The decision of both these questions, so far as they can be decided at all, must have reference to and depend upon the specifications in the 19th chapter of Exodus. The verses which have a bearing upon the points before us, are the following:

V. 10. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes, (11) and be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. (12) And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round alout, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death. (13) There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall be surely stoned or shot through: whether it be beast or man, it shall not live.

V. 16. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount. . . . (17) And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. . . . (21) And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.... (23) And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

Chap. 20: 15. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off.

In this language there are implied three specifications, or particulars, which must all be present in any spot answering to the true Sinai:

1. A mountain-summit, overlooking the place where the people stood. 2. Space sufficient, adjacent to the mountain, for so large a multitude to stand and behold the phenomena on the summit.

3. The relation between this space where the people stood and the base of the mountain must be such, that they could approach and stand at "the nether part of the mount" that they could also touch it; and that, further, bounds could appropriately be set around the mount, lest they should go up into it or touch the border of it.

Let us now apply these tests to some of the leading hypotheses.

Jebel Serbal, which has recently been very strenuously and ingeniously put forward by Lepsius as the true Sinai, is at once excluded by its utter want of adaptedness in the second and third particulars. According to the special map of Lepsius himself, and the description of Mr. Bartlett, there is no place near that mountain where a multitude could stand or even approach the base.1

In like manner Jebel Kâtherin, proposed by Rüppell, is excluded, and for the like reasons. For although a large multitude might by possibility

1 See Lepsius Reise nach der Sinai, spec. Map. Bartlett Forty Days in the Desert, p. 54 sq.

1849.]

The Israelites at Sinai.

383 be congregated in the valleys either on the east or on the west of this mountain; yet its base is so irregular and shelving, and extends so far, that the circumstances required in the third particular are wholly wanting.

There remains the isolated ridge of Sinai, strictly so called at the present day; having on its southern end the peak of Jebel Mûsa with an open region towards the south-east, and at its northern end the lower summit es-Sufsâfeh impending over the plain er-Rabah. The question is narrowed down to this, viz. On which of these two summits was the Divine glory manifested, and on which of the tracts below did the people stand?

In 1838 the Rev. Eli Smith and myself spent a day in visiting and exploring the ridge of Sinai, in reference to this very question. We ascended both Jebel Mûsa and es-Sufsàfeh; though Lepsius, who must have read our account very cursorily, represents us as unable to climb the latter. We had no prejudices to warp our minds in any direction; not even the poor motive of desiring to differ from our predecessors; for at that time the question had never been put forward. After full and earnest consideration, the conviction forced itself upon us both, that all the particulars and circumstances above enumerated, existed very strikingly in connection with es-Sufsâfeh and the plain er-Râhah; but did not thus exist in respect to Jebel Mûsa and the tract on the south. In the former case, the naked and perpendicular mountain, impending over the plain at the height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet, and rising abruptly from its base, so that one may approach and touch it; the plain itself shut in like an adytum by stern mountains, and enlarged by a recess on the west and by the opening of Wady esh-Sheikh on the east; these satisfied all the conditions of the question; and the language of Scripture, as applied to them, became singularly descriptive and beautiful. As the southern summit (Jebel Mûsa) is not visible from any part of the northern plain, we felt that if the people stood in er-Rahah, then Jebel Musa could not be assumed as the place of the celestial phenomena; because Scripture describes these as having been manifested "in the sight of all the people" Ex. 19: 11. 20: 18. The observations and measurements made by us, as well as our conclusions, are fully described in the Biblical Researches.1

It has not as yet been denied, I believe, that the statements on which our conclusion was based as to the northern summit and plain, were correct; nor that there is, in all the circumstances, a very striking correspondence to the specifications of Scripture. But yet there attaches to Jebel Músa such an idea of veneration, either as a higher summit or as the seat of tradition, that many are still desirous to regard it as the scene

1 Vol. I. p. 130, 140 sq. 154 sq. 157 sq.

of God's wonders and the giving of the law. To this end the place of the people has been sought in the tract on the south of that mountain. Laborde, in his Commentaire Géographique published in 1841, was the first distinctly to propose this view; and he gives a plan of the southern tract, but so distorted and incorrect that no one would ever recognize it. Other travellers have examined the ground with more care, as Mr. Kellogg in 1844, and Strauss and Krafft in 1845; and, on the report of the latter, Ritter in his great work has adopted the same view. They have doubtless established,-what no one has ever called in question,-the possibility of a standing-place for the Israelites in that quarter. At the same time they appear to me to have overlooked several circumstances, which militate strongly against the probability of such a position; circumstances, too, which leave the third particular or test above specified wholly out of view. The weight of Ritter's authority gives an importance to the subject, which it would not otherwise possess.

As to Jebel Musa itself: If its claim is supposed to rest on its greater elevation, then we ought rather at once to assume Jebel Kâtherîn, which is much loftier. If it depends on tradition, then it remains to be shown that there is any tradition at all reaching back beyond the fourth or fifth century. The Scriptures afford no evidence that the later Jews had any tradition on the subject. The flights of steps and the many inscriptions on and around Jebel Serbâl are supposed to indicate, that this mountain was at one time regarded as the true Sinai. When too the angels bore the dead body of St. Catherine to this peninsula, it may be supposed that they intended to deposit it in the most sacred place; and if so, then Jebel Katherin was at that time regarded as the holy mount. Indeed, there is nothing which definitely connects tradition with the present Sinai, before the establishment of the convent by Justinian in A. D. 527.

In respect to the application of the three particulars, above specified, to Jebel Musa, there is here of course the mountain, and also space before it on the south-east sufficient for all the people. But as to the third particular, -and this is the point I wish to bring out,-it may well be doubted, whether the relation between this space and the foot of the mountain is such, that bounds may be supposed to have been necessary, lest the people should approach and touch the mount. It is just this point, which those who adopt this view seem to me to have overlooked.

Mr. Smith and myself sat for hours upon the summit of Jebel Mûsa examining this very question in all its bearings. And I suppose it will be admitted, that, from whatever part or tract there is a view of the mountain from below, there will be an equally full view of that tract from the summit above. There is visible in the south-east the head of Wady es

1 Erdkunde, Th. XIV.

1849.]

Jebel ed-Deir, or Mountain of the Cross.

385

Sebâ'lyeh, spreading itself as a narrow plain (Burckhardt calls it here a broad Wady, p. 539, er-Râhah he calls a plain, p. 596 ;) among what appeared to us as naked gravel hills; which, however, Mr. Kellogg says are granite hills. There is also the similar bend of another valley, Wady elWa'rah, running south-east, towards the gulf of 'Akabah. But let the space in these heads of vallies be larger or smaller,-and I think it has been not a little exaggerated,—there were two main reasons which led us to believe, that this was not the position occupied by the Israelites before the mount; viz. first, the distance from the base of the mountain, which at the nearest point cannot be much (if any) less than half a mile, and for the most part is much more; and secondly, the rough and impassable character of the intervening ground, consisting of abrupt, gravelly (or, still better, granite) hills, accumulated apparently around the base in irregular masses of low broken cliffs, precluding all idea of easy approach, or of the setting of bounds.

This general view appeared to us so convincing, that we neglected to examine more particularly the immediate base of Sinai on this side. But it has since come to light that there is here a deep ravine between the mountain proper and the low adjacent cliffs, completely separating them and the open ground beyond from the mountain; thus demonstrating still more strongly the correctness of our view. Such a valley Ritter infers (p. 592) from the language of Schimper, who speaks of passing in his botanical excursions quite around the ridge of Sinai, by following several irregular vallies with only some hills between. It is, however, most fully described by Mr. Kellogg in the Literary World, of Feb. 19, 1848; accompanied by a sketch on wood, which is inaccurate," as he admits, and is also greatly exaggerated.

66

Mr. K. had ascended for about five hundred feet the south-western face of the Mountain of the Cross or Jebel ed-Deir, in order to obtain a good view of the peak of Sinai, which he was anxious to sketch.

"Here," he says, "close at my right, arose, almost perpendicularly, the holy mountain.... Clinging around its base was a range of sharp, upheaving crags from one to two hundred feet in height, which formed an almost impassable barrier to the mountain itself from the valley adjoining. These crags were separated from the mountain by a deep and narrow gorge; yet they must be considered as forming the projecting base of Sinai [?] ***

"I remained at work until nearly sunset, when I discovered people coming towards me through the deep ravine between the mountain of Sinai and the craggy spurs which shoot up around its base. I feared they might prove to be unfriendly Arabs; but, as they came nearer, I discovered them to be my companions and their guides, who were returning from Mount St. Catherine." ***

Returning the next day, with a companion, he says: "From Wady es-Sebâ'ìyeh, we crossed over the granite spurs, in order to pass around the southern border of Sinai into Wady Leja. These spurs are of sufficient size to have separate names VOL. VI. No. 22. 33

among the Arabs. Around them were generally deep and rugged gorges and ravines or water-courses, whose sides were formed of ledges of granite nearly perpendicular.... Whilst crossing over these low hills, my friend pointed out the path between them and Sinai, through which he had passed yesterday on his return from St. Catherine.... This ravine around Sinai becomes a deep and impassable gorge, with perpendicular walls, as it enters Wady Leja, passing through the high neck connecting Sinai with the mountain on the south. Descending into el-Leja, under the rocky precipice of Sinai, we found the Wady narrow, and choked up with huge blocks of granite, which had tumbled from the sides of the adjacent mountains. We could now see the olive-grove of the deserted convent el-Arbain."

Had Ritter been acquainted with the nature of the ground and the ravine here described; and especially could he have stood for half an hour on the summit of Jebel Musa; I cannot help thinking, that the authority of his great name would hardly have been given to the view in question.

One other point may be noticed. It would appear from the language of Scripture, that Moses ascended the mountain in the presence of the people; and the bounds were set (in part) lest the people should “go up into" the mount (Ex. 19: 12, 20, 24). Now on its southern side the peak of Jebel Musa is perfectly inaccessible; and it can be ascended only from near the convents in the vallies on each side, out of sight of any space on the south. But from er-Râhah, a ravine leading up through the steep face of es-Sufsàfeh, affords a way of ascent directly in sight of the whole plain. This is not improbably the Derb el-Serich of Pococke.1

ARTICLE IX.

GREEK INSCRIPTIONS.

[Addressed to one of the Editors.]

Yale College, March 26, 1849.

MY DEAR SIR:-I send you copies of inscriptions transcribed by Mr. Thomson during the tour, his account of which is contained in the Bib. Sac. for November 1848. The inscriptions are, I regret to say, unimportant in themselves, and in an extremely corrupt state. They ought, however, to be published, as a slight contribution to the epigraphic de

1 See Pococke, Descr. of the East, I. p. 144. Ritter, Erdk. XIV. p. 542.