The early history of the HebrewsSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The early history of the Hebrews
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.
In the geography of the Old Testament, however, Mount Sinai was in Edom.
This is expressly stated in the Song of Deborah, one of the oldest
products of Hebrew literature. Here we read (Judg. v. 4, 5), ‘Lord, when
Thou wentest out of Seir, when Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped
water. The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from
before the Lord God of Israel.’ Similar testimony is borne by the
blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 2), ‘The Lord came from Sinai, and rose
up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from the Mount of Paran,’ an
expression which appears in another form in Habakkuk (iii. 3), ‘God came
from Teman, and the Holy One from the Mount of Paran.’ Teman denoted
Southern Edom, and Paran was the desert which adjoined Edom on the west
and Judah on the south, and in whose midst was the sanctuary of
Kadesh-barnea.[194] In the Blessing of Moses the parallelism of Hebrew
poetry requires that Sinai and Seir should be equivalent terms.
We must, then, look to the frontiers of Edom and the desert of Paran for
the real Sinai of Hebrew history. But it is useless to seek for a more
exact localisation until the mountains of Seir and the old kingdom of
Edom have been explored. Then, if ever, the Sinai of the Pentateuch may
be discovered. It would seem that it formed part of a range that was
known as ‘Horeb,’ the ‘desert’ mountains, and as late as the age of
Elijah it was still reverenced as ‘the Mount of God’ (1 Kings xix.
8).[195]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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