. Gennesaret (in Galilee) – Matthew 14:34 – This is where Pharisees came to Him from Jerusalem.
2. Tyre and Sidon (northwest of Galilee, modern Lebanon) – Matthew 15:21 – Canaanite woman with demon oppressed daughter.
3. Sea of Galilee (most likely the eastern shore near the Golan Heights) – Matthew 15:29 – He went up on the mountain near there.  Feeding of the four thousand.
4. Magadan (southwest on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee) – Matthew 15:39 – Where He went after feeding the four thousand.  Pharisees and Sadducees followed Him here.
5. Caesarea Philippi (extreme north of Israel – base of Mount Hermon) – Matthew 16:13 – Jesus asked who the disciples say He is.
6. After six days in #5, the climb to the site of transfiguration.

Post transfiguration path:

1. The base of the mount of transfiguration – Matthew 17:14 – “faith of a mustard seed”
2. Galilee (the region, most likely outside of Capernaum) – Matthew 17:22
3. Capernaum (northern edge of the Sea of Galilee) – Matthew 17:24 – taking taxes from a fish.
4. Judea beyond the Jordan – Matthew 19:1.

A couple of quick facts about Mount Tabor:

1. Peak is 1,750 feet above sea level
2. Dome shaped
3. Two mile wide base
4. Occupied by a Roman fort at the time of Christ.

Matthew 17:1 specifically said “high mountain”.  Tabor is not really a high mountain.  The Jewish Virtual Library notes that Mount Tabor served as a Hellenistic fortress and was captured by Antiochus III in 218 B.C.E., meaning that there was an active Roman fort on top of the mountain at the time of Christ.  If the transfiguration occurred at Mount Tabor, why would Matthew specify that Jesus returned to the Galilee, when Tabor is already within Galilee?  This makes me think that Mount Tabor is not the logical place to mark as the site of transfiguration.

Caesarea Philippi is at the base of Mount Hermon.  Mount Hermon reaches 9,200 feet at its peak, making it the highest mountain in the region (Wikipedia, ‘Mount Hermon’).  The peak of Mount Hermon is about 15-20 miles from the town they spent six days in.  The trip from Caesarea to Mount Tabor would have taken roughly four days while the trip to Mount Hermon would have taken about a day.  Yes, it’s possible that Jesus and His disciples could have found the needed privacy on Mount Tabor, but I don’t think it was likely with the fort and major highway very close by.

In summary, Matthew’s careful chronological details strongly suggest that the transfiguration took place on Mount Hermon, not Mount Tabor.  The geographical proximity, the explicit mention of a ‘high mountain,’ and the implausibility of a Roman-occupied site make Mount Hermon the most logical choice.  The early Christian tradition linking Tabor to the event was based on later interpretations, not eyewitness testimony.  As believers, it is crucial to examine Scripture carefully rather than accepting tradition without question.  I encourage you to explore this further, compare biblical texts, and consider the historical evidence.  The truth is always worth seeking.

Finally, the point of this entire message is to not just believe the things that people say when it comes to the bible.  Origen was one of the first to label Mount Tabor as the proper site.  It was easy to get to at that time.  It made the journey much easier for pilgrims and followers.  Mount Tabor was already a sacred site in Jewish history.  We have absolutely no idea what evidence Origen relied on to make the determination that Mount Tabor was the correct location.  What we do know for sure is that other biblical scholars relied on his works to further reinforce the idea that Mount Tabor was where the transfiguration took place.  Yet, we never can find any evidence either way.  Just because an early scholar says that something is true doesn’t mean that it is.  In the end, we have a responsibility to dig through the history of many of these claims to understand how and why they came to the conclusions that they did.

Sources:

1. Jewish Virtual Library.  “Mount Tabor.”  Accessed [2/18/2025]. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tabor-mount
2. Orthodox Christianity Then and Now.  “Mount Tabor as the Location of Christ’s Transfiguration.”  Accessed [2/18/2025]. https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/08/mount-tabor-as-location-of-christs.html
3. Wikipedia.  “Mount Hermon.”  Last modified [2/3/2025]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hermon