Sinai

Mount Sinai (or Mount Horeb) is the mountain on which God made a covenant with the people of Israel and gave them the Ten Commandments. This mountain is probably located in the Sinai Desert, which is on the Sinai Peninsula in the desert near Egypt.

Mount Sinai is also called Mount Horeb. It is the mountain from where God reigns and where people can meet him (Judges 5:5; Psalm 68:9).

Sinai is a holy place. Moses has to take off his shoes, because the ground he is standing on is holy (Exodus 3:5). The prophet Elijah also goes to Mount Horeb to meet with God, when he is fleeing from Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19:8-14).

Mount Sinai is never called “the holy mountain” in the Bible. That name always refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Mount Sinai plays an important part in the liberation of the people of Israel from Egypt. This is the place where the Lord makes himself known to Moses, and instructs him to lead the people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-6).

On the journey through the Sinai Desert, Moses is given the Ten Commandments by God on Mount Sinai, after he has stayed on the mountain for 40 days. There, God also tells him what the tabernacle must look like.

In the New Testament the mountain is called by name just once, in Galatians 4:24-25. Here, Paul says the mountain stands for the oppressive covenant that was made when the people were still slaves, before Jesus came. Sinai here forms a contrast with the heavenly Jerusalem where people will truly be free.

It is unclear where the mountain is situated exactly. Different passages contradict each other. The most likely locations are in the north or the south of the Sinai Peninsula, between Egypt and Canaan. After their liberation, the people of Israel travelled across this peninsula (Exodus 16:1). 

Usually, Gabal Musa (where Saint Catherine’s Monastery is now situated) in the south of the peninsula is identified as Mount Sinai.