WHERE IS MOUNT SINAI : 00 



or near the portion of Arabia inhabited by the Midianites ; there 

 (in JVIidian ?) was Horeb, the " Mount of God " (Ex. iii, 1) ; there 

 Aaron met Moses (Ex. vi, 27) ; and thither would the Israelites 

 first direct their steps under the guidance of Moses, since God 

 had given a special token to him — " When thou hast brought 

 forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this 

 mountain" (Ex. iii, 12). Is it possible that that "Mount of 

 God " could have been in Edoni ? If so, then Midian must have 

 extended much fartlier north than we may have been led to 

 suppos '. 



The encamping of the Israelites so soon agjun by the "sea" 

 (Deut. XXX, 10) is a strong point for the route indicated by 

 Professor Hull, and is specially remarked upon by Dean Stanley. 

 The encampment at Ezion Geber, after Sinai, is also, as Professor 

 Hull says, another, perhaps, strong point. 



The nature i.f the Ras Sufsafeh, of the adjacent Wadi er Rahab, 

 and of the whole of the Jebel Musa, seems to wonderfully coincide 

 with all the demands of the Bible story, though I am not sure 

 that that ought be considered alone enough to close controver.sy. 



FURTHER REPLY BY THE AUTHOR. 



May, 1899. 



I agree with Mr. Collins that no one who has not personally 

 visited the Sinaitic region ought to be considered as speaking with 

 authority regarding the ideiititication of the site of Horeb or 

 Mount Sinai. On this ground the attempted identification of 

 Professor Sayce must be received with great suspicion. Nor do 

 I admit that the passages he cites from Judges and Deuteronomy — 

 both admittedly poetic — necessarily imply identification of Seir 

 and Sinai ; on the contrary, in Deut. xxxiii, 2, the two mounts are 

 specifically distinct. Again, is it likely that after the destruction 

 of the Egyptian host, a fact which would immediately become 

 known to the Egyptian garrison in the Peninsula, this garrison 

 would have been formidable to the Israelites, as Canon Girdlestone 

 has well pointed out ? It Avill be satisfactory to those who hold 

 the traditional site of Mount Sinai to be correct, that this view is 

 supported bv Sir C. W. Wilson, the Rev. W. Arthur and his 

 companion jNIr. Drew, all of whom, as well as the Author, have 

 personally visited the region in question. 



