WHERE IS MOUNT SINAI ? 41 



observers even better qualified than myself to maintain tlie 

 correctness of the traditional site, amongst whom I may 

 mention the late Professor Palmer, who on several occasions 

 visited Arabia Petrtea and has recorded his views in his well 

 known work, The Desert of the E.vodus; Captain (now Major- 

 General Sir Charles) Wilson, R.E., who with several assistants 

 carried out the Ordnance Survey of Sinai in 18(38, and had 

 opportunities not surpassed, if reached, by any other 

 Englishman of studj'ing the topographical details* ; and 

 Dean Stanley, who took infinite pains to satisfy himself 

 that Jebel Musa, with its great plain of Er-Kahah lying at 

 its base, agreed with the account of the " Giving of the 

 Law," and departed without a doubt resting on his mind.f 

 Nor may we omit to mention the name of Dr. Robinson, to 

 whose mind the personal observation of Jebel ]Musa and its 

 surroundings carried the conviction that it was indeed the 

 Mount of God ; the scene of the aAvful events accompanying 

 the giving of the Law, which he has expressed in the 

 following words : — " We gave ourselves up to the impres- 

 sions of the awful scene, and read with a feeling of awe that 

 Avill never be forgotten, the sublime account of the trans- 

 action, and the Commandments there promulgated, in the 

 original words as recorded by the great Hebrew legislator."! 



Having thus shown that " the traditional Sinai " (or Jebel 

 Musa) is recognised by several weighty authorities Avriting 

 from personal examination of the locality (and others might 

 be cited) as really the Mount of the Law described in Exodus, 

 I now pass on to give my own views on the same subject, 

 also drawn from personal examination. And first it must be 

 ascertained if Jebel Musa occupies a geographical position 

 consistent with the narrative of the Israelitish journeys after 

 their departure from Egypt and previous to their arrival at 

 Kadesli Barnea. This part of my subject I can only refer to 

 very briefly. 



2. Journey from Moses Wells {^Ayun Musa) to Sinai. — 

 Assuming, what is scarcely doubtful, that after the passage 

 of the lied Sea (the Gulf of Suez, which I have elsewhere 

 shown, probably extended up the Isthmus into the Great 



* The result.s were published iu live folio vohimes by authority of 

 H.M. Treasury (1872). 



t Sinai and Palestine, 5th Edit., p. 75. Dean Stanley was no easily 

 convinced enthusiast, as any one may satisfy himself who reads his book. 



1 Biblical Researches, I, p. 129, 130 and 158. 



