Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

>   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.

If I'm not mistaken, Frank Moore Cross, a very prominent scholar indeed, sees 
Mount Sinai
as located in Arabia. Personally, I do too. Perhaps the best location is 
Jebel al-Lawz on
the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba.

If we can rely on the Bible for its geography here, then Sinai/Horeb is 
associated with
Midian, Paran, and Seir. These areas all appear to be east of the Rift Valley 
in what is
today modern Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The identification of Sinai at the 
southern end of
the Sinai Peninsula is quite late (4th century CE?). The peninsula was named 
because of
this location rather than vice versa. It seems far more logical that Sinai be 
located east
of the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Hijaz.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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