As-Salamu 'Alaykum
Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem
First, let's go over the explicit statements of Imaam ibn Jarir (rahimahullah) affirming Allah's Istawa as rising over: 1 - 57:4
وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أيْنَما كُنْتُمْ } يقول: وهو شاهد لكم أيها الناس أينما كنتم يعلمكم، ويعلم أعمالكم، ومتقلبكم ومثواكم، وهو على عرشه فوق سمواته السبع
[Allah's saying] "And He is with you (by His Knowledge) wheresoever you may be" He says: and He is a witness for you O people wherever you are He knows you, and knows your actions, and your place of return and abode, and He is over His throne above seven Heavens.
2 - 58:7
وعنى بقوله { هُو رَابِعُهُمْ } بمعنى أنه مشاهدهم بعلمه، وهو على عرشه، كما
and His saying "but He is their fourth" means that He is witnessing (seeing) and has knowledge of what they [the creation] do, whilst being above the throne. [roughly translated]
4 - 20:5
وقوله: { الرَّحْمَنُ عَلـى العَرْشِ اسْتَوَى } يقول تعالـى ذكره: الرحمن علـى عرشه ارتفع وعلا
and [His] saying "The Rahmaan rose over (Istawa) the throne": [meaning] the Almighty says that the Rahmaan rose ('ala) and ascended (irtafa'a) over His throne [roughly translated]
5 - 40:36-37
وقوله: ( وَإِنِّي لأظُنُّهُ كَاذِبًا ) يقول: وإني لأظنّ موسى كاذبا فيما يقول ويدّعي من أن له في السماء ربا أرسله إلينا
and [His] saying "But verily, I (Fir'aun) think him to be a liar" meaning: That perhaps I (Fir'aun) may reach the gates of heavens, the gates that would allow me to see the God of Moses; for I believe Moses to be a liar with respect to what he says and claims; that he has a Lord in the heavens who sent him [roughly translated] So, here we've explicit statements from the Imaam affirming Allah's rising over His throne and Him being above the seven heavens over His throne.
Now, let's go over what the brother quoted
1) Ibn Jarir al-Tabari said in his Tafsir:
"Allah made himself exalted over the heaven with the exaltation of sovereignty and power, not that of displacement and movement."
Tafsir al-Tabari 1:192.
btw it is the tafsir of ayat 2:29; I don't know brother where you got the translation from but is has been grossly mistranslated [some parts of it that i've read somewhere else] and taken out of context. Actually, in this passage Imaam ibn Jarir (rahimahullah) once again refuted the deviant beliefs; here's the Arabic passage:وأولى المعافي بقول الله جل ثناؤه : { ثم استوى إلى السماء فسواهن } علا عليهن وارتفع فدبرهن بقدرته وخلقهن سبع سموات . والعجب ممن أنكر المعنى المفهوم من كلام العرب في تأويل قول الله : { ثم استوى إلى السماء } الذي هو بمعنى العلو والارتفاع هربا عند نفسه من أن يلزمه بزعمه إذا تأوله بمعناه المفهم كذلك أن يكون إنما علا وارتفع بعد أن كان تحتها , إلى أن تأوله بالمجهول من تأويله المستنكر , ثم لم ينج مما هرب منه . فيقال له : زعمت أن تأويل قوله : { استوى } أقبل , أفكان مدبرا عن السماء فأقبل إليها ؟ فإن زعم أن ذلك ليس بإقبال فعل ولكنه إقبال تدبير , قيل له : فكذلك فقل : علا عليها علو ملك وسلطان لا علو انتقال وزوال . ثم لن يقول في شيء من ذلك قولا إلا ألزم في الآخر مثله , ولولا أنا كرهنا إطالة الكتاب بما ليس من جنسه لأنبأنا عن فساد قول كل قائل قال في ذلك قولا لقول أهل الحق فيه مخالفا , وفيما بينا منه ما يشرف بذي الفهم على ما فيه له الكفاية إنه شاء الله تعالى
The most befitting/appropriate/suitable/preferred of all the (aforementioned) meanings with respect to Allah's saying: "He then rose to the heavens and then He made them", meaning He rose ('ala) and ascended (irtafa'a) over them...and it is strange that who denied the commonly understood meaning of the lanaguge of the Arab do Taw'il of Allah's saying ''He then rose to the heavens" ...
I'll post the rest of the translation later
First, in this passage, Imaam ibn Jarir (rahimahullah) was refuting the believes of some of the people who did taw'il to mean 'Allah's rose over' to turning to or facing. So, his saying "not that of displacement and movement", is refuting those who state that rising to the heavens necessitates movement, because as he argues, iqbal – to turn to – also necessitates movement. Otherwise, he has already made his position crystal clear, that the most appropriate of all interpretations is to say that Allah Ta'ala literally rose and ascended to the heavens! Secondly, Imaam ibn Jarir (rahimahullah) is the last person that Ash'aris want to quote because his statements are explicit affirming the daahir (apparent/literal) meaning of Allah's Sifaat and I've quoted few of them above.
Wallahu A'lam