Tag: Sinai

THE MOUNTAIN OF MYSTERY

Dale Pollard

Where is mount Sinai? It’s an important mountain in the Bible but today there’s several different peaks that claim to be the real deal. Let’s dig a little. 

In Galatians 4:25, Paul states:

“Mount Sinai is in Arabia.”

Here’s the thing though. 1st century Arabia did not mean the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It was the vast area of Arabia Petraea that included:

• Northwest Saudi Arabia

• The land of Midian

Well now, that last one is a juicy detail because Moses actually lived in Midian for decades (Exodus 2–3). If God met Moses “at the mountain of God” while he was in Midian, the most natural place for Sinai to be is near where Moses had been, not hundreds of miles away. 

There’s more! 

The Bible repeatedly ties Sinai to Midian. Here’s a quick recap: 

  1. Moses flees Egypt, then settles in Midian. 
  2. God appears to Moses at the mountain of God while shepherding there. 
  3. Jethro (a priest of Midian) later visits Israel at Sinai.

If Sinai were deep in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, Jethro’s involvement doesn’t make much sense. 

If Sinai were in or near Midian (which is in Arabia), the narrative flows nice and cleanly.

For these reasons, and more— many early Jewish and Christian traditions placed Sinai east of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Sinai had some strange things happening on its peak— just read Exodus 19. There’s thunder, lightning, trumpets blasting, and fire. It’s hard to wrap our minds around exactly what was taking place. 

With all of that history in mind, there’s a site called Jabal al-Lawz. It’s an odd name but it’s a real interesting Candidate.

This mountain seems to have it all, including: 

• A darkened summit

• Nearby ancient stone structures

• Rock art that appears to depict cows 

• Large open plains suitable for a massive encampment

Is it the one? Who knows. Seems like a great place to do more investigation though. 

Fiery Serpents?

Tuesday’s Column: Dale Mail

Herodotus casually mentions that there were snakes that would fly from Egypt every year from the Sinai wilderness (Herodotus 2.75-76). This may strike fear in the heart of any snake-fearing person, but it sure is interesting. Marco Polo would also write in his travel log about flying venomous “birds” as well as snakes of gigantic proportions as he explored Asia. 

The Bible records several strange serpents and one passage in particular is especially fascinating. 

In the book of Numbers there’s an account that’s made many readers scratch their heads as they wonder what these fiery serpents are (21:6-9) that God sent to plague the Israelites. 

“The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people died in Israel. So the people came to moses and said “we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us. And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard, and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it he shall live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard and it came about that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked at the bronze serpent he lived.”

Some commentators have suggested that perhaps the strange description is of a particular kind of venomous snake. Others have made the observation that the Hebrew word for serpent here (Saraph) could be symbolic to indicate their color since it means “burning ones.” Interestingly enough there are bronze colored serpents around today in Australia that are incredibly poisonous. Perhaps there’s something to this based on the Lord’s instruction to Moses to fashion a serpent made of brass. Of course this description could also literally be taken to mean snakes which either breathed fire, or were somehow on fire. God was, after all, punishing a people who had complained of their miraculous meals of manna. 

Though the identity of these fiery serpents may always be a mystery, the lessons taught to us through this event are powerful. The connections John will make (Jn. 3.14-15) as well as the Hebrew writer (12.2) focus on the crucifixion and the concept of looking to Jesus for our salvation. 

The relationship between belief and action here are also telling. Those Israelites that believed were led by that same belief to look— then were healed. If we believe Jesus can and will heal us of our sins, then that belief must lead us to the water (Act 2.38, Mk. 16.16). 

Dale Pollard