Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Actually George, why do you assume that Midian is more securely located than
Sinai is? There is absolutely no extra-biblical evidence for either. But
everything that we do know about the Israelites' itinerary points to what we
now call the Sinai Peninsula. Especially Kadesh-Barnea, at which they
arrived AFTER Mount Sinai. Assuming that Kadesh is at Ein Qudeirat as
conventionally thought, it does not make sense that they crossed into Arabia
and then back to Kadesh.

Yigal Levin



-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of George Athas
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 8:25 AM
To: B-Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Seir Sinai

The current Sinai Peninsula is usually seen as the general region in which
Mt Sinai is located. However, if this is the case, there is a slight
inconsistency in that Sinai is associated with the region of Midian. The
region of Midian is located in northern Arabia, not in the Sinai Peninsula.
So this leaves us with three options regarding the location of Mt Sinai:


 1.  It was located in northern Arabia where Midian was.
 2.  Midian was much larger than we have thought to date and included parts
of the Sinai Peninsula on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba.
 3.  The various texts which talk about Sinai/Horeb are geographically
inconsistent, with one text placing it in the Sinai Peninsula and another in
northern Arabia.

Given these options, I think it's safe to say that we really do not know
precisely where Sinai was.

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au
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