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Mount Sinai (Bible)

May 19, 2023

For other uses of Mount Sinai, see Mount Sinai (disambiguation).

Mount Sinai (Hebrew: הַר סִינַי‬, Har Sīnay) is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, according to the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible.[1] In the Book of Deuteronomy, these events are described as having transpired at Mount Horeb. "Sinai" and "Horeb" are generally considered by scholars to refer to the same place.[2]

Possible locations of biblical Mount Sinai

The location of the Mount Sinai described in the Bible remains disputed. The high point of the dispute was in the mid-nineteenth century.[a] Hebrew Bible texts describe the theophany at Mount Sinai in terms which a minority of scholars, following Charles Beke (1873), have suggested may literally describe the mountain as a volcano.[b]

Mount Sinai is one of the most sacred locations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.[5][6]

Biblical description

 
Mount Sinai, showing the approach to Mount Sinai, 1839 painting by David Roberts, in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia

The biblical account of the giving of the instructions and teachings of the Ten Commandments was given in the Book of Exodus, primarily between chapters 19–24, during which Sinai is mentioned by name twice, in Exodus 19:2; 24:16. In the story Sinai was enveloped in a cloud,[7] it quaked and was filled with smoke,[8] while lightning-flashes shot forth, and the roar of thunder mingled with the blasts of a trumpet;[7] the account later adds that fire was seen burning at the summit of the mountain.[9] In the biblical account, the fire and clouds are a direct consequence of the arrival of God upon the mountain.[10] According to the biblical story, Moses departed to the mountain and stayed there for 40 days and nights in order to receive the Ten Commandments and he did so twice because he broke the first set of the tablets of stone after returning from the mountain for the first time.

The biblical description of God's descent[10] seems to be in conflict with the statement shortly after that God spoke to the Israelites from Heaven.[11] While biblical scholars argue that these passages are from different sources, the Mekhilta argues that God had lowered the heavens and spread them over Sinai,[12] and the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer argues that a hole was torn in the heavens, and Sinai was torn away from the earth and the summit pushed through the hole. 'The heavens' could be a metaphor for clouds and the 'lake of fire' could be a metaphor for the lava-filled crater.[13] Several bible critics[who?] have indicated that the smoke and fire reference from the Bible suggests that Mount Sinai was a volcano;[14] despite the absence of ash.[15] Other bible scholars have suggested that the description fits a storm[15] especially as the Song of Deborah seems to allude to rain having occurred at the time.[16] According to the biblical account, God spoke directly to the Israelite nation as a whole.[17][18]

Sinai is mentioned by name in ten other locations in the Torah: Exodus 31:18; 34:2, Leviticus 7:38; 25:1; 26:46; 27:34, Numbers 1:1; 3:1; 9:1 and Deuteronomy 33:2. Sinai was also mentioned once by name in the rest of the Hebrew Bible in Nehemiah 9:13. In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle referred directly to Sinai in Galatians 4:24; 4:25.

Etymology and other names

According to the Documentary hypothesis, the name "Sinai" is only used in the Torah by the Jahwist and Priestly source, whereas Horeb is only used by the Elohist and Deuteronomist.[19]

Horeb is thought to mean "glowing/heat", which seems to be a reference to the sun, while Sinai may have derived from the name of Sin, the ancient Mesopotamian religion deity of the moon,[20][21] and thus Sinai and Horeb would be the mountains of the moon and sun, respectively.

Regarding the Sin deity assumption, William F. Albright, an American biblical scholar, had stated:[22]

... there is nothing that requires us to explain Him as a modified moon-god. It is improbable that the name Sinai is derived from that of the Sumerian Zen (older Zu-en), Akkadian Sin, the moon-god worshiped at Ur (in his form Nannar) and at Harran, since there is no indication that the name Sin was ever employed by the Canaanites or the Semitic nomads of Palestine. It is much more likely that the name Sinai is connected with the place-name Sin, which belongs to a desert plain in Sinai as well as to a Canaanite city in Syria and perhaps to a city in the northeast Delta of Egypt. It has also been recognized that it may somehow be connected with seneh (Aram. sanya), the name of a kind of bush where Moses is said to have first witnessed the theophany of Yahweh.

Similarly, in his book Sinai & Zion, American Hebrew Bible scholar Jon D. Levenson discusses the link between Sinai and the burning bush (סנה səneh) that Moses encountered at Mount Horeb in verses 3:1-6 of Exodus. He asserts that the similarity of Sînay (Sinai) and seneh (bush) is not coincidental; rather, the wordplay might derive "from the notion that the emblem of the Sinai deity was a tree of some sort."[23] Deuteronomy 33:16 identifies YHWH with "the one who dwells in the bush."[24] Consequently, Levenson argues that if the use of "bush" is not a scribal error for "Sinai," Deuteronomy might support the connection between the origins of the word Sinai and tree.[23]

According to Rabbinic tradition, the name "Sinai" derives from sin-ah (שִׂנְאָה), meaning hatred, in reference to the other nations hating the Jews out of jealousy, due to the Jews being the ones to receive the word of God.[25] Classical rabbinic literature mentions the mountain having other names:

  • Har HaElohim (הר האלהים), meaning "the mountain of God" or "the mountain of the gods"[26]
  • Har Bashan (הר בשן), meaning "the mountain of Bashan"; however, Bashan is interpreted in rabbinical literature as here being a corruption of beshen, meaning "with the teeth", and argued to refer to the sustenance of mankind through the virtue of the mountain[26]
  • Har Gebnunim (הר גבנונים), meaning "the mountain as pure as goat cheese"[26]
  • Har Horeb (הר חורב), see Mount Horeb

Also mentioned in most Islamic sources:

  • Tūr Sīnāʾ / Tūr Sīnīn (طور سيناء / سينين), is the term that appears in the Quran, and it means, "The mount of Sinai".[27][28][29]
  • Jabal Mūsa (جبل موسى), is another term that means, "The Mountain of Moses".[26]

Religious traditions

Christianity

See also: Saint Catherine's Monastery
 
View down to the Saint Catherine's Monastery from the trail to the summit

The earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal, at the foot of which a monastery was founded in the 4th century; it was only in the 6th century that the monastery moved to the foot of Mount Catherine, following the guidance of Josephus' earlier claim that Sinai was the highest mountain in the area.[citation needed]

The earliest references to Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai or Mount Sinai being located in the present-day Sinai peninsula are inconclusive. There is evidence that prior to 100 CE, well before the Christian monastic period, Jewish sages equated Jabal Musa with Mount Sinai. Graham Davies of Cambridge University argues that early Jewish pilgrimages identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai and this identification was later adopted by the Christian pilgrims.[30][31] R.K. Harrison states that "Jebel Musa ... seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times, culminating in its identification with Mt. Sinai."[32][full citation needed]

Saint Catherine's Monastery (Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης) lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of modern Mount Sinai in Saint Catherine at an elevation of 1 550 meters. The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60 100 ha / Ref: 954) and website below, this monastery has been called the 'oldest working Christian monastery' in the world – although the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also lays claim to that title.

Christians settled upon this mountain in the 3rd century CE. Georgians from the Caucasus moved to the Sinai Peninsula in the fifth century, and a Georgian colony was formed there in the ninth century. Georgians erected their own churches in the area of the modern Mount Sinai. The construction of one such church was connected with the name of David the Builder, who contributed to the erection of churches in Georgia and abroad as well. There were political, cultural, and religious motives for locating the church on Mount Sinai. Georgian monks living there were deeply connected with their motherland. The church had its own plots[clarification needed] in Kartli. Some of the Georgian manuscripts of Sinai remain there, but others are kept in Tbilisi, St. Petersburg, Prague, New York City, Paris, or in private collections.[citation needed]

Islam

Main article: Holiest sites in Islam
 
A mosque at the top

The peninsula is associated with Aaron and Moses, who are also regarded as Prophets.[20] In particular, numerous references to the mount exist in the Quran,[5][6] where it is called Ṭūr Sīnā’,[33] Ṭūr Sīnīn,[34] and aṭ-Ṭūr[35][36] and al-Jabal (both meaning "the Mount").[37] As for the adjacent Wād Ṭuwā (Valley of Tuwa), it is considered as being muqaddas[38][39] (sacred),[40][41] and a part of it is called Al-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah (Arabic: ٱلْبُقْعَة ٱلْمُبَارَكَة, "The Blessed Place").[36]

Some modern biblical scholars explain Mount Sinai as having been a sacred place dedicated to one of the Semitic deities, even before the Israelites encountered it.[26][full citation needed] Others regard the set of laws given on the mountain to have originated in different time periods from one another, with the later ones mainly being the result of natural evolution over the centuries of the earlier ones, rather than all originating from a single moment in time.[42][full citation needed]

Suggested locations

Modern scholars differ as to the exact geographical position of Mount Sinai.[26]

The Elijah narrative appears to suggest that when it was written, the location of Horeb was still known with some certainty, as Elijah is described as travelling to Horeb on one occasion,[43] but there are no later biblical references to it that suggest the location remained known; Josephus specifies that it was "between Egypt and Arabia", and within Arabia Petraea (a Roman Province encompassing modern Jordan, southern modern Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia with its capital in Petra). The Pauline Epistles are even more vague, specifying only that it was in Arabia, which covers most of the south-western Middle East.

Location Original identification
Name Region Height (m) Coordinates Year Author
Jabal Maqla Tabuk Region, Saudi Arabia 2,326 28°35′48″N 35°20′08″E / 28.59674°N 35.33549°E / 28.59674; 35.33549
Jabal al-Lawz Tabuk Region, Saudi Arabia 2,580 28°39′15″N 35°18′21″E / 28.654167°N 35.305833°E / 28.654167; 35.305833 1984 Ron Wyatt
Hala-'l Badr (volcano) Al Madinah Region, Saudi Arabia 1,692[4](p 131) 27°15′N 37°12′E / 27.25°N 37.2°E / 27.25; 37.2 1911 Alois Musil[44][4](p 131)
Mount Serbal South Sinai, Egypt 2,070 28°38′47″N 33°39′06″E / 28.646389°N 33.651667°E / 28.646389; 33.651667
Mount Catherine South Sinai, Egypt 2,629 28°30′42″N 33°57′09″E / 28.511667°N 33.9525°E / 28.511667; 33.9525
Mount Sinai South Sinai, Egypt 2,285 28°32′22″N 33°58′32″E / 28.539417°N 33.975417°E / 28.539417; 33.975417
Jabal Ahmad al Baqir Aqaba Governorate, Jordan 1,076 29°35′57″N 35°08′36″E / 29.59911°N 35.14342°E / 29.59911; 35.14342 1878 Charles Beke[45]
Jebel al-Madhbah Petra, Jordan 1,070 30°19′19″N 35°26′51″E / 30.321944°N 35.4475°E / 30.321944; 35.4475 1927 Ditlef Nielsen[46]
Mount Sin Bishar North Sinai, Egypt 29°40′16″N 32°57′40″E / 29.671°N 32.961°E / 29.671; 32.961 1983 Menashe Har-El[47]
Mount Helal North Sinai, Egypt 910 30°39′11″N 34°01′44″E / 30.653°N 34.028861°E / 30.653; 34.028861
Hashem el-Tarif North Sinai, Egypt 29°40′09″N 34°38′00″E / 29.669217°N 34.633411°E / 29.669217; 34.633411
Mount Hermon Anti-Lebanon, Lebanon 2,814 33°24′58″N 35°51′25″E / 33.4162°N 35.8570°E / 33.4162; 35.8570 2010 Israel Knohl[48]

Jabal Musa

The earliest references to Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai or Mount Sinai being located in the present day Sinai Peninsula are inconclusive. There is evidence that prior to 100 CE, well before the Christian monastic period, Jewish sages equated Jabal Musa with Mount Sinai. Graham Davies of Cambridge University argues that early Jewish pilgrimages identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai and this identification was later adopted by the Christian pilgrims.[30][31] R.K. Harrison states that, “Jabal Musa ... seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times, culminating in its identification with Mt. Sinai."[32] In the second and third centuries BCE Nabataeans were making pilgrimages there, which is indicated in part by inscriptions discovered in the area.[49][full citation needed] In the 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery was constructed at the base of this mountain at a site which is claimed to be the site of the biblical burning bush.[50]

Josephus wrote that "Moses went up to a mountain that lay between Egypt and Arabia, which was called Sinai." Josephus says that Sinai is "the highest of all the mountains thereabout," and is "the highest of all the mountains that are in that country, and is not only very difficult to be ascended by men, on account of its vast altitude but because of the sharpness of its precipices".[51] The traditional Mount Sinai, located in the Sinai Peninsula, is actually the name of a collection of peaks, sometimes referred to as the Holy Mountain peaks,[52][53][full citation needed] which consist of Jabal Musa, Mount Catherine and Ras Sufsafeh. Etheria (circa 4th century CE) wrote, "The whole mountain group looks as if it were a single peak, but, as you enter the group, [you see that] there are more than one."[54] The highest mountain peak is Mount Catherine, rising 2,610 metres (8,550 feet) above the sea and its sister peak, Jabal Musa (2,285 m [7,497 ft]), is not much further behind in height, but is more conspicuous because of the open plain called er Rachah ("the wide"). Mount Catherine and Jabal Musa are both much higher than any mountains in the Sinaitic desert, or in all of Midian. The highest tops in the Tih desert to the north are not much over 1,200 m (4,000 ft). Those in Midian, East of Elath, rise only to 1,300 m (4,200 ft). Even Jabal Serbal, 30 kilometres (20 mi) west of Sinai, is at its highest only 2,050 m (6,730 ft) above the sea.[55]

Some scholars[56] believe that Mount Sinai was of ancient sanctity prior to the ascent of Moses described in the Bible.[56][full citation needed] Scholars have theorized that Sinai in part derived its name from the word for Moon which was "sin" (meaning "the moon" or "to shine").[57][full citation needed] Antoninus Martyr provides some support for the ancient sanctity of Jabal Musa by writing that Arabian heathens were still celebrating moon feasts there in the 6th century.[57] Lina Eckenstien states that some of the artifacts discovered indicate that "the establishment of the moon-cult in the peninsula dates back to the pre-dynastic days of Egypt."[58] She says the main center of Moon worship seems to have been concentrated in the southern Sinai peninsula which the Egyptians seized from the Semitic people who had built shrines and mining camps there.[58] Robinson says that inscriptions with pictures of Moon worship objects are found all over the southern peninsula but are missing on Jabal Musa and Mount Catherine.[59][full citation needed] This oddity may suggest religious cleansing.[60][full citation needed][61]

Groups of nawamis have been discovered in southern Sinai, creating a kind of ring around Jabal Musa.[62] The nawamis were used over and over throughout the centuries for various purposes. Etheria, c. the 4th/5th century CE, noted that her guides, who were the local "holy men", pointed out these round or circular stone foundations of temporary huts, claiming the children of Israel used them during their stay there.[63][full citation needed]

The southern Sinai Peninsula contains archaeological discoveries but to place them with the exodus from Egypt is a daunting task inasmuch as the proposed dates of the Exodus vary so widely. The Exodus has been dated from the early Bronze Age to the late Iron Age II.[64][65][full citation needed]

Egyptian pottery in the southern Sinai during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age I (Ramesside) periods has been discovered at the mining camps of Serabit el-Khadim and Timna. Objects which bore Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, the same as those found in Canaan, were discovered at Serabit el Khadim in the Southern Sinai. Several of these were dated in the later Bronze Age.[66] These encampments provide evidence of miners from southern Canaan.[67] The remote site of Serabit el-Khadem was used for a few months at a time, every couple of years at best, more often once in a generation. The journey to the mines was long, difficult and dangerous.[68] Expeditions headed by Professor Mazar examined the tell of Feiran, the principal oasis, of southern Sinai and discovered the site abounded not only in Nabatean sherds but in wheel-burnished sherds typical of the Kingdom of Judah, belonging to Iron Age II.[69]

Edward Robinson insisted that the Plain of ar-Raaha adjacent to Jabal Musa could have accommodated the Israelites. Edward Hull stated that, "this traditional Sinai in every way meets the requirements of the narrative of the Exodus." Hull agreed with Robinson and stated he had no further doubts after studying the great amphitheater leading to the base of the granite cliff of Ras Sufsafeh, that here indeed was the location of the camp and the mount from which the laws of God was delivered to the encampment of Israelites below.[31]

F.W. Holland stated[70][full citation needed] "With regard to water-supply there is no other spot in the whole Peninsula which is nearly so well supplied as the neighborhood of Jabal Musa. ... There is also no other district in the Peninsula which affords such excellent pasturage."[55]

Calculating the travels of the Israelites, the Bible Atlas states, "These distances will not, however, allow of our placing Sinai farther East than Jabal Musa."[55]

Some point to the absence of material evidence left behind in the journey of the Israelites but Dr. Beit-Arieh wrote, "Perhaps it will be argued, by those who subscribe to the traditional account in the Bible, that the Israelite material culture was only of the flimsiest kind and left no trace. Presumably the Israelite dwellings and artifacts consisted only of perishable materials."[71][full citation needed] Hoffmeier wrote, "None of the encampments of the wilderness wanderings can be meaningful if the Israelites went directly to either Kadesh or Midian ... a journey of eleven days from Kadesh to Horeb can be properly understood only in relationship to the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula."[32]

Local Bedouins who have long inhabited the area have identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai. In the 4th century CE small settlements of monks set up places of worship around Jabal Musa. An Egyptian pilgrim named Ammonius, who had in past times made various visits to the area, identified Jabal Musa as the Holy Mount in the 4th century. Empress Helena, c. 330 CE, built a church to protect monks against raids from nomads. She chose the site for the church from the identification which had been handed down through generations through the Bedouins. She also reported the site was confirmed to her in a dream.[72][73][74]

The Sinai peninsula has traditionally been considered Sinai's location by Christians, although the peninsula gained its name from this tradition, and was not called that in Josephus' time or earlier.[26] (The Sinai was earlier inhabited by the Monitu and was called Mafkat or Country of Turquoise.)

Bedouin tradition considered Jabal Musa, which lies adjacent to Mount Catherine, to be the biblical mountain,[26] and it is this mountain that local tour groups and religious groups presently advertise as the biblical Mount Sinai. Evidently this view was eventually taken up by Christian groups as well, as in the 16th century a church was constructed at the peak of this mountain, which was replaced by a Greek Orthodox chapel in 1954.

Mount Serbal, Southern Sinai Peninsula

In early Christian times, a number of Anchorites settled on Mount Serbal, considering it to be the biblical mountain, and in the 4th century a monastery was constructed at its base.[75] Nevertheless, Josephus had stated that Mount Sinai was "the highest of all the mountains thereabout",[76] which would imply that Mount Catherine was actually the mountain in question, if Sinai was to be sited on the Sinai peninsula at all.[26]

Northern Sinai Peninsula

According to textual scholars, in the JE version of the Exodus narrative, the Israelites travel in a roughly straight line to Kadesh Barnea from the Yam Suph (literally meaning "the Reed Sea", but considered traditionally to refer to the Red Sea), and the detour via the south of the Sinai peninsula is only present in the Priestly Source.[14][77] A number of scholars and commentators have therefore looked towards the more central and northern parts of the Sinai peninsula for the mountain. Mount Sin Bishar, in the west-central part of the peninsula, was proposed to be the biblical Mount Sinai by Menashe Har-El, a biblical geographer at Tel Aviv University.[78] Mount Helal, in the north of the peninsula has also been proposed.[79][80] Another northern Sinai suggestion is Hashem el-Tarif, some 30 km west of Eilat, Israel.[81][82]

Edom/Nabatea

 
The Siq, facing Petra's Treasury, at the foot of Jebel al-Madhbah

Since Moses is described by the Bible as encountering Jethro, a Kenite who was a Midianite priest, shortly before encountering Sinai, this suggests that Sinai would be somewhere near their territory in Saudi Arabia;[14][42] the Kenites and Midianites appear to have resided east of the Gulf of Aqaba.[14][42] Additionally, the Song of Deborah, which some textual scholars consider one of the oldest parts of the Bible,[14] portrays God as having dwelt at Mount Seir, and seems to suggest that this equates with Mount Sinai;[26][16] Mount Seir designates the mountain range in the centre of Edom.

Based on a number of local names and features, in 1927 Ditlef Nielsen identified the Jebel al-Madhbah (meaning mountain of the Altar) at Petra as being identical to the biblical Mount Sinai;[83] since then other scholars[who?] have also made the identification.

The valley in which Petra resides is known as the Wadi Musa, meaning valley of Moses, and at the entrance to the Siq is the Ain Musa, meaning spring of Moses; the 13th century Arab chronicler Numari stated that Ain Musa was the location where Moses had brought water from the ground, by striking it with his rod. The Jebel al-Madhbah was evidently considered particularly sacred, as the well known ritual building known as The Treasury is carved into its base, the mountain top is covered with a number of different altars, and over 8 metres of the original peak were carved away to leave a flat surface with two 8 metre tall obelisks sticking out of it; these obelisks, which frame the end of the path leading up to them, and are now only 6 metres tall, have led to the mountain being colloquially known as Zibb 'Atuf, meaning penis of love in Arabic. Archaeological artifacts discovered at the top of the mountain indicate that it was once covered by polished shiny blue slate, fitting with the biblical description of paved work of sapphire stone;[84] biblical references to sapphire are considered by scholars to be unlikely to refer to the stone called sapphire in modern times, as sapphire had a different meaning, and wasn't even mined, before the Roman era.[85] Unfortunately, the removal of the original peak has destroyed most other archaeological remains from the late Bronze Age (the standard dating of the Exodus) that might previously have been present.

Arabian Peninsula

See also: Hijaz Mountains and Midian Mountains
 
Midian

Some have suggested a site in Saudi Arabia, also noting the Apostle Paul's assertion in the first century CE that Mount Sinai was in Arabia, although in Paul's time, the Roman administrative region of Arabia Petraea would have included both the modern Sinai peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia.

A volcano

A suggested possible naturalistic explanation of the biblical devouring fire is that Sinai could have been an erupting volcano; this has been suggested by Charles Beke,[86][full citation needed] Sigmund Freud,[87][full citation needed] and Immanuel Velikovsky, among others. This possibility would exclude all the peaks on the Sinai peninsula and Seir, but would make a number of locations in north western Saudi Arabia reasonable candidates. In 1873, C. Beke proposed Jebel Baggir which he called the Jabal al-Nour (meaning mountain of light), a volcanic mountain at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, with Horeb being argued to be a different mountain - the nearby Jebel Ertowa.[88] Beke's suggestion has not found as much scholarly support as the suggestion that Mount Sinai is the volcano Hala-'l Badr, as advocated by Alois Musil in the early 20th century, J. Koenig in 1971,[89][full citation needed] and Colin Humphreys in 2003,[90][full citation needed] among others.

Jabal al-Lawz

A possible candidate within the Arabia theory has been that of Jabal al-Lawz (meaning 'mountain of almonds'). Advocates for Jabal al-Lawz include L. Möller[91][full citation needed] as well as R. Wyatt,[92] R. Cornuke, and L. Williams.[93][94] A. Kerkeslager believes that the archaeological evidence is too tenuous to draw conclusions, but has stated that "Jabal al Lawz may also be the most convincing option for identifying the Mt. Sinai of biblical tradition" and should be researched.[95] A number of researchers support this hypothesis while others dispute it.[c]

One of the most recent developments has been the release of a documentary[96] which identifies a peak within the Jabal al-Lawz mountain range, Jabal Maqla, as Mount Sinai;[96] the film includes video and photographic evidence in the project.[97][98]

Jabal al-Lawz has been rejected by scholars such as J.K. Hoffmeier who details what he calls Cornuke's "monumental blunders" and others.[4][99] G. Franz published a refutation of this hypothesis.[citation needed]

The Negev

While equating Sinai with Petra would indicate that the Israelites journeyed in roughly a straight line from Egypt via Kadesh Barnea, and locating Sinai in Saudi Arabia would suggest Kadesh Barnea was skirted to the south, some scholars have wondered whether Sinai was much closer to the vicinity of Kadesh Barnea itself. Halfway between Kadesh Barnea and Petra, in the southwest Negev desert in Israel, is Har Karkom, which Emmanuel Anati excavated, and discovered to have been a major Paleolithic cult centre, with the surrounding plateau covered with shrines, altars, stone circles, stone pillars, and over 40,000 rock engravings; although the peak of religious activity at the site dates to 2350–2000 BCE, the exodus is dated 15 Nisan 2448 (Hebrew calendar; 1313 BCE),[100] and the mountain appears to have been abandoned between 1950 and 1000 BCE, Anati proposed that Jabal Ideid was equatable with biblical Sinai.[101][102] Other scholars have criticised this identification, as, in addition to being almost 1000 years too early, it also appears to require the wholesale relocation of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other ancient peoples, from the locations where the majority of scholars currently place them.[103]

Mount Hermon

According to contested research by I. Knohl (2012)[104][full citation needed] Mount Hermon is actually the Mount Sinai mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, with the biblical story reminiscent of an ancient battle of the northern tribes with the Egyptians somewhere in the Jordan valley or Golan heights.[48]

In art

Unidentified or imagined location

  •  

    1723

  •  

    Moses on Mount Sinai, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1895–1900

  •  

    Mass-revelation at Mount Sinai in an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907

  •  

    God Appears to Elijah on Mount Horeb, 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld

Jabal Musa

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "The years between the 1830s and the 1870s, which mark the highpoint of the Sinai controversy, witnessed the rise of European countries into worldwide economic and political prominence ... The 1856 Treaty of Paris ensured better access for Europeans into Ottoman territory and casual visitors collected intelligence alongside antiquities ... The peninsula was strategically situated on the sea route from the Mediterranean to India through the Suez Canal which opened to traffic in 1869, a few months after the conclusion of the Ordnance Survey" Manginis (2015)[3]
  2. ^ "Now that Rameses is known to be located at Qantir in the Sharkiya province of the east Delta, this means that Beke's proposed site of ... Hermann Gunkel, Hugo Gressman, Martin Noth and Jean Koenig. They all thought that the biblical descriptions of the theophany at Mt. Sinai described volcanic activity, and since there was no evidence of volcanoes in Sinai, that northern Arabia was the more likely." Hoffmeier (2005)[4](p 131)
  3. ^ "The proponents of Jebel al-Lawz do not agree on the crossing site of the Red Sea in the Gulf of Akaba / Eilat. One group, consisting of R. Wyatt, J. Pinkoski, and L. Moller suggests that the Israelites crossed at Nuweiba. The other group, consisting of J. Irwin, R. Cornuke, L. Williams, R. Knuteson, K. Kluetz, and K. Durham argues for the Strait of Tiran." Franz (2007) § "Problems with the Gulf of Akaba / Eilat Crossings"[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Exodus 19
  2. ^ Coogan, Michael David. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Oxford University Press, USA, 2017: pg. 108
  3. ^ Manginis, George (2015). "Pillar of Fire or Dust? Jabal Mūsā in the nineteenth century". Proceedings of the Multidisciplinary Conference on the Sinai Desert. Multidisciplinary Conference on the Sinai Desert – via Academia.edu.
  4. ^ a b c d Hoffmeier, J.K. (2005). "online". Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-19-515546-4 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ a b Sharīf, J.; Herklots, G. A. (1832). Qanoon-e-Islam: Or, The Customs of the Moosulmans of India; Comprising a Full and Exact Account of Their Various Rites and Ceremonies, from the Moment of Birth Till the Hour of Death. Parbury, Allen, and Company. koh-e-toor.
  6. ^ a b Abbas, K. A. (1984). The World is My Village: A Novel with an Index. Ajanta Publications.
  7. ^ a b Exodus 19:16
  8. ^ Exodus 19:18
  9. ^ Exodus 24:17
  10. ^ a b Exodus 19:20
  11. ^ Exodus 20:22
  12. ^ "Exodus 19:20". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved Oct 14, 2022.
  13. ^ Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, 41
  14. ^ a b c d e Peake's commentary on the Bible
  15. ^ a b Peake's commentary on the Bible
  16. ^ a b Judges 5:4–5
  17. ^ Exodus 20:18-19
  18. ^ Deuteronomy 4:10–12
  19. ^ Harris, J. Rendel (1902). "Sinai, Mount". In Hastings, J. (ed.). A Dictionary of the Bible.
  20. ^ a b Jacobs, J.; Seligsohn, M.; Bacher, W. (1906). "Mount Horeb". Jewish Encyclopedia.
  21. ^ Stalker, D.M.G. (1963). "Exodus". In Black, Matthew; Rowley, H.H. (eds.). Peake's Commentary on the Bible (2nd ed.). Thomas Nelson. §178c.
  22. ^ Albright, William Foxwell (1957). From Stone Age to Christianity. Doubleday Anchor Book.
  23. ^ a b Levenson, Jon (1985). Sinai and Zion: An entry into the Jewish Bible. New York, NY: HarperOne. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-06-254828-3.
  24. ^ The new Oxford annotated Bible with the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical books (in Hebrew). Coogan, Michael David., Brettler, Marc Zvi., Newsom, Carol A. (Carol Ann), 1950-, Perkins, Pheme. (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. p. 306. ISBN 0-19-528478-X. OCLC 46381226.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  25. ^ . breslov.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jewish Encyclopedia
  27. ^ Sharīf, Jaʻfar (1832). Qanoon-e-Islam: Or, the Customs of the Moosulmans of India. Parbury, Allen, and Company. Retrieved 19 March 2018 – via Google Books. Comprising a full and exact account of their various rites and ceremonies, from the moment of birth till the hour of death
  28. ^ Abbas, Khwaja Ahmad (19 March 1984). "The World is My Village: A Novel with an Index". Ajanta Publications. Retrieved 19 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  29. ^ "Daily Times". Daily Times. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  30. ^ a b Davies, Graham (1979). Wilderness. pp. 23–24.
  31. ^ a b c Hobbs, Joseph J. (19 February 2014). Mount Sinai. Social Science. University of Texas Press.
  32. ^ a b c Harrison, R.K. (n.d.). Hoffmeier, J.K. (ed.). Bible Encyclopedia.
  33. ^ Quran 23:20 (Translated by Yusuf Ali)
  34. ^ Quran 95:2 (Translated by Yusuf Ali)
  35. ^ Quran 2:63–93
  36. ^ a b Quran 28:3–86
  37. ^ Quran 7:103–156
  38. ^ Quran 20:9–99
  39. ^ Quran 79:15–25
  40. ^ Ibn Kathir (2013-01-01). al-Ahmad, Mohammad Hilmi, Dr. (ed.). Stories of the Prophets: [قصص الأنبياء [انكليزي. Dar al Kotob al Ilmiyah (Arabic: دَار الْـكُـتُـب الْـعِـلْـمِـيَّـة). ISBN 978-2745151360.
  41. ^ Elhadary, Osman (2016-02-08). "11, 15". Moses in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A call for peace. BookBaby. ISBN 978-1483563039.
  42. ^ a b c Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
  43. ^ 1 Kings 19:8
  44. ^ Musil, A. (1926) [1911]. Im nördlichen Hegaz (English ed.). Wien. pp. 215 & 298.
  45. ^ Beke, C. (1878). Sinai in Arabia and of Median – via Internet Archive (archive.org).
  46. ^ Nielsen, Ditlef (1927). The Site of the Biblical Mount Sinai: A claim for Petra. P. Geuthner – via Google Books.
  47. ^ Menashe Har-El, The Sinai Journeys: The Route of the Exodus
  48. ^ a b "Pharaoh's war with the Israelites: The untold story". Azure (azure.org.il). Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  49. ^ Botterweck, G. Johannes; Ringgren, Helmer; Fabry, Heinz-Josef (eds.). Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Vol. 10. p. 235.
  50. ^ "Home page". Sinai Monastery (sinaimonastery.com). Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  51. ^ Josephus, Flavius. The Antiquities of the Jews. II, xii, 1; III, v, 1.
  52. ^ "Mount Sinai (and the Peak of Mount Musa or Mousa)". Touregypt.net. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  53. ^ Wilson, John Marius; Finden, Edward Francis; Finden, William (eds.). Landscapes of Interesting Localities Mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. p. 36.
  54. ^ McClure, M.L.; Feltoe, C.L., eds. (1919). The Pilgrimage of Etheria. translators = editors. London, UK: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 2.
  55. ^ a b c "Bible Map: Mount Sion (Mount Sinai)". Bible Atlas (bibleatlas.org). Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  56. ^ a b Ewald, Hist. ii. 43, 45, 103; Di.; W.R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 2 p. 117 f.; Sayce, EHH. 188; DB. iv. 536b; Burney, Journ. of Theol. Studies, ix. (1908), p. 343 f.
  57. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (n.d.). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts & Sciences. Vol. 25. p. 139.
  58. ^ a b Eckenstien, Lina (1921). A History of Sinai. London, UK: Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. p. 13.
  59. ^ Dr. Robinson’s Biblical Researches, vol. i., p. 188
  60. ^ The Jewish Nation. Ulan Press. p. 352. Containing an account of their manners and customs and rites
  61. ^ See also Deut. 12: 2–3, II Chron. 34:3–7 and Exodus 32:20
  62. ^ . Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  63. ^ Egeria: Diary of a pilgrimage. Translated by Gingas, George E. New York, NY / Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press. 1970. p. 57.
  64. ^ Bimson, John J.; Livingston, David (September–October 1987). "Redating the Exodus". Biblical Archaeology Review. pp. 40–48, 51–53, 66–68.
  65. ^ Rendsburg, Gary A. The Bible and the Ancient Near East. p. 171.
  66. ^ Beit-Arieh, Itzhaq (1987). "Canaanites and Egyptians at Serabit el-Khadim". In Rainey, Anson F. (ed.). Egypt, Israel, Sinai: Archaeological and historical relationships in the Biblical period. Tel Aviv, Israel: Tel Aviv University Press. pp. 63–65.
  67. ^ Mumford, Gregory D. (2001). "Sinai". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol. 3. p. 288.
  68. ^ "Serabit el-Khadem". Archaeology.tau.ac.il. 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  69. ^ Aharoni, Yohanan (1962) [1961]. "Kadesh-Barnea and Mount Sinai". In Rothenberg, Beno (ed.). God's Wilderness: Discoveries in Sinai. New York, NY: Thomas Nelson & Sons. p. 166.
  70. ^ Holland, F.W. Recovery of Jerusalem. p. 524.
  71. ^ Beit-Arieh, Itzhaq (May–June 1988). "The route through Sinai". BAR. 14 (3): 37.
  72. ^ Eckenstein, Lina (1980) [1921]. A History of Sinai (reprint ed.). London, UK & New York, NY: AMS Press. p. 99 [ft.note 1], 178–179.
  73. ^ Bentley, James (1986). Secrets of Mount Sinai. New York, NY: Doubleday. p. 58. [Orbis, London, 1985]
  74. ^ Deen, E. (1959). Great Women of the Christian Faith (reprint ed.). New York, NY / Westwood, NJ: Harper & Row / Barbour & Co. pp. 7–10.
  75. ^ "Sinai". New Advent, The Catholic Encyclopedia.
  76. ^ Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 2:12
  77. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible?
  78. ^ Menashe Har-El, The Sinai Journeys: The Route of the Exodus
  79. ^ Jarvis, C.S. (1938). "The forty years' wandering of the Israelites". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 70: 25–40. doi:10.1179/peq.1938.70.1.25.
  80. ^ de Geus, C.H.J. (1977). "Kadesh Barnea: Some geographical and historical remarks". In Brongers, Hendrik Antonie (ed.). Instruction and Interpretation: Studies in Hebrew Language, Palestinian archaeology and biblical exegesis. Leiden: Brill Archive. ISBN 90-04-05433-2.
  81. ^ The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map. "Gebel Khashm el Tarif [Jebel Hashem al Taref, Hashem el-Tarif, Mount Sinai (?)] Ancient Temple: The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map". Megalithic.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  82. ^ Simcha Jacobovici. "The Real Mount Sinai".
  83. ^ Ditlef Nielsen, The Site of the Biblical Mount Sinai – a claim for Petra (1927)
  84. ^ Exodus 24:10
  85. ^ Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica, Hoshen
  86. ^ Charles Beke, Mount Sinai, a Volcano (1873)
  87. ^ Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism (1939)
  88. ^ Beke, Charles (1878). Sinai in Arabia and of Median.
  89. ^ Koenig, Jean (1971). "Le site de Al-Jaw dans l'ancien pays de Madian". [journal name missing].
  90. ^ Humphreys, Colin (n.d.). The Miracles of Exodus: A scientist's discovery of the extraordinary natural causes of the biblical stories.
  91. ^ Möller, L. The Exodus Case: New discoveries of the historical Exodus.
  92. ^ Kelly, Mark (17 June 2005). "In Search of Noah's Ark: Wyatt's quest, Part 8". Baptist Press. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  93. ^ Williams, Larry (1997) [1990]. The Mountain of Moses: The discovery of Mount Sinai (reprint ed.). New York, NY: Wynwood Press. p. 182. Reprint title: The Discovery of Mount Sinai.
  94. ^ Wilson, Jennifer (11 August 2006). "Is Noah's Ark on mount[ain] in Iran? Man scours the world looking for religious artifacts". Deseret Morning News. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved 19 December 2007. Bob Cornuke doesn't have a degree in archaeology; he holds a doctorate in Bible and theology from Louisiana Baptist University.
  95. ^ Kerkeslager, Allen (1998). "Jewish Pilgrimage and Jewish Identity". In Frankfurter, David (ed.). Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt. Brill. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-9004111271. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  96. ^ a b Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia (documentary film). Doubting Thomas Research Foundation.
  97. ^ "Home". Sinai in Arabia. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  98. ^ "Home". Jabal Maqla. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  99. ^ Jameson, John H.; Ehrenhard, John E.; Finn, Christine, eds. (2003). Ancient Muses: Archaeology and the arts. University of Alabama Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-8173-1274-9 – via Google-books.
  100. ^ Ex. 16:1, 7, 13; Tal. Kid. 38a
  101. ^ Emmanuel Anati, The riddle of Mount Sinai: Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom (2001)
  102. ^ "Mount Sinai has been found: Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom". www.harkarkom.com. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  103. ^ Shanks, Hershel (March–April 2014). "Where is Mount Sinai? The case for Har Karkom and the case for Saudi Arabia". Biblical Archaeology Review. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  104. ^ Knohl, I. (2012). Ha-Shem: The secret numbers of the Hebrew Bible and the mystery of the Exodus from Egypt.

Bibliography

External links

  Media related to Mount Sinai (Bible) at Wikimedia Commons

May 19, 2023
mount, sinai, bible, other, uses, mount, sinai, mount, sinai, disambiguation, mount, sinai, hebrew, ינ, sīnay, mountain, which, commandments, were, given, moses, according, book, exodus, hebrew, bible, book, deuteronomy, these, events, described, having, trans. For other uses of Mount Sinai see Mount Sinai disambiguation Mount Sinai Hebrew ה ר ס ינ י Har Sinay is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God according to the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible 1 In the Book of Deuteronomy these events are described as having transpired at Mount Horeb Sinai and Horeb are generally considered by scholars to refer to the same place 2 Jabal MaqlaJabal al LawzHala l BadrMount SerbalMount CatherineMount SinaiJabal Ahmad al BaqirJebel al MadhbahMount Sin BisharMount HelalHashem el Tarif Possible locations of biblical Mount Sinai The location of the Mount Sinai described in the Bible remains disputed The high point of the dispute was in the mid nineteenth century a Hebrew Bible texts describe the theophany at Mount Sinai in terms which a minority of scholars following Charles Beke 1873 have suggested may literally describe the mountain as a volcano b Mount Sinai is one of the most sacred locations in Judaism Christianity and Islam 5 6 Contents 1 Biblical description 2 Etymology and other names 3 Religious traditions 3 1 Christianity 3 2 Islam 4 Suggested locations 4 1 Jabal Musa 4 2 Mount Serbal Southern Sinai Peninsula 4 3 Northern Sinai Peninsula 4 4 Edom Nabatea 4 5 Arabian Peninsula 4 5 1 A volcano 4 5 2 Jabal al Lawz 4 6 The Negev 4 7 Mount Hermon 5 In art 5 1 Unidentified or imagined location 5 2 Jabal Musa 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External linksBiblical description Edit Mount Sinai showing the approach to Mount Sinai 1839 painting by David Roberts in The Holy Land Syria Idumea Arabia Egypt and Nubia The biblical account of the giving of the instructions and teachings of the Ten Commandments was given in the Book of Exodus primarily between chapters 19 24 during which Sinai is mentioned by name twice in Exodus 19 2 24 16 In the story Sinai was enveloped in a cloud 7 it quaked and was filled with smoke 8 while lightning flashes shot forth and the roar of thunder mingled with the blasts of a trumpet 7 the account later adds that fire was seen burning at the summit of the mountain 9 In the biblical account the fire and clouds are a direct consequence of the arrival of God upon the mountain 10 According to the biblical story Moses departed to the mountain and stayed there for 40 days and nights in order to receive the Ten Commandments and he did so twice because he broke the first set of the tablets of stone after returning from the mountain for the first time The biblical description of God s descent 10 seems to be in conflict with the statement shortly after that God spoke to the Israelites from Heaven 11 While biblical scholars argue that these passages are from different sources the Mekhilta argues that God had lowered the heavens and spread them over Sinai 12 and the Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer argues that a hole was torn in the heavens and Sinai was torn away from the earth and the summit pushed through the hole The heavens could be a metaphor for clouds and the lake of fire could be a metaphor for the lava filled crater 13 Several bible critics who have indicated that the smoke and fire reference from the Bible suggests that Mount Sinai was a volcano 14 despite the absence of ash 15 Other bible scholars have suggested that the description fits a storm 15 especially as the Song of Deborah seems to allude to rain having occurred at the time 16 According to the biblical account God spoke directly to the Israelite nation as a whole 17 18 Sinai is mentioned by name in ten other locations in the Torah Exodus 31 18 34 2 Leviticus 7 38 25 1 26 46 27 34 Numbers 1 1 3 1 9 1 and Deuteronomy 33 2 Sinai was also mentioned once by name in the rest of the Hebrew Bible in Nehemiah 9 13 In the New Testament Paul the Apostle referred directly to Sinai in Galatians 4 24 4 25 Etymology and other names EditAccording to the Documentary hypothesis the name Sinai is only used in the Torah by the Jahwist and Priestly source whereas Horeb is only used by the Elohist and Deuteronomist 19 Horeb is thought to mean glowing heat which seems to be a reference to the sun while Sinai may have derived from the name of Sin the ancient Mesopotamian religion deity of the moon 20 21 and thus Sinai and Horeb would be the mountains of the moon and sun respectively Regarding the Sin deity assumption William F Albright an American biblical scholar had stated 22 there is nothing that requires us to explain Him as a modified moon god It is improbable that the name Sinai is derived from that of the Sumerian Zen older Zu en Akkadian Sin the moon god worshiped at Ur in his form Nannar and at Harran since there is no indication that the name Sin was ever employed by the Canaanites or the Semitic nomads of Palestine It is much more likely that the name Sinai is connected with the place name Sin which belongs to a desert plain in Sinai as well as to a Canaanite city in Syria and perhaps to a city in the northeast Delta of Egypt It has also been recognized that it may somehow be connected with seneh Aram sanya the name of a kind of bush where Moses is said to have first witnessed the theophany of Yahweh Similarly in his book Sinai amp Zion American Hebrew Bible scholar Jon D Levenson discusses the link between Sinai and the burning bush סנה seneh that Moses encountered at Mount Horeb in verses 3 1 6 of Exodus He asserts that the similarity of Sinay Sinai and seneh bush is not coincidental rather the wordplay might derive from the notion that the emblem of the Sinai deity was a tree of some sort 23 Deuteronomy 33 16 identifies YHWH with the one who dwells in the bush 24 Consequently Levenson argues that if the use of bush is not a scribal error for Sinai Deuteronomy might support the connection between the origins of the word Sinai and tree 23 According to Rabbinic tradition the name Sinai derives from sin ah ש נ א ה meaning hatred in reference to the other nations hating the Jews out of jealousy due to the Jews being the ones to receive the word of God 25 Classical rabbinic literature mentions the mountain having other names Har HaElohim הר האלהים meaning the mountain of God or the mountain of the gods 26 Har Bashan הר בשן meaning the mountain of Bashan however Bashan is interpreted in rabbinical literature as here being a corruption of beshen meaning with the teeth and argued to refer to the sustenance of mankind through the virtue of the mountain 26 Har Gebnunim הר גבנונים meaning the mountain as pure as goat cheese 26 Har Horeb הר חורב see Mount HorebAlso mentioned in most Islamic sources Tur Sinaʾ Tur Sinin طور سيناء سينين is the term that appears in the Quran and it means The mount of Sinai 27 28 29 Jabal Musa جبل موسى is another term that means The Mountain of Moses 26 Religious traditions EditChristianity Edit See also Saint Catherine s Monastery View down to the Saint Catherine s Monastery from the trail to the summit The earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal at the foot of which a monastery was founded in the 4th century it was only in the 6th century that the monastery moved to the foot of Mount Catherine following the guidance of Josephus earlier claim that Sinai was the highest mountain in the area citation needed The earliest references to Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai or Mount Sinai being located in the present day Sinai peninsula are inconclusive There is evidence that prior to 100 CE well before the Christian monastic period Jewish sages equated Jabal Musa with Mount Sinai Graham Davies of Cambridge University argues that early Jewish pilgrimages identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai and this identification was later adopted by the Christian pilgrims 30 31 R K Harrison states that Jebel Musa seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times culminating in its identification with Mt Sinai 32 full citation needed Saint Catherine s Monastery Greek Monὴ tῆs Ἁgias Aἰkaterinhs lies on the Sinai Peninsula at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of modern Mount Sinai in Saint Catherine at an elevation of 1 550 meters The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site According to the UNESCO report 60 100 ha Ref 954 and website below this monastery has been called the oldest working Christian monastery in the world although the Monastery of Saint Anthony situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo also lays claim to that title Christians settled upon this mountain in the 3rd century CE Georgians from the Caucasus moved to the Sinai Peninsula in the fifth century and a Georgian colony was formed there in the ninth century Georgians erected their own churches in the area of the modern Mount Sinai The construction of one such church was connected with the name of David the Builder who contributed to the erection of churches in Georgia and abroad as well There were political cultural and religious motives for locating the church on Mount Sinai Georgian monks living there were deeply connected with their motherland The church had its own plots clarification needed in Kartli Some of the Georgian manuscripts of Sinai remain there but others are kept in Tbilisi St Petersburg Prague New York City Paris or in private collections citation needed Islam Edit Main article Holiest sites in Islam A mosque at the top The peninsula is associated with Aaron and Moses who are also regarded as Prophets 20 In particular numerous references to the mount exist in the Quran 5 6 where it is called Ṭur Sina 33 Ṭur Sinin 34 and aṭ Ṭur 35 36 and al Jabal both meaning the Mount 37 As for the adjacent Wad Ṭuwa Valley of Tuwa it is considered as being muqaddas 38 39 sacred 40 41 and a part of it is called Al Buqʿah Al Mubarakah Arabic ٱل ب ق ع ة ٱل م ب ار ك ة The Blessed Place 36 Some modern biblical scholars explain Mount Sinai as having been a sacred place dedicated to one of the Semitic deities even before the Israelites encountered it 26 full citation needed Others regard the set of laws given on the mountain to have originated in different time periods from one another with the later ones mainly being the result of natural evolution over the centuries of the earlier ones rather than all originating from a single moment in time 42 full citation needed Suggested locations EditModern scholars differ as to the exact geographical position of Mount Sinai 26 The Elijah narrative appears to suggest that when it was written the location of Horeb was still known with some certainty as Elijah is described as travelling to Horeb on one occasion 43 but there are no later biblical references to it that suggest the location remained known Josephus specifies that it was between Egypt and Arabia and within Arabia Petraea a Roman Province encompassing modern Jordan southern modern Syria the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia with its capital in Petra The Pauline Epistles are even more vague specifying only that it was in Arabia which covers most of the south western Middle East Location Original identificationName Region Height m Coordinates Year AuthorJabal Maqla Tabuk Region Saudi Arabia 2 326 28 35 48 N 35 20 08 E 28 59674 N 35 33549 E 28 59674 35 33549Jabal al Lawz Tabuk Region Saudi Arabia 2 580 28 39 15 N 35 18 21 E 28 654167 N 35 305833 E 28 654167 35 305833 1984 Ron WyattHala l Badr volcano Al Madinah Region Saudi Arabia 1 692 4 p 131 27 15 N 37 12 E 27 25 N 37 2 E 27 25 37 2 1911 Alois Musil 44 4 p 131 Mount Serbal South Sinai Egypt 2 070 28 38 47 N 33 39 06 E 28 646389 N 33 651667 E 28 646389 33 651667Mount Catherine South Sinai Egypt 2 629 28 30 42 N 33 57 09 E 28 511667 N 33 9525 E 28 511667 33 9525Mount Sinai South Sinai Egypt 2 285 28 32 22 N 33 58 32 E 28 539417 N 33 975417 E 28 539417 33 975417Jabal Ahmad al Baqir Aqaba Governorate Jordan 1 076 29 35 57 N 35 08 36 E 29 59911 N 35 14342 E 29 59911 35 14342 1878 Charles Beke 45 Jebel al Madhbah Petra Jordan 1 070 30 19 19 N 35 26 51 E 30 321944 N 35 4475 E 30 321944 35 4475 1927 Ditlef Nielsen 46 Mount Sin Bishar North Sinai Egypt 29 40 16 N 32 57 40 E 29 671 N 32 961 E 29 671 32 961 1983 Menashe Har El 47 Mount Helal North Sinai Egypt 910 30 39 11 N 34 01 44 E 30 653 N 34 028861 E 30 653 34 028861Hashem el Tarif North Sinai Egypt 29 40 09 N 34 38 00 E 29 669217 N 34 633411 E 29 669217 34 633411Mount Hermon Anti Lebanon Lebanon 2 814 33 24 58 N 35 51 25 E 33 4162 N 35 8570 E 33 4162 35 8570 2010 Israel Knohl 48 Jabal Musa Edit Saint Catherine s Monastery The earliest references to Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai or Mount Sinai being located in the present day Sinai Peninsula are inconclusive There is evidence that prior to 100 CE well before the Christian monastic period Jewish sages equated Jabal Musa with Mount Sinai Graham Davies of Cambridge University argues that early Jewish pilgrimages identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai and this identification was later adopted by the Christian pilgrims 30 31 R K Harrison states that Jabal Musa seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times culminating in its identification with Mt Sinai 32 In the second and third centuries BCE Nabataeans were making pilgrimages there which is indicated in part by inscriptions discovered in the area 49 full citation needed In the 6th century Saint Catherine s Monastery was constructed at the base of this mountain at a site which is claimed to be the site of the biblical burning bush 50 Josephus wrote that Moses went up to a mountain that lay between Egypt and Arabia which was called Sinai Josephus says that Sinai is the highest of all the mountains thereabout and is the highest of all the mountains that are in that country and is not only very difficult to be ascended by men on account of its vast altitude but because of the sharpness of its precipices 51 The traditional Mount Sinai located in the Sinai Peninsula is actually the name of a collection of peaks sometimes referred to as the Holy Mountain peaks 52 53 full citation needed which consist of Jabal Musa Mount Catherine and Ras Sufsafeh Etheria circa 4th century CE wrote The whole mountain group looks as if it were a single peak but as you enter the group you see that there are more than one 54 The highest mountain peak is Mount Catherine rising 2 610 metres 8 550 feet above the sea and its sister peak Jabal Musa 2 285 m 7 497 ft is not much further behind in height but is more conspicuous because of the open plain called er Rachah the wide Mount Catherine and Jabal Musa are both much higher than any mountains in the Sinaitic desert or in all of Midian The highest tops in the Tih desert to the north are not much over 1 200 m 4 000 ft Those in Midian East of Elath rise only to 1 300 m 4 200 ft Even Jabal Serbal 30 kilometres 20 mi west of Sinai is at its highest only 2 050 m 6 730 ft above the sea 55 Some scholars 56 believe that Mount Sinai was of ancient sanctity prior to the ascent of Moses described in the Bible 56 full citation needed Scholars have theorized that Sinai in part derived its name from the word for Moon which was sin meaning the moon or to shine 57 full citation needed Antoninus Martyr provides some support for the ancient sanctity of Jabal Musa by writing that Arabian heathens were still celebrating moon feasts there in the 6th century 57 Lina Eckenstien states that some of the artifacts discovered indicate that the establishment of the moon cult in the peninsula dates back to the pre dynastic days of Egypt 58 She says the main center of Moon worship seems to have been concentrated in the southern Sinai peninsula which the Egyptians seized from the Semitic people who had built shrines and mining camps there 58 Robinson says that inscriptions with pictures of Moon worship objects are found all over the southern peninsula but are missing on Jabal Musa and Mount Catherine 59 full citation needed This oddity may suggest religious cleansing 60 full citation needed 61 Groups of nawamis have been discovered in southern Sinai creating a kind of ring around Jabal Musa 62 The nawamis were used over and over throughout the centuries for various purposes Etheria c the 4th 5th century CE noted that her guides who were the local holy men pointed out these round or circular stone foundations of temporary huts claiming the children of Israel used them during their stay there 63 full citation needed The southern Sinai Peninsula contains archaeological discoveries but to place them with the exodus from Egypt is a daunting task inasmuch as the proposed dates of the Exodus vary so widely The Exodus has been dated from the early Bronze Age to the late Iron Age II 64 65 full citation needed Egyptian pottery in the southern Sinai during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age I Ramesside periods has been discovered at the mining camps of Serabit el Khadim and Timna Objects which bore Proto Sinaitic inscriptions the same as those found in Canaan were discovered at Serabit el Khadim in the Southern Sinai Several of these were dated in the later Bronze Age 66 These encampments provide evidence of miners from southern Canaan 67 The remote site of Serabit el Khadem was used for a few months at a time every couple of years at best more often once in a generation The journey to the mines was long difficult and dangerous 68 Expeditions headed by Professor Mazar examined the tell of Feiran the principal oasis of southern Sinai and discovered the site abounded not only in Nabatean sherds but in wheel burnished sherds typical of the Kingdom of Judah belonging to Iron Age II 69 Edward Robinson insisted that the Plain of ar Raaha adjacent to Jabal Musa could have accommodated the Israelites Edward Hull stated that this traditional Sinai in every way meets the requirements of the narrative of the Exodus Hull agreed with Robinson and stated he had no further doubts after studying the great amphitheater leading to the base of the granite cliff of Ras Sufsafeh that here indeed was the location of the camp and the mount from which the laws of God was delivered to the encampment of Israelites below 31 F W Holland stated 70 full citation needed With regard to water supply there is no other spot in the whole Peninsula which is nearly so well supplied as the neighborhood of Jabal Musa There is also no other district in the Peninsula which affords such excellent pasturage 55 Calculating the travels of the Israelites the Bible Atlas states These distances will not however allow of our placing Sinai farther East than Jabal Musa 55 Some point to the absence of material evidence left behind in the journey of the Israelites but Dr Beit Arieh wrote Perhaps it will be argued by those who subscribe to the traditional account in the Bible that the Israelite material culture was only of the flimsiest kind and left no trace Presumably the Israelite dwellings and artifacts consisted only of perishable materials 71 full citation needed Hoffmeier wrote None of the encampments of the wilderness wanderings can be meaningful if the Israelites went directly to either Kadesh or Midian a journey of eleven days from Kadesh to Horeb can be properly understood only in relationship to the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula 32 Local Bedouins who have long inhabited the area have identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai In the 4th century CE small settlements of monks set up places of worship around Jabal Musa An Egyptian pilgrim named Ammonius who had in past times made various visits to the area identified Jabal Musa as the Holy Mount in the 4th century Empress Helena c 330 CE built a church to protect monks against raids from nomads She chose the site for the church from the identification which had been handed down through generations through the Bedouins She also reported the site was confirmed to her in a dream 72 73 74 The Sinai peninsula has traditionally been considered Sinai s location by Christians although the peninsula gained its name from this tradition and was not called that in Josephus time or earlier 26 The Sinai was earlier inhabited by the Monitu and was called Mafkat or Country of Turquoise Bedouin tradition considered Jabal Musa which lies adjacent to Mount Catherine to be the biblical mountain 26 and it is this mountain that local tour groups and religious groups presently advertise as the biblical Mount Sinai Evidently this view was eventually taken up by Christian groups as well as in the 16th century a church was constructed at the peak of this mountain which was replaced by a Greek Orthodox chapel in 1954 Mount Serbal Southern Sinai Peninsula Edit In early Christian times a number of Anchorites settled on Mount Serbal considering it to be the biblical mountain and in the 4th century a monastery was constructed at its base 75 Nevertheless Josephus had stated that Mount Sinai was the highest of all the mountains thereabout 76 which would imply that Mount Catherine was actually the mountain in question if Sinai was to be sited on the Sinai peninsula at all 26 Northern Sinai Peninsula Edit According to textual scholars in the JE version of the Exodus narrative the Israelites travel in a roughly straight line to Kadesh Barnea from the Yam Suph literally meaning the Reed Sea but considered traditionally to refer to the Red Sea and the detour via the south of the Sinai peninsula is only present in the Priestly Source 14 77 A number of scholars and commentators have therefore looked towards the more central and northern parts of the Sinai peninsula for the mountain Mount Sin Bishar in the west central part of the peninsula was proposed to be the biblical Mount Sinai by Menashe Har El a biblical geographer at Tel Aviv University 78 Mount Helal in the north of the peninsula has also been proposed 79 80 Another northern Sinai suggestion is Hashem el Tarif some 30 km west of Eilat Israel 81 82 Edom Nabatea Edit The Siq facing Petra s Treasury at the foot of Jebel al Madhbah Since Moses is described by the Bible as encountering Jethro a Kenite who was a Midianite priest shortly before encountering Sinai this suggests that Sinai would be somewhere near their territory in Saudi Arabia 14 42 the Kenites and Midianites appear to have resided east of the Gulf of Aqaba 14 42 Additionally the Song of Deborah which some textual scholars consider one of the oldest parts of the Bible 14 portrays God as having dwelt at Mount Seir and seems to suggest that this equates with Mount Sinai 26 16 Mount Seir designates the mountain range in the centre of Edom Based on a number of local names and features in 1927 Ditlef Nielsen identified the Jebel al Madhbah meaning mountain of the Altar at Petra as being identical to the biblical Mount Sinai 83 since then other scholars who have also made the identification The valley in which Petra resides is known as the Wadi Musa meaning valley of Moses and at the entrance to the Siq is the Ain Musa meaning spring of Moses the 13th century Arab chronicler Numari stated that Ain Musa was the location where Moses had brought water from the ground by striking it with his rod The Jebel al Madhbah was evidently considered particularly sacred as the well known ritual building known as The Treasury is carved into its base the mountain top is covered with a number of different altars and over 8 metres of the original peak were carved away to leave a flat surface with two 8 metre tall obelisks sticking out of it these obelisks which frame the end of the path leading up to them and are now only 6 metres tall have led to the mountain being colloquially known as Zibb Atuf meaning penis of love in Arabic Archaeological artifacts discovered at the top of the mountain indicate that it was once covered by polished shiny blue slate fitting with the biblical description of paved work of sapphire stone 84 biblical references to sapphire are considered by scholars to be unlikely to refer to the stone called sapphire in modern times as sapphire had a different meaning and wasn t even mined before the Roman era 85 Unfortunately the removal of the original peak has destroyed most other archaeological remains from the late Bronze Age the standard dating of the Exodus that might previously have been present Arabian Peninsula Edit See also Hijaz Mountains and Midian Mountains Midian Some have suggested a site in Saudi Arabia also noting the Apostle Paul s assertion in the first century CE that Mount Sinai was in Arabia although in Paul s time the Roman administrative region of Arabia Petraea would have included both the modern Sinai peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia A volcano Edit A suggested possible naturalistic explanation of the biblical devouring fire is that Sinai could have been an erupting volcano this has been suggested by Charles Beke 86 full citation needed Sigmund Freud 87 full citation needed and Immanuel Velikovsky among others This possibility would exclude all the peaks on the Sinai peninsula and Seir but would make a number of locations in north western Saudi Arabia reasonable candidates In 1873 C Beke proposed Jebel Baggir which he called the Jabal al Nour meaning mountain of light a volcanic mountain at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba with Horeb being argued to be a different mountain the nearby Jebel Ertowa 88 Beke s suggestion has not found as much scholarly support as the suggestion that Mount Sinai is the volcano Hala l Badr as advocated by Alois Musil in the early 20th century J Koenig in 1971 89 full citation needed and Colin Humphreys in 2003 90 full citation needed among others Jabal al Lawz Edit A possible candidate within the Arabia theory has been that of Jabal al Lawz meaning mountain of almonds Advocates for Jabal al Lawz include L Moller 91 full citation needed as well as R Wyatt 92 R Cornuke and L Williams 93 94 A Kerkeslager believes that the archaeological evidence is too tenuous to draw conclusions but has stated that Jabal al Lawz may also be the most convincing option for identifying the Mt Sinai of biblical tradition and should be researched 95 A number of researchers support this hypothesis while others dispute it c One of the most recent developments has been the release of a documentary 96 which identifies a peak within the Jabal al Lawz mountain range Jabal Maqla as Mount Sinai 96 the film includes video and photographic evidence in the project 97 98 Jabal al Lawz has been rejected by scholars such as J K Hoffmeier who details what he calls Cornuke s monumental blunders and others 4 99 G Franz published a refutation of this hypothesis citation needed The Negev Edit While equating Sinai with Petra would indicate that the Israelites journeyed in roughly a straight line from Egypt via Kadesh Barnea and locating Sinai in Saudi Arabia would suggest Kadesh Barnea was skirted to the south some scholars have wondered whether Sinai was much closer to the vicinity of Kadesh Barnea itself Halfway between Kadesh Barnea and Petra in the southwest Negev desert in Israel is Har Karkom which Emmanuel Anati excavated and discovered to have been a major Paleolithic cult centre with the surrounding plateau covered with shrines altars stone circles stone pillars and over 40 000 rock engravings although the peak of religious activity at the site dates to 2350 2000 BCE the exodus is dated 15 Nisan 2448 Hebrew calendar 1313 BCE 100 and the mountain appears to have been abandoned between 1950 and 1000 BCE Anati proposed that Jabal Ideid was equatable with biblical Sinai 101 102 Other scholars have criticised this identification as in addition to being almost 1000 years too early it also appears to require the wholesale relocation of the Midianites Amalekites and other ancient peoples from the locations where the majority of scholars currently place them 103 Mount Hermon Edit According to contested research by I Knohl 2012 104 full citation needed Mount Hermon is actually the Mount Sinai mentioned in the Hebrew Bible with the biblical story reminiscent of an ancient battle of the northern tribes with the Egyptians somewhere in the Jordan valley or Golan heights 48 In art EditUnidentified or imagined location Edit 1723 Moses on Mount Sinai by Jean Leon Gerome 1895 1900 Mass revelation at Mount Sinai in an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company 1907 God Appears to Elijah on Mount Horeb 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von KarolsfeldJabal Musa Edit Mount Sinai depicted on late medieval Georgian manuscript Published by French cartographer Alain Manesson Mallet 1719 16th century Mount Sinai by El Greco 1570 1572See also EditLaw given to Moses at Sinai Stations of the ExodusFootnotes Edit The years between the 1830s and the 1870s which mark the highpoint of the Sinai controversy witnessed the rise of European countries into worldwide economic and political prominence The 1856 Treaty of Paris ensured better access for Europeans into Ottoman territory and casual visitors collected intelligence alongside antiquities The peninsula was strategically situated on the sea route from the Mediterranean to India through the Suez Canal which opened to traffic in 1869 a few months after the conclusion of the Ordnance Survey Manginis 2015 3 Now that Rameses is known to be located at Qantir in the Sharkiya province of the east Delta this means that Beke s proposed site of Hermann Gunkel Hugo Gressman Martin Noth and Jean Koenig They all thought that the biblical descriptions of the theophany at Mt Sinai described volcanic activity and since there was no evidence of volcanoes in Sinai that northern Arabia was the more likely Hoffmeier 2005 4 p 131 The proponents of Jebel al Lawz do not agree on the crossing site of the Red Sea in the Gulf of Akaba Eilat One group consisting of R Wyatt J Pinkoski and L Moller suggests that the Israelites crossed at Nuweiba The other group consisting of J Irwin R Cornuke L Williams R Knuteson K Kluetz and K Durham argues for the Strait of Tiran Franz 2007 Problems with the Gulf of Akaba Eilat Crossings citation needed References Edit Exodus 19 Coogan Michael David The Old Testament A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures Oxford University Press USA 2017 pg 108 Manginis George 2015 Pillar of Fire or Dust Jabal Musa in the nineteenth century Proceedings of the Multidisciplinary Conference on the Sinai Desert Multidisciplinary Conference on the Sinai Desert via Academia edu a b c d Hoffmeier J K 2005 online Ancient Israel in Sinai Oxford University Press p 133 ISBN 978 0 19 515546 4 via Google Books a b Sharif J Herklots G A 1832 Qanoon e Islam Or The Customs of the Moosulmans of India Comprising a Full and Exact Account of Their Various Rites and Ceremonies from the Moment of Birth Till the Hour of Death Parbury Allen and Company koh e toor a b Abbas K A 1984 The World is My Village A Novel with an Index Ajanta Publications a b Exodus 19 16 Exodus 19 18 Exodus 24 17 a b Exodus 19 20 Exodus 20 22 Exodus 19 20 www sefaria org Retrieved Oct 14 2022 Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer 41 a b c d e Peake s commentary on the Bible a b Peake s commentary on the Bible a b Judges 5 4 5 Exodus 20 18 19 Deuteronomy 4 10 12 Harris J Rendel 1902 Sinai Mount In Hastings J ed A Dictionary of the Bible a b Jacobs J Seligsohn M Bacher W 1906 Mount Horeb Jewish Encyclopedia Stalker D M G 1963 Exodus In Black Matthew Rowley H H eds Peake s Commentary on the Bible 2nd ed Thomas Nelson 178c Albright William Foxwell 1957 From Stone Age to Christianity Doubleday Anchor Book a b Levenson Jon 1985 Sinai and Zion An entry into the Jewish Bible New York NY HarperOne pp 20 21 ISBN 978 0 06 254828 3 The new Oxford annotated Bible with the Apocryphal Deuterocanonical books in Hebrew Coogan Michael David Brettler Marc Zvi Newsom Carol A Carol Ann 1950 Perkins Pheme 3rd ed New York Oxford University Press 2001 p 306 ISBN 0 19 528478 X OCLC 46381226 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Breslov Judaism with Heart breslov org Archived from the original on 2015 09 23 Retrieved 19 March 2018 a b c d e f g h i j Jewish Encyclopedia Sharif Jaʻfar 1832 Qanoon e Islam Or the Customs of the Moosulmans of India Parbury Allen and Company Retrieved 19 March 2018 via Google Books Comprising a full and exact account of their various rites and ceremonies from the moment of birth till the hour of death Abbas Khwaja Ahmad 19 March 1984 The World is My Village A Novel with an Index Ajanta Publications Retrieved 19 March 2018 via Google Books Daily Times Daily Times Retrieved 19 March 2018 a b Davies Graham 1979 Wilderness pp 23 24 a b c Hobbs Joseph J 19 February 2014 Mount Sinai Social Science University of Texas Press a b c Harrison R K n d Hoffmeier J K ed Bible Encyclopedia Quran 23 20 Translated by Yusuf Ali Quran 95 2 Translated by Yusuf Ali Quran 2 63 93 a b Quran 28 3 86 Quran 7 103 156 Quran 20 9 99 Quran 79 15 25 Ibn Kathir 2013 01 01 al Ahmad Mohammad Hilmi Dr ed Stories of the Prophets قصص الأنبياء انكليزي Dar al Kotob al Ilmiyah Arabic د ار ال ـك ـت ـب ال ـع ـل ـم ـي ـة ISBN 978 2745151360 Elhadary Osman 2016 02 08 11 15 Moses in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism Christianity and Islam A call for peace BookBaby ISBN 978 1483563039 a b c Cheyne and Black Encyclopedia Biblica 1 Kings 19 8 Musil A 1926 1911 Im nordlichen Hegaz English ed Wien pp 215 amp 298 Beke C 1878 Sinai in Arabia and of Median via Internet Archive archive org Nielsen Ditlef 1927 The Site of the Biblical Mount Sinai A claim for Petra P Geuthner via Google Books Menashe Har El The Sinai Journeys The Route of the Exodus a b Pharaoh s war with the Israelites The untold story Azure azure org il Retrieved 2021 01 06 Botterweck G Johannes Ringgren Helmer Fabry Heinz Josef eds Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament Vol 10 p 235 Home page Sinai Monastery sinaimonastery com Retrieved 19 March 2018 Josephus Flavius The Antiquities of the Jews II xii 1 III v 1 Mount Sinai and the Peak of Mount Musa or Mousa Touregypt net Retrieved 2014 12 01 Wilson John Marius Finden Edward Francis Finden William eds Landscapes of Interesting Localities Mentioned in the Holy Scriptures p 36 McClure M L Feltoe C L eds 1919 The Pilgrimage of Etheria translators editors London UK Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge p 2 a b c Bible Map Mount Sion Mount Sinai Bible Atlas bibleatlas org Retrieved 2014 12 01 a b Ewald Hist ii 43 45 103 Di W R Smith Rel Sem 2 p 117 f Sayce EHH 188 DB iv 536b Burney Journ of Theol Studies ix 1908 p 343 f a b Chisholm Hugh ed n d The Encyclopaedia Britannica A Dictionary of Arts amp Sciences Vol 25 p 139 a b Eckenstien Lina 1921 A History of Sinai London UK Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge p 13 Dr Robinson s Biblical Researches vol i p 188 The Jewish Nation Ulan Press p 352 Containing an account of their manners and customs and rites See also Deut 12 2 3 II Chron 34 3 7 and Exodus 32 20 Centre for Sinai Archived from the original on 2016 05 17 Retrieved 2014 12 01 Egeria Diary of a pilgrimage Translated by Gingas George E New York NY Mahwah NJ The Newman Press 1970 p 57 Bimson John J Livingston David September October 1987 Redating the Exodus Biblical Archaeology Review pp 40 48 51 53 66 68 Rendsburg Gary A The Bible and the Ancient Near East p 171 Beit Arieh Itzhaq 1987 Canaanites and Egyptians at Serabit el Khadim In Rainey Anson F ed Egypt Israel Sinai Archaeological and historical relationships in the Biblical period Tel Aviv Israel Tel Aviv University Press pp 63 65 Mumford Gregory D 2001 Sinai In Redford Donald B ed The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt Vol 3 p 288 Serabit el Khadem Archaeology tau ac il 2012 08 05 Retrieved 2014 12 01 Aharoni Yohanan 1962 1961 Kadesh Barnea and Mount Sinai In Rothenberg Beno ed God s Wilderness Discoveries in Sinai New York NY Thomas Nelson amp Sons p 166 Holland F W Recovery of Jerusalem p 524 Beit Arieh Itzhaq May June 1988 The route through Sinai BAR 14 3 37 Eckenstein Lina 1980 1921 A History of Sinai reprint ed London UK amp New York NY AMS Press p 99 ft note 1 178 179 Bentley James 1986 Secrets of Mount Sinai New York NY Doubleday p 58 Orbis London 1985 Deen E 1959 Great Women of the Christian Faith reprint ed New York NY Westwood NJ Harper amp Row Barbour amp Co pp 7 10 Sinai New Advent The Catholic Encyclopedia Flavius Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2 12 Richard Elliott Friedman Who wrote the Bible Menashe Har El The Sinai Journeys The Route of the Exodus Jarvis C S 1938 The forty years wandering of the Israelites Palestine Exploration Quarterly 70 25 40 doi 10 1179 peq 1938 70 1 25 de Geus C H J 1977 Kadesh Barnea Some geographical and historical remarks In Brongers Hendrik Antonie ed Instruction and Interpretation Studies in Hebrew Language Palestinian archaeology and biblical exegesis Leiden Brill Archive ISBN 90 04 05433 2 The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map Gebel Khashm el Tarif Jebel Hashem al Taref Hashem el Tarif Mount Sinai Ancient Temple The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map Megalithic co uk Retrieved 2014 12 01 Simcha Jacobovici The Real Mount Sinai Ditlef Nielsen The Site of the Biblical Mount Sinai a claim for Petra 1927 Exodus 24 10 Cheyne and Black Encyclopedia Biblica Hoshen Charles Beke Mount Sinai a Volcano 1873 Sigmund Freud Moses and Monotheism 1939 Beke Charles 1878 Sinai in Arabia and of Median Koenig Jean 1971 Le site de Al Jaw dans l ancien pays de Madian journal name missing Humphreys Colin n d The Miracles of Exodus A scientist s discovery of the extraordinary natural causes of the biblical stories Moller L The Exodus Case New discoveries of the historical Exodus Kelly Mark 17 June 2005 In Search of Noah s Ark Wyatt s quest Part 8 Baptist Press Retrieved 3 December 2010 Williams Larry 1997 1990 The Mountain of Moses The discovery of Mount Sinai reprint ed New York NY Wynwood Press p 182 Reprint title The Discovery of Mount Sinai Wilson Jennifer 11 August 2006 Is Noah s Ark on mount ain in Iran Man scours the world looking for religious artifacts Deseret Morning News Archived from the original on 2012 07 07 Retrieved 19 December 2007 Bob Cornuke doesn t have a degree in archaeology he holds a doctorate in Bible and theology from Louisiana Baptist University Kerkeslager Allen 1998 Jewish Pilgrimage and Jewish Identity In Frankfurter David ed Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt Brill pp 212 213 ISBN 978 9004111271 Retrieved 1 April 2016 a b Finding the Mountain of Moses The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia documentary film Doubting Thomas Research Foundation Home Sinai in Arabia Retrieved 2019 03 04 Home Jabal Maqla Retrieved 2019 03 04 Jameson John H Ehrenhard John E Finn Christine eds 2003 Ancient Muses Archaeology and the arts University of Alabama Press p 179 ISBN 978 0 8173 1274 9 via Google books Ex 16 1 7 13 Tal Kid 38a Emmanuel Anati The riddle of Mount Sinai Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom 2001 Mount Sinai has been found Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom www harkarkom com Retrieved 19 March 2018 Shanks Hershel March April 2014 Where is Mount Sinai The case for Har Karkom and the case for Saudi Arabia Biblical Archaeology Review Retrieved 28 March 2015 Knohl I 2012 Ha Shem The secret numbers of the Hebrew Bible and the mystery of the Exodus from Egypt Bibliography EditHoffmeier J K 6 October 2005 Ancient Israel in Sinai The evidence for the authenticity of the wilderness tradition Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 988260 1 External links Edit Media related to Mount Sinai Bible at Wikimedia Commons Sinai The Catholic Encyclopedia via NewAdvent org The Lost Mountain Time 1956 12 03 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mount Sinai Bible amp oldid 1153030015, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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