Editing Transfiguration of Jesus (section)

== Location of the mountain ==
{{main article|Mount of the Transfiguration}}
[[File:Mount of transfiguration is.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|left|The Franciscan [[Church of the Transfiguration]] on [[Mount Tabor]] in [[Israel]]. Mount Tabor is traditionally identified as the [[Mount of Transfiguration]].]]

None of the accounts identify the "high mountain" of the scene by name. Since the 3rd century, some Christians have identified [[Mount Tabor]] as the site of the transfiguration, including Origen,{{sfn|Meistermann|1912}} referencing {{bibleverse|Ps|89:12|NIV}}. Tabor has long been a place of [[Christian pilgrimage]] and is the site of the [[Church of the Transfiguration]]. In 1868, [[Henry Alford (theologian)|Henry Alford]] cast doubt on Tabor due to the possible continuing Roman use of a fortress which [[Antiochus the Great]] built on Tabor in 219 BC.{{sfn|Alford|1863|p=123}} Others have countered that even if Tabor was fortified by Antiochus, this does not rule out a transfiguration at the summit.{{sfn|van Oosterzee|1866|p=318}} [[Josephus]] mentions in the [[First Jewish-Roman War|Jewish War]] that he built a wall along the top perimeter in 40 days, and he does not mention any previously existing structures.{{sfn|Josephus|1895|loc={{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 | 1=J. | 2=BJ | 3=2.20.6}}}}{{sfn|Josephus|1895|loc={{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 | 1=J. | 2=BJ | 3=4.1.8}}}} [[John Lightfoot]] rejects Tabor as too far but "some mountain near [[Caesarea Philippi|Caesarea-Philippi]]".{{sfn|Lightfoot|1825|p=}} The usual candidate, in this case, is Mount Panium, Paneas, or [[Banias]], a small hill situated at the source of the [[Jordan River|Jordan]], near the foot of which Caesarea Philippi was built.

[[William Hendriksen]] in his commentary on Matthew (1973) favours [[Mount Meron]].{{sfn|Hendriksen|1973|p=665}} {{harvtxt|Whittaker|1984|p=}} proposes that it was [[Mount Nebo]], primarily on the basis that it was the location where Moses viewed the [[Promised Land]] and a parallelism in Jesus' words on descent from the mountain of transfiguration: "You will say to this mountain (i.e. of transfiguration), 'Move from here to there' (i.e. the promised land), and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." {{harvtxt|France|1987|p=}} notes that [[Mount Hermon]] is closest to Caesarea Philippi, mentioned in the previous chapter of Matthew. Likewise, Meyboom (1861) identifies "Djebel-Ejeik",{{efn|Louis Suson Pedro Meyboom (1817–74), Protestant theologian and pastor at Amsterdam. An adherent of the so-called "modern" school in theology, he wrote many books, including ''Het Leven van Jezus'' (7 vols., 1853–61).}} but this may be a confusion with Jabal el-Sheikh, the Arabic name for Mount Hermon. [[Edward Greswell]], however, writing in 1830, saw "no good reason for questioning the ancient ecclesiastical tradition, which supposes it to have been mount Tabor."{{sfn|Greswell|1830|p=335}} An alternative explanation is to understand the Mount of Transfiguration as symbolic topography in the gospels. As Elizabeth Struthers Malbon notes, the mountain is figuratively the meeting place between God and humans.{{sfn|Malbon|1986|p=84}}