Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 4/20/2000 12:40:22 PM Central Standard Time, 
tmcos AT hotmail.com writes:

<< 
   I know this may be unrelated but I was wondering if any of you have heard 
 about a book wriiten by a Larry Williams arguing that the biblical Mt.Sinai 
 is not in the Sinai Peninsula but rather in Saudi Arabia. Paul mentions 
 Mt.Sinai being "in Arabia" in Gal 4:25. I know of no serious scholar that 
 has argued this. This may be just hype. Any thoughts? Thank you.
  >>

I forgot to mention that the Horeb tradition needs to be considered too.  
Again, _Anchor Bible Dictionary_, s.v. Sinai.


SINAI, MOUNT (PLACE) [Heb SiYNaY]. The hill or mountain (har) in the 
wilderness of Sinai at which Israel entered into a covenant with Yahweh after 
the release from Egyptian bondage, and where Moses received laws and 
instruction for the people before continuing on the wilderness journey.

A.  In the Bible
1.  Names. Mount Sinai is mentioned fifteen times in the books of Exodus, 
Leviticus, and Numbers as the place where Yahweh met with Israel and revealed 
his law, and in three poetic passages it is more generally the place where 
Yahweh “dwells” or from which he comes (Deut 33:2; Judg 5:5; Ps 68:9—Eng v 
8, note also v 18—Eng v 17). In Num 10:33 Sinai is called “the mountain of 
Yahweh” (elsewhere this name refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem). In 
Deuteronomy 1–28 and some passages in Exodus (3:1; 17:6; 33:6) and elsewhere 
(1 Kgs 8:9; 19:8; 2 Chr 5:10; Ps 106:9; Mal 3:22) the name Horeb is used, 
apparently for the same place. Traditional source-criticism of the Pentateuch 
has regarded “Sinai” as the name used in the Yahwist (J) and Priestly (P) 
documents, while “Horeb” was found in the Elohist (E) and Deuteronomic (D) 
sources. This did not of course account for the poetic and other 
non-Pentateuchal occurrences. More recently it has been suggested that all 
occurrences of the name “Horeb” are Deuteronomic-Deuteronomistic or later 
(Noth Exodus OTL; Perlitt 1977). A few passages refer to “the mountain of God 
(or gods?)” (Exod 3:1, with “Horeb”; 4:27; 18:5; 24:13), which the present 
text of Exodus equates with Sinai/Horeb: a few scholars have held that a 
different mountain may originally have been meant (see Davies 1979b: 68–69 
[bibl.]).

Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York: Doubleday) 
1997, 1992.

gfsomsel