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ARTHUR W. SUTTON^ J.P., F.L.S., ON 



sacred events connected with Mount Horeb, but it is only by 

 ^'ery carefully comparing the several passages of Scripture 

 relating to Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai that any very clear 

 idea can be formed as to the events which occurred at each place. 

 The name Horeb is undoubtedly used sometimes in the Bible to 

 denote the whole district, rather than Mount Serbal alone. 



Mount Horeb is know^n to have been a sacred spot before the 

 "Exodus, and Josephus speaks of the Divine Presence dwelling 

 in these awful cliffs, " unapproachable by man." Moreover, the 

 mount was associated by the early Church with events recorded 

 in Scripture as having teaken place at Sinai ; and it was only 

 after the founding of the Monastery of St. Catherine under 

 Jebel Musa and Jebel Sufsafa that the monks and anchorites of 

 Horeb migrated to the monastery and its vicinity. 



Assuming that Jebel Sufsafa may be accepted as Sinai, with 

 the vast plain of Er-Eaha before it for the encampment of the 

 Israelites, we can be satisfied that here in the Wadi Eeiran, 

 under Mount Horeb (Jebel Serbal) Moses was feeding the flock 

 of Jethro, his father-in-law ; that here God spoke to Moses out of 

 the Burning Bush and connnissioned him to return to Egypt, 

 and lead the children of Israel out of captivity. Here also 

 Elijah came after his long journey from Jezreel and Beersheba, 

 and heard God speaking to him after the earthquake in the 

 " still small voice ; " and some also think that St. Paul may have 

 come here when, as he tells us, he " went into Arabia." 



Our course on Friday, March 15th, lay up the valley toward the 

 Upper Oasis. This extended about four miles, and beside palm 

 trees there was a dense jungle of papyrus and other reeds, 

 twelve to fourteen feet high. Through this w^e had to force our 

 way, of course, on the camels ; but how the baggage camels got 

 through I do not know. At length we made our w^ay up the Wadi 

 Feiran, passing the " Mountain of Conversation," which, by Arab 

 tradition, is the mountain where God conversed with Moses. 

 The Arabs still sacrifice here to Moses, singing : " 0 Mountain 

 of the Conversation of Moses, we seek thy favour ! preserve 

 thy good people, and we will visit thee every year." 



Passing El-Baweb, or " Little Gate," we reach the immense 

 Wadi es-Sheikh; for three miles or thereabouts most extra- 

 ordinary cliffs of light yellow sandy mud bounded the wadi on 

 each side, to a height of about sixty feet, and above these were 

 granite slopes and mountains. The explanation seems to be that 

 these " basins " in pre-historic times were lakes ; and as the lower 

 ends were opened up by earthquake the water coursed through 

 the sedimentary deposit, leaving the wonderful walls, with their 



