Mount Sinai

“ I saw the Red Sea and I climbed the height of Mount Sinai (jugum Sina Montis) , the summit of which almost touches heaven and cannot be reached by human effort. A hermit was said to live somewhere in its recesses, and I sought long and much to see him, but was unable to do so. ”

“ Mount Sinai stands about 120 miles south from Jerusalem, and nearly 260 eastward from Grand Cairo in Egypt. The mountain is of no great extent, but extremely high, and has two tops; the western of which is called Horeb, and the eastern, which is about a third higher, Sinai. There are several springs and fruit-trees on Horeb, but nothing except rainwater [261] on the top of Sinai. The ascent of both is very steep, and can only be effected by steps, now much effaced, which the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, caused to be cut in the marble rock. ”

“ On the desert, sick or well, one must press on. It is death to stop long, although it may seem like death to move. And as we were within half a day's march of Sinai, it was worth rising up even from a sick bed to make a last effort.
We were now to cross a rugged pass, which leads over into the broad valley or plain that slopes to the foot of Mount Sinai. It is fitly called the Pass of the Winds, since it seems as if all the elements — not only winds, but floods and storms, and tempest in every form, with thunder and lightning — had been let loose to work the wildest ruin and confusion. ”

“ Whether this be so or not, the cleft is remarkable as a natural feature, and from its wild and impressive surroundings.
Nothing can exceed the savage grandeur of the view from the summit of Mount Sinai. The infinite complication of jagged peaks and varied ridges, and their prevalent intensely red and greenish tints, have been noticed by Pococke, Stanley, and other writers. [4] The natural red tints of the granite and porphyry seem to have been deepened and intensified (as I believe) by the rays of the sun; while in some places the rocks are blackened through the natural process of weathering. ”

“ And men always find interpreters to go with them in the countries, and further beyond, until they know the language. Travellers must carry with them victuals and other necessaries sufficient to last through those deserts.
Mount Sinai is called the Desert of Sin, that is to say, the burning bush; because there Moses saw our Lord God many times in form of fire burning upon that hill, and also in a burning bush, and spake to him. And that was at the foot of the hill. There is an abbey of monks, well built and well closed with gates of iron for fear of wild beasts. The monks are Arabians or Greeks ”

“ The width of the plain immediately in front of Sinai is about 1600 feet, but further south the width is much increased, so that on an average the plain may be considered as being nearly one-third of a mile wide, and its length, in view of Mount Sinai, between five and six miles. The good tenting-ground on the mountain sides mentioned above, would give much more space for the multitude on the great occasion for which they were assembled. This estimate does not include that part of the plain to the north, and Wady esh-Sheikh, from which the peak of Sinai is not visible ”

“ Now, to the north of the Gulf of Suez, and extending a distance of ten statute miles to the Bitter Lakes, there exists at the present day a neck of land, across which the Israelitish host might have marched into the wilderness of Etham on their way to Mount Sinai, and over which the army of Pharaoh, with its chariots, would probably have been unable to follow; at any rate (if the conditions had been the same then as now) there would have been no necessity for the performance of a miracle in dividing the waters of a sea which at the present day does not exist. ”

“ The dwellers on Sinai and in the oasis took an eager part in them at a later date.
That Mount Sinai to which I desire to transport the reader must not be confounded with the mountain which lies at a long day's journey to the south of it. It is this that has borne the name, at any rate since the time of Justinian; the celebrated convent of the Transfiguration lies at its foot, and it has been commonly accepted as the Sinai of Scripture. ”

“ LEAVING SINAI — PASSING THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS.
When one has made the pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, there follows the practical question, how to get back again. Travellers generally return direct to Suez, which is at once the nearest, the easiest, and the safest route. The distance from the Wells of Moses, where we took our camels, to the Convent, is one hundred and fifty-three miles, which can be passed over by vigorous marching in six days. But that is excellent travelling on the desert. ”

“ We could not see Mount Sinai on account of the mist, but made out the place where the Israelites are said to have crossed the Red Sea, and by four o'clock the town of Suez lay right ahead. The shores are very barren, not a blade of grass nor a scrap of vegetation being visible. Nothing is to be seen save mountain peaks, rocks, stones, and sand. But even this barren scene has a special beauty of its own, particularly at sunrise and sunset. ”

“ The Arabs call Mount Sinai by the name of Tor, that is, the mountain, by way of excellence; or Gibel Mousa, “the mountain of Moses.” It is two hundred and sixty miles from Cairo, which is a journey of ten days. The wilderness of Sinai, where the Israelites continued encamped almost a year, and where Moses erected the tabernacle of the covenant, is considerably elevated above the rest of the country; the ascent to it is very craggy, the greater part cut out of the rock ”

“ All the earliest references in the Old Testament, as for example, Judges 5:4, 5 and Deut. 33:2, indicate definitely that Mount Sinai was at least near the Mount Seir range, if not identical with one of its peaks. ”

“ See [53] . "God occupied the summit of the eternal Mount Sinai; and led his people over the eternal mountains of Arabia Petraea; and this sense is preferable to the figurative one, that his ways or doings are predetermined front everlasting." - Newcome.
The epithets עד ad, and עולם olam, eternal, and everlasting, are applied to mountains and immense rocks, because no other parts of nature are less subject to decay or change, than these immense masses of earth and stone, and that almost indestructible stone, granite, out of which Sinai appears to be formed. ”

“ But for the present we have no water — only the mountains. But these are so grand that we are never weary of observing their giant masses, their varied forms, and the marvellous richness of their coloring. There is a certain fitness in Mount Sinai being a solid mass of granite: that the oldest and most enduring of rocks should furnish the throne for the announcement of a Law which, in its essential principles of justice, dates from the foundation of the earth, and will endure to all generations.
We have now before us objects which are older than Moses. ”

“ The late eminent Astronomer Royal, in his attempt to trace the events connected with the journeys of the Israelites to purely natural causes, has advanced the view that the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai were caused by the outburst of volcanic forces. If such had been the case we might have expected some evidence of volcanic action, or of a modern volcanic mountain, in this neighbourhood. Jebel Mûsa, however, together with all the mountain groups forming the southern extremity of the Sinaitic peninsula, consists of granitic and metamorphic rocks of immense geological antiquity ”

“ One day (7th March) is described as having been spent in Wady es-Sabaiyeh, or the plain before Mount Sinai. After having penetrated into this wady, he says: 'We took our course along the base of Jebel Deir, until we came to a point whence the peak of Sinai was no longer visible, because of the intervening point of Jebel Deir; then striking across Sebaiyeh to the right, keeping Sinai in view, we stopped to contemplate the scene. ”

“ While Moses on the top of Mount Sinai conversed with God, the people on the plain below adored, rebellious, the golden calf. Notwithstanding my youth, my spirit has no fears of incurring a like rebelliousness. I might converse with God in full security, if the enemy did not come to attack me in the sanctuary itself. ”

“ Early writers agree that no hermit or monk ever spent a night on the summit of the mountain. Nilus (c. 400) remarked that the height was generally avoided “since God conferred there with the people,” while Etheria and Antoninus Martyr simply noted that no hermit spent the night there. This fact Procopius (c. 550) connected with “heavenly phenomena.” At a later date the hermit Simeon, for a time, dwelt “on the summit of Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, a place deserted because of the restless Arabs.” ”

“ Be ready in the morning, that thou mayst forthwith go up into Mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand with me upon the top of the mount.
34:3. Let no man go up with thee, and let not any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the oxen nor the sheep feed over against it. ”

“ But in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai there is usually one uniform course of weather throughout the year, the winds blowing briskly during the day, and decreasing with the decrease of light. In the level parts of the desert, where the plain was as unbroken as a calm sea, our traveller observed that curious phenomenon called the mirage, or mimic lake, every object within the circumference of which appeared to be magnified in an extraordinary manner, so that a shrub might be taken for a tree, and a flock of birds for a caravan of camels. ”

“ Thus the oft-quoted legends of the Sinaitic Arabs are mere monkish traditions, adopted by Ishmaelitic ignorance. The great Lawgiver probably led his horde of fugitive slaves over the plains of El–Negeb and El–Tih, north of the so-called Sinaitic mountain-blocks, marching in small divisions like those of a modern Bedawi tribe; and we know from the latest surveys that the land, now alternately a fiery or frozen wilderness, was once well supplied with wood and water. The “true Mount Sinai” is probably some unimportant elevation in the Desert named by moderns after the Wanderings. ”

“ Afterwards (but not in this context) he spoke of “Mount Sinai in Arabia.” Sinai being the place where Moses received the revelation of the old Law, and where Elijah, too, received the revelation of the “still small voice,” I had assumed (at the time of reading the epistle) that Paul went to Mount Sinai in Arabia that he also might receive his revelation of the new Law of Christ. ”

“ Arriving in Egypt, he ascended the Nile to Cairo, viewed the pyramids, examined the mummy-pits; and then, with a select number of friends and attendants, departed across the desert to visit Horeb and Sinai, the wells of Moses, and other places celebrated in the Bible. This journey being performed in the heart of winter, he found Mount Sinai covered with snow, which did not, however, prevent his rambling about among its152 wild ravines, precipices, and chasms; when, his pious curiosity being gratified, he visited Ælau or Ailoth, the modern Akaba, and returned by Suez to Cairo. ”

“ The Wâdy Nasb limestone was found to continue over a considerable region north of Mount Sinai, and was again recognised amongst the mountains of Moab on the east side of the Salt Sea in the Wâdy el Hessi. As this limestone rests upon a red sandstone foundation, this latter may also be assumed to be of the same geological age, and therefore cannot be the representative of the "Nubian Sandstone" of Rosiere, which (as Professor Zittel has shown) is of Cretaceous age. I propose to call this formation, therefore, "the Desert Sandstone." ”

“ GOD GIVES THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON MOUNT SINAI.
[Ex. 19—24.]
IN the third month [1] after their departure from Egypt, the Israelites came to Mount Sinai [2] , where they rested and pitched their tents. Moses ascended the mountain, and God appeared to him there, and said: “Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians and how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles and have taken you to Myself. ”

“ A mountain, meaning a place of eminence or power, in spiritual language signifies religion; Mount Sinai, from which the Mosaic law was delivered, means Judaism, and is contrasted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xii. 18-22, with Christianity, which is there called Mount Zion, and the heavenly Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is neither of these, but here symbolical of nominal Christianity, destined to be split asunder; leaving, however, a valley between the two parts for the escape of those not involved in this spiritual destruction ”

“ In barren and solitary places, where life at best was precarious and physical enjoyment impossible, every cave and den had its tenant. On Mount Sinai one hermit is said to have lived for fifty years in absolute solitude, silence, and nakedness. As you ride down the terrific gorges from Mar Saba to the Dead Sea, you{124} pass along precipitous hillsides and rock-faces which appear literally riddled with small caves and holes in the rock and sand. These, which now serve for a covert from the heat for passing shepherds, or for the lairs of jackals, were once populated by hermits. ”

“ Go to the people, and sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.
11 And let them be ready against the third day: for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about, and thou shalt say to them: Take heed you go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount dying he shall die. ”