Sinai in Biblical History

Bible History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

What is Sinai?
        SI'NAI
        a name of a peninsula and of a mountain, or group of mountains.


        1. The peninsula of Sinai is a triangular region lying between the two arms of the Red Sea. On the west it extends along the Gulf of Suez for about 190 miles, and on the east along the Gulf of Akabah about 130 miles, while the base of the triangle, on a line from Suez to the north end of Akabah, is 150 miles long. It includes an area of about 11,500 square miles, or a little less than that of Massachusetts and Connecticut.


        Physical Features. - This district consists largely of sterile ranges of mountains, furrowed by wadies, or valleys with watercourses, which are scantily filled only after a rain. Projecting into it wedgewise from the north is the desert of Tih, or "wilderness of wandering," of limestone formation. South of the hills of the Tih plateau is a broad belt of sandstone, extending nearly from Suez to Akabah. South of this is a great cluster of granite mountains, in such a rugged, tumbled chaos as scarcely to admit of classification, the highest peaks reaching to an elevation of between 8000 and 9000 feet. Between the mountains are deeply-cut valleys, through which a large company might march into the very heart of the mountain-region. The mountain-ranges extend down the east side of Suez and down the west side of Akabah, the two ranges meeting in an angle at the southern portion of the peninsula, where the mountains are the most precipitous and elevated, and where they often assume fantastic shapes and take on gorgeous colors. This huge range is composed of gneiss and granite, or, more exactly, of colorless quartz, felspar, green hornblende, and black slate, with Sinai and the plain of Er Rahah. (After photograph of Ordnance Survey) considerable outcropping of limestone. It is rich in mineral wealth of iron, copper, and turquoise, so that the Egyptians called it the "land of copper." Mines were once extensively worked in this region by the ancient Egyptians and others, but they have been long neglected. The most important were probably the mines of Maghara, situated on the slope of a precipitous mountain, about 145 feet from the bottom of the valley. The opening is broad but low, and the shaft penetrates the rock to a considerable depth, numerous pillars having been left to support the roof. From these a turquoise of a beautiful green color was taken, and copper was found together with a species of malachite. The miners were condemned criminals and prisoners of war. See a striking account of this mining in Ebers' Uarda.


        History. - This region was known and settled nearly as early as Egypt itself. The first Pharaoh, having conquered the mountain-tribes, claimed to have discovered the mines. The region was dependent on the Pharaohs until the time of the Hyksos kings; after their expulsion the region was again subdued by Egypt, but possesses its chief interest from the journey of the Israelites, who wandered in it for forty years previous to their entrance into Canaan. Christianity was planted here very early, perhaps by Paul; the peninsula was annexed to the Roman empire, a.d. 105. In the fourth century it was peopled by anchorites and various brotherhoods of hermits and monks, their principal settlement being on Mount Serbal and in the Wady Feiran. They suffered terrible massacres from the Saracens, a.d. 373 to a.d. 411. In the reign of Justinian a church of the Virgin was founded on Mount Sinai. Later, the Mohammedans overran the peninsula, and its lonely valleys have been, and are still, traversed by hosts of Mecca pilgrims. Numerous inscriptions have been found in several of the valleys of the peninsula, but chiefly in the Wady Mukatteb, or the "written" valley. Ebers counted more than a hundred inscriptions, chiefly in groups, occurring quite frequently in a few hours' travel. Most of them are on the western side of the valleys. They were once regarded as very mysterious, some supposing them to have been made by the Israelites. The inscriptions are mostly in the Nabataean character, but some are in Greek, and a few in Coptic and Arabic. They are roughly engraved on the rock, which was seldom smoothed for the purpose, and the little figures are often extremely rude and inartistic. They represent armed men, travellers and warriors, camels, horses with and without riders, goats, stars, crosses, and ships; a priest with raised arms and an equestrian performer are also among the figures worthy of notice. They are now believed to be not older than the second century before Christ, while some are not older than the fourth century of the Christian era. Among the highest summits in the peninsula are Jebel (the Arabic word for "mount") Serbal, 6734 feet; Jebel Musa, 7363 feet; Jebel Umm Shomer, 8449 feet; Jebel Katharina, 8536 feet; Jebel Zebir, 8551 feet.


        1. "Sinai "is also used to designate the range of mountains from which the Israelites received the Law. The attempt to decide which of the numerous peaks in this extended range is the true Mount of the Law has been a source of protracted and animated discussion. In determining its identity with any existing peak several conditions must be met:
        (1) The mountain must have before it an open space within sight of the summit, Ex 19:11; Ex 20:18, large enough to contain at least two millions of people;
        (2) It must rise sharply from the plain, since the people "came near and stood under the mountain," Deut 4:11; it "might be touched," Heb 12:18; and Moses was commanded to "set bounds . . . round about," Ex 19:12; (3) As the Israelites remained in the neighborhood for a year, they must have found a sufficient supply of water and pasturage. At least five mountains have been at different times identified with the Mount of the Law, but two of these, Jebel el-Ejmeh and Jebel Umm Alawi, do not at all fulfil the conditions, and must be set aside.


        Josephus says that Mount Sinai was the highest of the district, and this led to its identification with Jebel Katharina (8536 feet high), and its twin peak Jebel Zebir (8551 feet). But the mountains surrounding these summits so hem them in that they are not visible from any place in the neighborhood where a large number of people could be assembled. The question was thus narrowed down to Jebel Serbal, Jebel Musa, and Ras Sufsafeh. Jebel Serbal is described by Wilson (Bible Educator, iv. p. 186) as "perhaps the most striking mountain in the peninsula. It rises abruptly to a height of more than 4000 feet above the valley at its base [6734 feet above the sea-level], and its summit, a sharp ridge about 3 miles in length, is broken into a series of peaks, varying little in altitude, but rivalling each other in the beauty and grandeur of their outline." There are "some ten or twelve peaks, which vary so little in altitude that when seen from lower ground or from a distance the eye fails to distinguish the highest." Evidently the true Sinai is not to be sought in such a confusion. Nor is there any place in the neighborhood for the encampment of a large host. Holland (Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 410) describes the valleys at its base as "a wilderness of boulders and torrent-beds," and the space between the valleys as "a chaos of rugged mountains."


        The members of the Ordinance Survey unanimously reached the conclusion that the real Sinai was to be found in Jebel Musa, including its peak Ras Sufsafeh, which is situated a little north-west of the centre of the Sinaitic group, and some 20 miles east by south of Jebel Serbal. "Jebel Musa" is the general name applied to a mountain-mass, 2 miles long and 1 mile broad, which extends north-east and south-west. At its southern extremity is a peak 7363 feet in height, to which the name of "Jebel Musa" ("Mount of Moses") has been for ages applied. This is the traditional mount of legislation. Ras Sufsafeh, which was formerly thought to be a separate mountain, is now known to be only a northern peak of this mass of Jebel Musa. This northern peak, 6937 feet in height, is now regarded as the place of the actual giving of the Law. To avoid confusion arising from this double use of the name "Jebel Musa," Wilson suggests "Musa-Sufsafeh" for the whole mountain, thus limiting the name of "Jebel Musa" to the southern peak. Many writers - Ritter, the great German geographer, among them - supposed that this southern peak was the scene of the giving of the Law, and that there was to the south of it a plain of great extent; but Dean Stanley describes the valley as "rough, uneven, and narrow," and the surveyors found no plain which would accommodate the hosts of Israel. At the northern end of the mountain, however, all the conditions are met in the peak of Ras Sufsafeh. This whole block is isolated from the surrounding mountains by deep valleys, so that boundaries might have been set completely around it. Ex 19:12, Heb 12:23. To the north of Ras Sufsafeh, and extending to its very base is the plain of Er Rahah, 2 miles long and half a mile wide, embracing 400 acres of available standing-ground, directly in front of the mountain. The plain, with its branches, contains 4,293,000 square yards, in full view of the mount, affording more than sufficient standing-ground for the two millions of the Israelites. Here they might stand "at the nether part of the mount," Ex 19:17, which rises so abruptly from the plain as to answer the description of "the mount that might be touched." Heb 12:18. This fulfils all the conditions of the Scripture narrative; and the conclusion is that this stately, awful-looking, isolated mass Ras Sufsafeh is the very mountain where "the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount," Ex 19:20, and where "God spake all these words" of the ten commandments. Ex 20:1-17. The southern summit (Jebel Musa) is completely hidden from the plain, and Palmer suggests that it may have been to this secluded spot Moses went when the Lord called him up to the top of the mount. Ex 19:20. There, too, perhaps, he was "with the Lord forty days and forty nights." Ex 34:28. Near the base of Ras Sufsafeh is the Harun, or "hill of the golden calf."


        On the eastern declivity is the convent of St. Katharine, founded by the emperor Justinian in a.d. 527, where Tischendorf discovered the famous Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest and best manuscripts of the N.T. in existence. Four running streams are found in the vicinity, and there is no other spot in the whole peninsula which is nearly as well supplied with water as the neighborhood of Jebel Musa. Besides, there is no other district in the peninsula which affords such excellent pasturage as the neighborhood of Jebel Musa. We add the testimony of modern travellers. Dr. Robinson, on his visit in 1838, first ascended Ras Sufsafeh, and pointed it out as the true locality of legislation. In his account he says (Biblical Res. I. 107): "The extreme difficulty, and even danger, of the ascent was well rewarded by the prospect that now opened before us. The whole plain Er Rahah lay spread beneath our feet, with the adjacent wadys and mountains; while Wady esh-Sheikh on the right, and the recess on the left, both connected with and opening broadly from Er Rahah, presented an area which serves nearly to double that of the plain. Our conviction was strengthened that here, or on some of the adjacent cliffs, was the spot where the Lord 'descended in fire' and proclaimed the Law. Here lay the plain where the whole congregation might be assembled; here was the mount that could be approached and touched, if not forbidden; and here the mountain-brow where alone the lightnings and the thick cloud would be visible, and the thunders and the voice of the trump be heard when the Lord 'came down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.' We gave ourselves up to the impressions of the awful scene, and read, with a feeling that will never be forgotten, the sublime account of the transaction, and the commandments there promulgated, in the original words as recorded by the great Hebrew legislator. Ex 19:9-25; Ex 20:1-21."


        Dr. Schaff, who visited Mount Sinai in 1877, gives the following description (Through Bible Lands, p. 177): "Then we climb with difficulty, and some danger, over granite blocks to the giddy height of Ras Sufsafeh. Here, on a projecting rock, we rest an hour, looking down on the vast plain of Er Rahah and the adjoining wadys of esh Sheikh and Lejah, and looking beyond to the amphitheatre of mountains which wall them in and meditating over the past, which here assumes the character of a present overpowering reality, we are lost in amazement at the panorama of terrible sublimity of nature, and the immeasurable significance of that historic event which is felt to this day all over the world as far as the ten commandments are known and read. It is difficult to imagine a more solemn and impressive sight. We then descend a steep ravine (imagining that we follow the track of Moses, Ex 32:17, Acts 1:19), over confused heaps of rocks, to the valley Er Rahah, and return to our camp near the convent. It was the most fatiguing, as well as the most interesting, day's work of mountain-climbing I can remember. I fully satisfied my mind that Ras Sufsafeh is the platform from which the Law was proclaimed. Here all the conditions required by the Scripture narrative are combined. Moses may have received the Law on the higher Jebel Musa, but it must have been proclaimed to the people from Ras Sufsafeh, which can be seen from every part of the plain below. For Er Rahah is a smooth and gigantic camping-ground, protected by surrounding mountains, and contains, as has been ascertained by actual measurement, two millions of square yards; so that the whole people of Israel could find ample room and plainly see and hear the man of God on the rocky pulpit above. Dean Stanley relates that 'from the highest point of Ras Sufsafeh to its lower peak, a distance of about 60 feet, the page of a book, distinctly but not loudly read, was perfectly audible, and every remark of the various groups of travellers rose clearly to those immediately above them.' Descending from that mount through a ravine between two peaks, Moses and Joshua might have first heard the shouts of the people before they saw them dancing round the golden calf. Ex 32:17, Acts 1:19. In one word, there is the most complete adaptation of this locality to all the circumstances of the Sinaitic legislation as described by Moses.


        Tradition is for Jebel Musa, the Bible for Ras Sufsafeh. But, after all, they form but one mountain (as do the five peaks of Serbal), and tradition in this case is at least very near the truth."

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'sinai' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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