Mount Sinai (, ''Har Sīnay'') is the mountain at which the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

were given to

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

by God, according to the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_ ...

, these events are described as having transpired at Mount Horeb. "Sinai" and "Horeb" are generally considered by scholars to refer to the same place. The location of the Mount Sinai described in the Bible remains disputed. The high point of the dispute was in the mid-nineteenth century.

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' theophany at Mount Sinai in terms which a minority of scholars, following

Charles Beke Charles Tilstone Beke (10 October 1800 – 31 July 1874) was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic. Biography Born in Stepney, London, the son of a merchant in the City of London, for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursui ...

(1873), have suggested may literally describe the mountain as a

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

. Mount Sinai is one of the most sacred locations in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Biblical description

The biblical account of the giving of the instructions and teachings of the Ten Commandments was given in the

, primarily between chapters 19–24, during which Sinai is mentioned by name twice, in . In the story Sinai was enveloped in a cloud, it quaked and was filled with smoke, while lightning-flashes shot forth, and the roar of thunder mingled with the blasts of a trumpet; the account later adds that fire was seen burning at the summit of the mountain. In the biblical account, the fire and clouds are a direct consequence of the arrival of God upon the mountain. 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 According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית ''lûḥōt habbǝrît'' "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן ' ...

after returning from the mountain for the first time. The biblical description of God's descent seems to be in conflict with the statement shortly after that God spoke to the Israelites from

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

. While biblical scholars argue that these passages are from different sources, the ''

Mekhilta Mekhilta ( arc, מְכִילְתָּא דְּרַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל IPA /məˈχiltɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation"; corresponding to the Mishnaic Hebrew ' 'measure', 'rule'), is used to denote a compilation of scriptura ...

'' argues that God had lowered the heavens and spread them over Sinai, 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. Several bible critics have indicated that the smoke and fire reference from the Bible suggests that Mount Sinai was a

;'' Peake's commentary on the Bible'' despite the absence of ash.Peake's commentary on the Bible Other bible scholars have suggested that the description fits a storm especially as the Song of Deborah seems to allude to rain having occurred at the time. According to the biblical account, God spoke directly to the Israelite nation as a whole. Sinai is mentioned by name in ten other locations in the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

: , , and . Sinai was also mentioned once by name in the rest of the Hebrew Bible in . In the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

referred directly to Sinai in ; 4:25.

Etymology and other names

According to the

Documentary hypothesis The documentary hypothesis (DH) is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). A ver ...

, the name "Sinai" is only used in the

by the

Jahwist The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversia ...

and

Priestly source The Priestly source (or simply P) is perhaps the most widely recognized of the sources underlying the Torah. It is both stylistically and theologically distinct from other material in the Torah, and includes a set of claims that are contradicted b ...

, whereas ''Horeb'' is only used by the

Elohist According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist (or simply E) is one of four source documents underlying the Torah,McDermott, John J., ''Reading the Pentateuch: A Historical Introduction'' (Pauline Press, 2002) p. 21. Via Books.google.com.au ...

and

Deuteronomist The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deuter ...

. 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 Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac C ...

deity of the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, 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: 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." Deuteronomy 33:16 identifies YHWH with "the one who dwells in the bush." 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. According to Rabbinic tradition, the name "Sinai" derives from ''sin-ah'' (), meaning ''hatred'', in reference to the other nations hating the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

out of jealousy, due to the Jews being the ones to receive the word of God. Classical

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic w ...

mentions the mountain having other names: * ''Har HaElohim'' (), meaning "the mountain of God" or "the mountain of the gods"''Jewish Encyclopedia'' * ''Har Bashan'' (), meaning "the mountain of

Bashan Bashan (; he, הַבָּשָׁן, translit=ha-Bashan; la, Basan or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of the Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Syria. Its western part, now ...

"; 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 * ''Har Gebnunim'' (), meaning "the mountain as pure as

goat cheese Goat cheese, or chèvre ( or ; from French ''fromage de chèvre'' 'goat cheese'), is cheese made from goat's milk. Goats were among the first animals to be domesticated for producing food. Goat cheese is made around the world with a variety of ...

" * ''Har Horeb'' (), see Mount Horeb Also mentioned in most Islamic sources: * ''Tūr Sīnāʾ / Tūr Sīnīn'' (), is the term that appears in the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

, and it means, "The mount of Sinai". * ''Jabal Mūsa'' (), is another term that means, "The Mountain of Moses".

Religious traditions

Christianity

The earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby

Mount Serbal Mount Serbal ( ar, Jebel Serbal, جبل سربال) is a mountain located in Wadi Feiran in southern Sinai. At high, it is the fifth highest mountain in Egypt. It is part of the St. Catherine National Park. It is thought by some to be the Bib ...

, 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 Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

' earlier claim that Sinai was the highest mountain in the area. 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 , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

argues that early Jewish pilgrimages identified Jabal Musa as Mount Sinai and this identification was later adopted by the Christian pilgrims. R.K. Harrison states that "Jebel Musa ... seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times, culminating in its identification with Mt. Sinai." Saint Catherine's Monastery ( Greek: ) lies on the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

, 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 The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

and is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. 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 The Monastery of Saint Anthony is a Coptic Orthodox monastery standing in an oasis in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, in the southern part of the Suez Governorate. Hidden deep in the Red Sea Mountains, it is located southeast of Cairo. The Mon ...

, 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 The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, ...

from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

moved to the

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 David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to b ...

, 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 in

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

. Some of the Georgian manuscripts of Sinai remain there, but others are kept in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, St. Petersburg,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, or in private collections.

Islam

The peninsula is associated with

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

and

, who are also regarded as Prophets. In particular, numerous references to the mount exist in the Quran, where it is called ''Ṭūr Sīnā’'', ''Ṭūr Sīnīn'', and ''aṭ-Ṭūr'' and ''al-Jabal'' (both meaning "the Mount"). As for the adjacent '' Wād Ṭuwā'' (

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

of Tuwa), it is considered as being ''muqaddas'' (

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

),) , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zx9LDwAAQBAJ , date=2013-01-01 , isbn=978-2745151360 and a part of it is called ''Al-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah'' ( ar, ٱلْبُقْعَة ٱلْمُبَارَكَة, "The Blessed Place"). 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. 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.Cheyne and Black, '' Encyclopedia Biblica''

Suggested locations

Modern scholars differ as to the exact geographical position of Mount Sinai. 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, but there are no later biblical references to it that suggest the location remained known;

specifies that it was "between Egypt and Arabia", and within

Arabia Petraea Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province ( la, Provincia Arabia; ar, العربية البترائية; grc, Ἐπαρχία Πετραίας Ἀραβίας) or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Emp ...

(a Roman Province encompassing modern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, southern modern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

with its capital in

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

). The

Pauline Epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ex ...

are even more vague, specifying only that it was in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

, which covers most of the south-western

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

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. R.K. Harrison states that, “Jabal Musa ... seems to have enjoyed special sanctity long before Christian times, culminating in its identification with Mt. Sinai." In the second and third centuries BCE

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic language, Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Pe ...

were making pilgrimages there, which is indicated in part by inscriptions discovered in the area. In the 6th century,

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...

was constructed at the base of this mountain at a site which is claimed to be the site of the biblical burning bush. 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". 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, which consist of Jabal Musa, Mount Catherine and Ras Sufsafeh.

Etheria ''Etheria: Ang Ikalimang Kaharian ng Encantadia'' (International title: ''Etheria: The Fifth Kingdom of Encantadia'') is a Philippine television drama fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. The series is the second installment of the Encan ...

(circa 4th century CE) wrote, "The whole mountain group looks as if it were a single peak, but, as you enter the group,

ou see that OU or Ou or ou may stand for: Universities United States * Oakland University in Oakland County, Michigan * Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama * Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia * Ohio University in Athens, Ohio * Olivet Univer ...

there are more than one." The highest mountain peak is Mount Catherine, rising above the sea and its sister peak, Jabal Musa (), 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 Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...

. The highest tops in the Tih desert to the north are not much over . Those in Midian, East of Elath, rise only to . Even Jabal Serbal, west of Sinai, is at its highest only above the sea. Some scholars believe that Mount Sinai was of ancient sanctity prior to the ascent of Moses described in the Bible.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. Scholars have theorized that Sinai in part derived its name from the word for Moon which was "sin" (meaning "the moon" or "to shine"). 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. 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." 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. 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. This oddity may suggest religious cleansing. Groups of '' nawamis'' have been discovered in southern Sinai, creating a kind of ring around Jabal Musa. The ''nawamis'' were used over and over throughout the centuries for various purposes.

, , 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. 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. 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. These encampments provide evidence of miners from southern Canaan. 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. Expeditions headed by Professor Mazar examined the tell of Feiran, the principal

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

, of southern Sinai and discovered the site abounded not only in Nabatean

sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are ...

s but in wheel-burnished sherds typical of the Kingdom of Judah, belonging to Iron Age II. 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. F.W. Holland stated "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." 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." 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." 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." 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, , 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. The

Sinai peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

has traditionally been considered Sinai's location by Christians, although the peninsula gained its name from this tradition, and was not called that in

' time or earlier. (The Sinai was earlier inhabited by the Monitu and was called ''Mafkat'' or ''Country of Turquoise''.)

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

tradition considered Jabal Musa, which lies adjacent to Mount Catherine, to be the biblical mountain, 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 In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites ar ...

settled on

, considering it to be the biblical mountain, and in the 4th century a monastery was constructed at its base. Nevertheless, Josephus had stated that Mount Sinai was "the highest of all the mountains thereabout", which would imply that Mount Catherine was actually the mountain in question, if Sinai was to be sited on the Sinai peninsula at all.

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 In the Exodus narrative, Yam Suph ( he, יַם-סוּף, ''Yam-Sūp̄'', Reed Sea) or Reed Sea, sometimes translated as Sea of Reeds, is the body of water which the Israelites crossed following their exodus from Egypt. The same phrase appears in o ...

'' (literally meaning "the

Reed Sea In the Exodus narrative, Yam Suph ( he, יַם-סוּף, ''Yam-Sūp̄'', Reed Sea) or Reed Sea, sometimes translated as Sea of Reeds, is the body of water which the Israelites crossed following their exodus from Egypt. The same phrase appears in o ...

", but considered traditionally to refer to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

), and the detour via the south of the Sinai peninsula is only present in the

Priestly Source The Priestly source (or simply P) is perhaps the most widely recognized of the sources underlying the Torah. It is both stylistically and theologically distinct from other material in the Torah, and includes a set of claims that are contradicted b ...

. 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 A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. Mount Helal, in the north of the peninsula has also been proposed. Another northern Sinai suggestion is

Hashem el-Tarif Hashem El Tarif is a mountain located in northeast Egyptian Sinai. According to Google Earth, the name of the mountain is "Gebel Khashm El Tarif", its coordinates being near 29°40'9.18"N and 34°38'0.28"E. Mount Sinai claims Hashem El Tarif is o ...

, some 30 km west of

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jorda ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Edom/Nabatea

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; the Kenites and Midianites appear to have resided east of the Gulf of Aqaba. Additionally, the Song of Deborah, which some textual scholars consider one of the oldest parts of the Bible, portrays God as having dwelt at

Mount Seir Mount Seir ( he, הַר-שֵׂעִיר, ''Har Sēʿīr'') is the ancient and biblical name for a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern region of Edom and southeast of the Kingdom of Judah. I ...

, and seems to suggest that this equates with Mount Sinai; Mount Seir designates the mountain range in the centre of

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

. Based on a number of local names and features, in 1927 Ditlef Nielsen identified the ''

Jebel al-Madhbah Jebel al-Madhbah ( ar, جبل المذبح, ', ''lit.'' "mountain of the altar") is a mountain at Petra, Jordan, at whose peak there is a large Nabataean ritual site centered around an altar. Description The mountain is c. high. The name, which ...

'' (meaning ''mountain of the Altar'') at

as being identical to the biblical Mount Sinai; since then other scholars 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

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

r 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

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

s 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

colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conve ...

ly known as ''Zibb 'Atuf'', meaning ''penis of love'' in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. Archaeological artifacts discovered at the top of the mountain indicate that it was once covered by polished shiny blue

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

, fitting with the biblical description of ''paved work of sapphire stone''; biblical references to ''sapphire'' are considered by scholars to be unlikely to refer to the stone called ''

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

'' in modern times, as ''sapphire'' had a different meaning, and wasn't even mined, before the Roman era. 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

Some have suggested a site in Saudi Arabia, also noting the

Apostle Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

's assertion in the first century CE that Mount Sinai was in Arabia, although in Paul's time, the Roman administrative region of

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

; this has been suggested by

,Charles Beke, ''Mount Sinai, a Volcano'' (1873)

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

, 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

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. 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 Alois Musil (30 June 1868 – 12 April 1944) was a Czech theologian, orientalist, explorer and bilingual Czech and German writer. Biography Musil was the oldest son born in 1868 into an poor farming family in Moravia (then Cisleithanian p ...

in the early 20th century, J. Koenig in 1971, and Colin Humphreys in 2003, among others.

Jabal al-Lawz

A possible candidate within the Arabia theory has been that of ''

Jabal al-Lawz Jabal al-Lawz ( ar, جَبَل ٱللَّوْز), also known as Gebel el-Lawz, is a mountain located in northwest Saudi Arabia, near the Jordanian border, above the Gulf of Aqaba at above sea level. The name means 'mountain of almonds'.Hoffmeier ...

'' (meaning 'mountain of almonds'). Advocates for Jabal al-Lawz include L. Möller as well as R. Wyatt, R. Cornuke, and L. Williams. 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. A number of researchers support this hypothesis while others dispute it. One of the most recent developments has been the release of a documentary which identifies a peak within the Jabal al-Lawz mountain range,

Jabal Maqla Jebal Maqla is a mountain located in northwest Saudi Arabia, near the Jordan border, above the Gulf of Aqaba, and is located in Tabūk, Saudi Arabia. Maqla is one of the tallest mountains in the Arabian Peninsula and the estimated terrain eleva ...

, as Mount Sinai; the film includes video and photographic evidence in the project. Jabal al-Lawz has been rejected by scholars such as J.K. Hoffmeier who details what he calls Cornuke's "monumental blunders" and others. G. Franz published a refutation of this hypothesis.

The Negev

While equating Sinai with

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 The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

desert in Israel, is ''

Har Karkom Har Karkom ( "Mountain of Saffron", also called Jabal Ideid) is a mountain in the southwest Negev desert in Israel, half way between Petra and Kadesh Barnea. On the basis that the Israelites travelled across the Sinai peninsula towards Petra in a ...

'', which Emmanuel Anati excavated, and discovered to have been a major

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

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 The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel ...

; 1313 BCE), and the mountain appears to have been abandoned between 1950 and 1000 BCE, Anati proposed that

Jabal Ideid Har Karkom ( "Mountain of Saffron", also called Jabal Ideid) is a mountain in the southwest Negev desert in Israel, half way between Petra and Kadesh Barnea. On the basis that the Israelites travelled across the Sinai peninsula towards Petra in a ...

was equatable with biblical Sinai. 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.

Mount Hermon

According to contested research by I. Knohl (2012) 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.

In art

Unidentified or imagined location

File:MountSinai1723.jpg, 1723 File:Gérôme, Jean-Léon - Moses on Mount Sinai Jean-Léon Gérôme -1895-1900.jpg, ''Moses on Mount Sinai'', by

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

, 1895–1900 File:The Ten Commandments (Bible Card).jpg, Mass-revelation at Mount Sinai in an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907 File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 117.png, ''God Appears to Elijah on Mount Horeb'', 1860 woodcut by

Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in religious ar ...

Jabal Musa

File:Mt. Sinai (Georgian MSS).jpg, Mount Sinai depicted on late medieval Georgian manuscript File:View of Mount Sinai, 1719.jpg, Published by French

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

Alain Manesson Mallet Alain Manesson Mallet (1630–1706) was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date ...

, 1719 File:Mt Sinai (Georgian miniature).jpg, 16th century File:El Greco - Mount Sinai - WGA10419.jpg, ''Mount Sinai'', by

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El ...

, 1570-1572

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Sinai Book of Exodus Disputed Biblical places Hebrew Bible mountains Moses Sacred mountains Shavuot Sinai Peninsula Stations of the Exodus Theophanies in the Hebrew Bible

Biblical description

Etymology and other names

Religious traditions

Christianity

Islam

Suggested locations

Jabal Musa

Mount Serbal, Southern Sinai Peninsula

Northern Sinai Peninsula

Edom/Nabatea

Arabian Peninsula

A volcano

Jabal al-Lawz

The Negev

Mount Hermon

In art

Unidentified or imagined location

Jabal Musa

See also

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

External links