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8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

10 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: "whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:

13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live : when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

14 ¶ And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud;

Chap. 24. 3. 7. Deut. 5. 27, and 26. 17.

7 Heb. 12. 20.

so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

18 And 'mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

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21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

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Verse 2. They were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the mount.-When the first edition of this work was published, the only satisfactory account of this region had been furnished by Burckhardt; and the task which then devolved upon us was to digest his scattered information, and apply it to the illustration of that portion of Scripture which relates to the encampment of the Israelites in this wilderness, and before the mounts from which the law was afterwards delivered to them. Since then the region has been visited by numerous travellers, American, Ğerman, English, and French, some of whom, particularly Dr. Robinson and Dr. Olin, have given much attention to the connection of the Scripture history with the geography of this region. From such sources we shall now be able to correct and improve our previous statements and reasonings, which, although necessarily produced under comparatively defective information, has proved substantially

correct.

The breadth of the peninsula of Sinai is intersected by the chain of mountains called et-Tih, which runs from east to west, and cuts off a triangular portion of the peninsula; and to this portion, forming the region to the south of the et-Tih chain, we shall, to avoid circumlocutory distinctions in our further statement restrict the term

'peninsula,' for it is to this part of the whole that our statement must exclusively refer. In the very centre of the peninsular region thus restricted, occurs the most elevated group of mountains, in which we are to look for the Mount Sinai of the Bible. This upper mountainous region, with its various vallies and ravines of different dimensions, may be described as being comprehended within a diameter of about forty miles. This central group is not connected with the intersecting chain of etTih; but is separated therefrom, not only by wide sandy plains and vallies, but by an intermediate and unconnected range of inferior mountains called Zebir. To the east, however, and to the south, the country between the central group and the gulf is more or less occupied by inferior eminences; while to the west-that is towards the Gulf of Suez-the upper group has an abrupt appearance, and no inferior mountains intervene, so that the country is left open from thence to the coast, where a low chain of calcareous mountains, called Jebel Heman, fronts the shore. The intermediate country between this ridge and the Upper Sinai is occupied by a wide gravelly plain or desert called el-Kaa, and which is regarded as the desert of Sin by those who place Elim near Tor. Thus much for the general physical features of the peninsula.

The two most elevated and conspicuous summits or

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peaks of the central group adjoin each other, and are respectively distinguished by the names of Jebel Katerin (Mount Catherine) and Jebel Musa (Mount Moses). The latter is regarded by tradition as the Sinai of Scripture. But besides these mountains there are two others very conspicuous, which, although they stand somewhat apart, and unconnected with the upper cluster, must in a general view be considered as belonging to it. These are Om Shomar, which fronts the upper cluster on the south-west, and is nearest towards the extremity of the peninsula and to the port of Tor; the other is Jebel Serbal, which fronts the upper group to the north-west, and is nearest to those who come from Suez, or any where in the northwest, to Sinai. It is certain, on every theory, that this Mount Serbal must have been the first of the Sinai mountains which the Israelites saw: and as Burckhardt's statements render it probable that pilgrims once looked upon it as the Sinai or Horeb of Scripture, it must be regarded as having some claims to attention which cannot be safely overlooked. But as we shall in such considerations be perplexed by the manner in which Sinai' and 'Horeb' seem to be mentioned in Scripture as convertible names, it will be well, in the first place, to obtain a distinct understanding on this point. In some passages of the Pentateuch the Law is described as having been delivered from Mount Horeb, and in others from Mount Sinai, and this is one of the apparent contradictions, of which scepticism has availed itself to throw doubt on the verity of the narrative, or at least to question that the books in which these seeming discrepancies occur were written by the same person. The answer to this has been by a reference to Jebel Musa, and its adjoining summit, Jebel Sufsafeh, as distinct but adjoining peaks of the same ridge of mountains; and it was doubtless under this view of the subject that the summits which now pass for Sinai and Horeb obtained the distinction they now bear. it does not appear to us how this answers the objection we have stated, because if Sinai and Horeb are only distinct summits of the same range, how could the same transaction take place in both at once, any more than if they were perfectly distinct mountains? From a careful examination of the various passages in which the names of Horeb' and 'Sinai' occur, we think it might be easy to shew that these names are different denominations of the same mountain. But it seems to us that it is susceptible of being still more distinctly shewn that Horeb' is the name of the whole mountainous region generally, while Sinai' is the name of the particular summit. We

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find that Horeb is usually spoken of as a region, the common form of expression being generally in Horeb,' and that where spoken of as a mountain, it is in the same general way as when we speak of Mount Caucasus, meaning thereby an extensive range of mountains. But Sinai' is usually named as a distinct mountain; on,' or 'upon Sinai,' being the most common mode of expression, as we should speak of a particular mountain or peak in a mountainous or any other region. We believe there is no instance in which the name of Horeb occurs so as to convey the idea of ascent, descent, or standing upon it, as a particular mountain, whereas these are invariably the ideas with which the name of Sinai is associated. It is true that there are two passages which appear to militate against this view, but when carefully considered, they do in fact confirm it. Thus in Exod. iii. 1, Moses. . . came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb;' and in 1 Kings xix. 8, Elijah goes unto Horeb, the mount of God.' In both these places it would be most obvious to understand that Horeb denotes the whole, and the mount of God' the part; which will be the more evident when it is recollected that the term mount of God' would be no distinction at all, unless the region were also mentioned: for this distinction is not peculiar to the mountain on which the Law was delivered; and although we believe that when the expression is applied to a mountain in the peninsula of Sinai, it does denote that particular mountain, it is right to state that it may, in the texts just quoted, only denote the eminency of the Horeb mountains, or of some particular mountain in the group; and might therefore be read Horeb, the great mountain,' or the great mountain in Horeb.' The Hebrew language has no proper superlatives, and therefore the words of God,' or of the Lord,' are added to denote greatness or superior excellence. Thus the expression mountains of God' means 'great mountains.' Our translation very properly retains the Hebraism where Mount Sinai, or the Mount Moriah of Jerusalem, on which the temple was built, are intended, but in other cases renders it by 'high' or 'great mountains' (as in Ps. xxxvi. 6). In Ezek. xlv. 15, the term 'mountain of God' is applied to what our translation rightly renders altar.' The reader who wishes to verify the view we have taken, will moreover find further confirmation by observing that actions are mentioned as having been done in Horeb,' which were certainly not done upon any particular mountain, but in the surrounding vallies or plains. Thus the Israelites are said to have 'made a calf in Horeb,' (Ps. cvi. 19)-certainly not in a

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mountain, but in the wilderness of Sinai while Moses was in the mountain. The rock smitten by Moses for water is called the rock in Horeb' (Exod. xvii. 6), which, according to the view we take, is compatible with the situation we have indicated for Rephidim; whereas those who regard Horeb as a particular mountain, and determine that mountain to be Jebel Katerin, have been necessarily obliged to fix the smitten rock in a wholly unsuitable situation, in the narrow valley of el-Leja at the foot of that peak. It also deserves to be noticed, that Josephus does not notice any mount called Horeb. He speaks exclusively of Mount Sinai, and after noticing the transaction at Rephidim, says that, on leaving that station, the Israelites went on gradually till they came to Sinai. [APPENDIX, No. 5.] These considerations simplify our task, for now we have only one mountain to seek as the 'Mount Sinai' of the Bible; and as it is possible that a mistaken view of the subject occasioned Mounts Musa and Sufsafeh to be regarded as the Sinai and Horeb of the Scriptures, we feel quite at liberty to deal freely with their claims. It is to be noted that the two highest summits of these upper mountains, Jebel Katerin and Jebel Musa, do not belong to the same ridge, but to two adjoining ridges; but that Jebel Musa and Jebel Sufsafeh are the two summits of the same ridge. The ridge of which Jebel Musa is the summit lies east of the other, and in the valley east of itself is the convent from which all travellers commence their ascent of the mountains. The ascent from the convent to Jebel Musa comprises all the points of traditional interest, and must therefore be briefly described.-Passing through the convent garden, the traveller comes to the narrow rocky slope that lies between the convent and the mountain. Then proceeding southward about a quarter of an hour, he comes to the ravine which leads up towards the top of Sinai. The ascent is difficult and laborious, though masses of granite have been arranged into a kind of stairs a great part of the way. The steps have been very variously

reckoned; but so many of them have been displaced that it would be difficult to count them accurately. The ravine is choked up in many places by rolling stones and many large masses of rock, which have been arrested in their descent from the higher regions of the mountain. Frequent detours are necessary to pass around projecting points of rock, so that at the end of an hour the traveller finds himself not more than half way up the toilsome steep. Several objects of interest however occur in the way to invite repose, and lighten the toil of the ascent. Beautiful fountains burst out of the rock and form a sparkling torrent, which runs along the bottom of the ravine, sinking sometimes under the shelving rocks and immense accumulations, and again re-appearing. One of these fountains, which tradition endues with many virtues, occurs at a short distance up the ascent, and which springs up in a deep grot formed by an overhanging mass of granite. About half an hour further on is a small chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. It is built of unhewn stones, and wholly destitute of elegance and ornament. Some short distance higher is a narrow gateway in the rock, where pilgrims used formerly to confess, and having obtained absolution from the priests, passed on with lightened hearts singing: Who shall ascend up into the hill of the Lord, or who shall rise up in his holy place? Even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, and that hath not lifted his mind up unto vanity.' These devotees, it is said, first received the sacrament at the chapel below, and leaving at this portal a ticket to that effect, were given another in exchange, which they left in like manner at another portal a slight distance above. This other portal admits the traveller into the small plain or valley which lies between the two summits now called Sinai (Jebel Musa) and Horeb (Jebel Sufsafeh). A tall but decaying cypress tree rises in the centre near a pool of water; and a small chapel dedicated to Elijah, is nigh at hand beneath a beetling precipice. Tradition indicates this as the spot

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where the word of God came unto that prophet saying, 'Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord;' and, a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord' (1 Kings xix. 11). Here also they shew the cave in which the man of God lodged; for he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and the mighty fragments of rent and torn masses of rock which are strewn about here in all directions, are regarded as illustrating both the rending of the mountains and the breaking in pieces of the rocks before the Lord.

The top of the mountain still rises high above the traveller: but the increasing sublimity of the view compensates for the toil of the ascent; and in about two hours or two hours and a quarter from his outset (without including stoppages) he stands upon the top of Sinai. The remaining two small buildings nearly cover the level in which the mountain terminates; the one is a Christian chapel and the other a mosque. The first is affirmed to cover the spot where the tables of the law were delivered to Moses. Below the mosque is a cave, down to which are steps; and here Moses is said to have dwelt when he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, and did neither eat bread nor drink water. Large stones lie scattered on the summit; and one of them of very great size, and, apparently once forming a part of one of the walls of the chapel, presents at its base a large hole by which one

may get beneath it; and this is gravely pointed out as the rock in whose cleft Moses was hidden while the glory of the Lord' passed by, and whence he was permitted to behold so much of that glory as mortal man might view. The height of this summit above the level of the sea is given by Rüppell as 7035 Paris feet, and that of the neighbouring summit of Jebel Katerin as 8063 Paris feet, as results of simultaneous barometrical observations made at Tor, and therefore having more claim to accuracy than any other estimates that have yet been offered.

The view from the summit of the alleged Sinai is of course less extensive than from Jebel Katerin. But it embraces all the points of interest in the upper region, and has been excellently described by Dr. Olin, in such a way as to give the reader a clearer idea of it than any other we have met with. He says:- The region through which our route had lain for several days, was spread out like a map before the eye, and the long ranges of limestone mountains, with the sandy vallies between them, formed striking objects. The view towards the west and northwest is less extensive. The higher summit of St. Catherine conceals the Red Sea and Suez, which are visible from its top. These remote objects, however, are not those in which I was most deeply interested. My face was fixed upon a field of perhaps thirty or forty miles in diameter, filled with mountains very similar, in their structure and

appearance, to Sinai, and embraced under that general name. I have seen nothing like them elsewhere, and I quite despair of giving an adequate idea of them by description. The pencil in a skilful hand might be more successful. There is nothing deserving the name of a chain or range of mountains. No one appears to be more than five to eight miles in length, and nearly all of them are much shorter. With a general and remarkable similarity in form and aspect, they are independent and distinct masses, separated by deep narrow valleys, which are sometimes visible, but generally concealed from the eye of the spectator on the top of Sinai. This circumstance often gives a cluster of separate mountains the appearance of one vast pile, surmounted by a number of lofty pinnacles. These summits, observed more carefully, or from other positions, are discovered to be the combs of short but distinct ridges, divided into a number of tall, slender peaks by deep ravines, which are formed by the dissolution of perpendicular strata of porphyry interposed between the more solid masses of granite. They remind one of the slender lofty towers that rise at intervals upon the walls of a Saracenic fortress.'

These mountains are not wholly destitute of verdure. Stunted trees and a few shrubs are occasionally found in deep vallies, where springs or rain supply the requisite moisture. But they are wholly unobserved in the general view, and lend not a single tint to the general aspect. Upon the lower sides of these mountains, and less frequently near their summits, are many immense masses of rock which occasionally present a smooth and unbroken surface. For the most part, however, the slopes of the mountain are full of shelves and cavities, formed by the dissolution of the less solid portions of the rock, which has the appearance of being a mere shell. The tall and slender masses which shoot up above the main body of the mountain, sometimes present a columnar appearance, and they occasionally remind one of the clustered ornaments of some old Gothic tower.

The colour of these mountains, although very various, is uniformly dark and sombre. In some of the less ele

vated masses the green-stone formation prevails, which being easily decomposed and diffused by the rains, tinges the whole region below with a dull yellowish green. Where porphyry predominates, it imparts its own hue to the higher portions of the mountains, and a number of considerable tracts have their surface of a brick-red colour; but by far the largest part of this singular collection of mountains is composed of red granite, whose bright and beautiful hues time and the elements have converted into a dull reddish brown. Other shades may prevail in particular localities; but these are such as predominate, and control the aspect of the whole. All is dark and gloomy in hue, and sublimely magnificent in altitude and form.

Of the summit at the other extremity of the same ridge, to which the monks give the name of Horeb, and which the Arabs call Jebel Sufsafeh, we shall speak in connection with the question respecting the identity of Sinai.

Jebel Katerin, the highest summit of the neighbouring ridge and of the whole region, derives its name, as the convent does also, from its connection with the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria, who, it is stated, first fled to Sinai, and whose body, after martyrdom at Alexandria, is said to have been removed by angels to the top of the mountain, where it was afterwards discovered, and removed to the convent. The ascent to this mountain is by way of the narrow valley which lies between the ridge of which it is the highest summit, and the neighbouring ridge of Sinai. It bears the name of el-Leja; and is remarkable chiefly as containing the rock which the monks affirm to be the one which Moses smote for water. This we have already considered in the note to ch. xvii. 1. This valley also contains an old forsaken convent called El Arbayn, or "The Forty,' from the circumstance that the Arabs once took it by surprise and slew the forty monks by whom it was occupied. Rüppell fixes the height of this convent at 5366 Paris feet above the sea, which he says is 400 feet higher than the great convent in the valley on the other side of the Sinai ridge. Passing through the garden of this convent the traveller soon reaches the base of Jebel

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