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Sinai

  ('') pronunciation, Mount

A mountain, about 2,288 m (7,500 ft) high, of the south-central Sinai Peninsula. It is thought to be the peak on which Moses received the Ten Commandments.

 

 
 

Peak, south-central Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It rises to 7,497 ft (2,285 m) in elevation and is especially renowned in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions as the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Though not positively identified as the place referred to in biblical texts, it is an important pilgrimage site. St. Catherine's, founded in 527 and thought to be the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, is at its northern base.

For more information on Mount Sinai, visit Britannica.com.

 
Bible Dictionary: Sinai, Mount
(seye-neye)

In the Book of Exodus, the mountain that Moses ascended to receive the tablets of the law (the Ten Commandments) from God. God shrouded the mountain in a cloud, and made thunder, lightning, and trumpet blasts come forth from it. The Israelites were commanded to stay away from it while Moses went into God's presence.

 
Wikipedia: Mount Sinai
For other places named Mount Sinai, see: Mount Sinai (disambiguation)
Mount Sinai
Elevation 2,285 m (7,497 feet)
Location Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Coordinates 28°32′23″N, 33°58′24″E
View from the summit of Mount Sinai
Enlarge
View from the summit of Mount Sinai
Sinai Peninsula, showing location of Jabal Musa
Sinai Peninsula, showing location of Jabal Musa

Mount Sinai (Arabic: طور سيناء , Hebrew: הר סיני), also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gebel Musa or Jabal Musa ("Moses' Mountain") by the Bedouin, is the name of a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula. For information about the location of the Biblical Mount Sinai, see the corresponding article.

Geography

Mount Sinai is a 2,285 meters high mountain in the Sinai Peninsula. It is next to Mount St. Catherine(the tallest peak in the Sinai),[1], at 2,637 meters high the highest in the Sinai peninsula. It is surrounded on all sides by higher peaks of the mountain range.

Monastery

The Monastery of St. Catherine is sited at the foot of the adjacent mountain - Mount Catherine - at an elevation of around 1200 m.

Religious Significance

Main article: Biblical Mount Sinai

According to Bedouin tradition, this is the mountain where God gave laws to the Israelites. However, the earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal, and a monastery was founded at its base in the 4th century; it was only in the 6th century that the monastery moved to the foot of Mount Catherine, following the guidance of Josephus's earlier claim that Sinai was the highest mountain in the area. Jebel Musa, which is adjacent to Mount Catherine, was only equated with Sinai, by Christians, after the 15th century.

Many modern biblical scholars now believe that the Israelites would have crossed the Sinai peninsula in a straight line, rather than detouring to the southern tip (assuming that they did not cross the eastern branch of the Red Sea/Reed Sea in boats or on a sandbar), and therefore look for Mount Sinai elsewhere.

The Song of Deborah, which textual scholars consider to be one of the oldest parts of the bible, suggests that Yahweh dwelt at Mount Seir, so many scholars favour a location in Nabatea (modern Arabia). Alternatively, the biblical descriptions of Sinai can be interpreted as describing a volcano, and so a number of scholars have considered equating Sinai with locations in north western Saudi Arabia; there are no volcanoes in the Sinai Peninsula; though the biblical description could only be referring to God's arrival on the mountain, to give Moses the Ten Commandments, as well[1].

Ascent

View down to the Monastery of St. Catherine from the trail to the summit.
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View down to the Monastery of St. Catherine from the trail to the summit.

There are two principal routes to the summit. By the longer and less steep track known as Siket El Bashait, is possible to ascend either on foot or by camel hired from the Bedouin along the way - approximate time on foot two and a half hours. The steep, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) ascends the 3,750 "steps of penitence" directly up the ravine behind the monastery.[2]

Summit

View from the summit of Mount Sinai
Enlarge
View from the summit of Mount Sinai
Another view from the summit of Mount Sinai
Enlarge
Another view from the summit of Mount Sinai
A Greek Orthodox Chapel at the top of Mount Sinai
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A Greek Orthodox Chapel at the top of Mount Sinai

The summit of the mountain has a mosque and a Greek Orthodox chapel (which was constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th century church) neither of which are open to the public. The chapel supposedly encloses the rock from which God made the Tablets of the Law. [3] At the summit also is "Moses' cave" where Moses is supposed to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

Notes

  1. ^ Sinai Geology. AllSinai.info.
  2. ^ Mount Sinai. AllSinai.info.
  3. ^ Mount Sinai, Egypt. Places of Peace and Power.

See also

External links

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Bible Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mount Sinai" Read more

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