Bible Dictionary
Sinai, Or Sinai
Sinai is the mountainous region and prominent mountain in the peninsula between the arms of the Red Sea, traditionally identified as the place where God gave the law to Israel through Moses.
Definition
Sinai is the mountainous region and central mountain group in the peninsula between the arms of the Red Sea. The range includes granite, greenstone, and porphyry formations and rises to great heights above the sea.
Biblical Usage
Sinai is the mountain district associated with the giving of the law to Israel through Moses. It is also called Horeb in the biblical material.
Historical Background
The central group includes Ras Sufsafeh behind Jebel Musa, Jebel Katerin, and Um Shamer, the highest point of the peninsula according to the supplied material. The mountains rise from the desert and form a prominent granite region.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(thorny). Nearly in the centre of the peninsula which stretches between the horns of the Red Sea lies a wedge of granite, grunstein and porphyry rocks rising to between 8000 and 9000 feet above the sea. Its shape resembles st scalene triangle. These mountains may be divided into two great masses-that of Jebel Serbal (8759 feet high), in the northwest above Wady Feiran, and the central group, roughly denoted by the general name of Sinai. This group rises abruptly from the Wady es-Sheikh at its north foot, first to the cliffs of the Ras Sufsafeh, behind which towers the pinnacle of Jebel Musa (the Mount of Moses), and farther back to the right of it the summit of Jebel Katerin (Mount St. Catherine, 8705 feet) all being backed up and. overtopped by Um Shamer (the mother of fennel, 9300 feet), which is the highest point of the whole peninsula.