Sinai(sina)
Summary
The mountain where God gave the Law to Moses amid fire, smoke, and thunder, becoming the defining site of Israel's covenant relationship with God.
☩The Mountain of God
Sinai is a mountain in the peninsula between the gulfs of Suez and Akabah, also called Horeb. God first appeared to Moses there in the burning bush, commissioning him to deliver Israel from Egypt and promising they would serve God on that mountain. The name may derive from a root meaning 'to shine,' fitting the spectacular display of God's glory there. Traditional identification places it at Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai peninsula.
☩The Giving of the Law
Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel encamped before Sinai. God descended in fire and thick cloud, with thunder, lightning, and the sound of a trumpet exceedingly loud. The mountain quaked greatly, and only Moses was permitted to approach, all others threatened with death for touching it. From this awesome setting, God spoke the Ten Commandments directly to the people, then gave Moses the detailed laws of the covenant during forty days on the mountain.
☩The Golden Calf and Renewal
While Moses remained on Sinai, the people made and worshiped a golden calf, provoking God's wrath. Moses interceded, broke the tablets of the law in righteous anger, and called for those on the Lord's side. After severe judgment, Moses returned to the mountain, pleading to see God's glory and receiving a renewed covenant. He descended with the commandments re-inscribed, his face shining from being in God's presence.
☩Sinai in Later Scripture
Scripture recalls Sinai's significance throughout—in Deborah's song, in psalms celebrating God's majesty, and in Stephen's speech reviewing Israel's history. Paul contrasts Sinai with the heavenly Jerusalem: the old covenant of bondage with the new covenant of freedom in Christ. Believers have not come to a mountain of fire and terror but to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to Jesus the mediator of a better covenant.
Related Verses46 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Sinai," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Sinai," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. IV (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Sinai," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Sinai," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).