Sinai: Of Sin (the moon god), called also Horeb, the name of the mountain
district which was reached by the Hebrews in the third month after
the Exodus. Here they remained encamped for about a whole year. Their
journey from the Red Sea to this encampment, including all the
windings of the route, was about 150 miles. The last twenty-two
chapters of Exodus, together with the whole of Leviticus and Num. 1
contain a record of all the transactions which occurred while
they were here. From Rephidim
(Exodus 17:8-13) the Israelites journeyed
forward through the Wady Solaf and Wady esh-Sheikh into the plain of
er-Rahah, "the desert of Sinai," about 2 miles long and half a mile
broad, and encamped there "before the mountain." The part of the
mountain range, a protruding lower bluff, known as the Ras Sasafeh
(Sufsafeh), rises almost perpendicularly from this plain, and is in
all probability the Sinai of history. Dean Stanley thus describes the
scene:, "The plain itself is not broken and uneven and narrowly shut
in, like almost all others in the range, but presents a long retiring
sweep, within which the people could remove and stand afar off. The
cliff, rising like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation,
and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur from end to end of the
whole plain, is the very image of the 'mount that might be touched,'
and from which the voice of God might be heard far and wide over the
plain below." This was the scene of the giving of the law. From the
Ras Sufsafeh the law was proclaimed to the people encamped below in
the plain of er-Rahah. During the lengthened period of their
encampment here the Israelites passed through a very memorable
experience. An immense change passed over them. They are now an
organized nation, bound by covenant engagement to serve the Lord their
God, their ever-present divine Leader and Protector. At length, in the
second month of the second year of the Exodus, they move their camp
and march forward according to a prescribed order. After three days
they reach the "wilderness of Paran," the "et-Tih", i.e., "the
desert", and here they make their first encampment. At this time a
spirit of discontent broke out amongst them, and the Lord manifested
his displeasure by a fire which fell on the encampment and inflicted
injury on them. Moses called the place Taberah (q.v.),
(Numbers 11:1-3)
The journey between Sinai and the southern boundary of the Promised
Land (about 150 miles) at Kadesh was accomplished in about a year.
