44 PROF. EDWARD HULL, LL.D., P.E.S., F.G.S., ON 



Akabali at tlie head of the J^lanitic Gulf) is distinctly 

 mentioned in the narrative of Moses bearing on this part of 

 the wanderings between Sinai and Kadesh* ; by this route 

 also there would be better pasturage for the flocks and herds, 

 along the VVadi-el-Arabah itself. The fact that it was after 

 the Israelites had left Mount Sinai that they passed by Ezion 

 Geber on their way to Kadesh is sufficient to prove that 

 Sinai could not have been in the land of Edoin, as this 

 mountainous country lies to the east and north of the route 

 towards Kadesh, and Ezion Geber was on its margin. To 

 suppose Mount Sinai was somewhere amongst the Edomite 

 Mountains or (Mount Seir) would be to reverse the order of 

 localities as narrated in Numbers xxxiii. Doubtless it is 

 now impossible to identify more than one or two of the 

 localities referred to as camping ground in the march from 

 Sinai to Ezion Geber, but there is no reason to doubt they 

 are stated in the correct order of succession.f Nevertheless 

 it Avill be observed that the narrative of events both before 

 and after the visit to Mount Sinai is consistent in showing that 

 Sinai lay in a position intermediate between the shore of the 

 Gulf of Suez, and that of the Gulf of iikabah, both being- 

 branches of the Red Sea. 



Mount Serhdl. — The only other mountain in this region 

 which can possibly lay a claim to the title of Mount Sinai is 

 Jebel Serbill, a magnificent serrated ridge which rises to a 

 height of (5,712 feet above the sea, and along the northern 

 base of which winds the Wadi Feinm (Fig 2). Notwith- 

 standing the fact that Serbcll was identified with Sinai by 

 Eusebius, Jerome and other writers down to the time of 

 Justinian,^ and that (alike with J. Musa) itis regarded as a sacred 

 place by the Bedouins, it does not appear to answer the 

 requirements of the narrative to the extent of its rival Jebel 

 Musa. If Rephidim be properly placed in the W. Feiran, 

 as I believe, and if after the events Avhicli took place there 

 the Israelites broke up their camp , and as stated '' departed 

 from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai," ^ then 

 clearly Sinai was not Mount Serbal : for every step they 

 took towards the former left the latter farther behind. In 



* Num. xxxiii, 15-35. 



t Vov the origin of some of the names, which h.ave generally only a 

 local meaning derived fi'om plants, rocks, Lc, see Tlie Speaker^s 

 Commentary. 



X This statement is questioned by Wilson. {See discussion.) 



% Ex. xix. 1, 2. 



