* Ingena-valde in thU document rrequentl>"f but here In ita natural sonsa, tor Bhe nuj-ii a little later valte Uta quam dixi iuyeiu.
53S
SINCERE
SINITES
Tlie traditional Sinai is bounded on the north side by the Rreat plain er-Rahah, out of wliich it rises iirecipitonsly ; on its east and west sides are wadis named respectively, the one on the east M'ady ed-Deir antl the one on the west Wady el-Leja. The former takes its name (Valley of the Convent) from the celebrated convent of St. Catherine, which stands upon the slope of the mountain ; the derivation of the other name is more obscure. In tliis western wady are the remains of the convent of the Forty Martyrs [Dcir d-Arbdin) and a number of otlier traces of early monastic life, and by tliis vallej- it is customary to make the ascent of Johol Katerina, which lies to the S.W. of Jebel Musa. The northernmost peak of Jebel Musa is called Ras esSufsafeh (' Head of the Willow,' probably from a tree growing in one of its gullies), and is commonly taken !is the place of promulgation of the Law, for which it is a very striking and suitable site. The height of Sufsafeh is 6937 ft., while the south- ern peak is somewhat lower. The latter is the true holy place according to the Greek and Arab tradition. There is an ascent to it by a flight of rude steps commencing not far from the convent, and extending, with slight intermission, almost to the summit.
Abditional Notb. — Objectiimg to the traditimuil site of Mt, Sinai.— In the foregoing we have found ourselves closely in accord with the traditional view of the route of the Exodus, and of the location of Mt. Sinai. If the Israelites really went into the Sinaitic peninsula, the route and the goal of their wandering's have probably been correctly identified. We have shown that the tradition in favour of Jebei Mii^a is earlier and more constant than has generally been recognized. But the real dithculty begins with the question whether the biblical .Mt. Sinai was in the peninsula, after all. Objection after objection has been raised under this head, and some of theui are not easy to refute. (1) The biblical references to Mt, Sinai do not seem to warrant an identification in the limits of the peninsula. Dt 12 gives a distance of 11 days from Horeb to the mountains of Seir, and this would agree well enough with the distance from Jebei Musa. But in other passages, such as Dt 33^, Hab 3S, the contiguity between Sinai and Edom seems to be more pro* Lounced : even if we grant a certain freedom of expression to poetical passages, still such language as Dt 33^ —
J" came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir unto them, might, in view of Heb. parallelism of the members, imply more than that Sinai was in the direction of Seir. It might be urged In reply that the passage continues —
He shined forth from Mt. Paran, And came from Meribah Eadesh,
and Paran has been commonly identified with Feiran in the peninsula. But this identification has also been questioned on account of the parallelism with Kadesh and other references.
(2) Some of the places in the itinerary of Exodus have apparently been found outside the limits of the peninsula, as Elini in Elath-Eloth, and the encampment by the sea in tlie Oulf of 'Akaba.
(3) Mt. Sinai is suspiciously connected with the land of Midian, ind it has to be shown that the Sinaitic peninsula could be thus iescribcd. At the time of the Exodus it was an Egyptian province.
These and other objections have been raised against the traditional theory ; their resolution depends upon the final discrimination of the dociuuents underlying the Pent, and upon the results of further archreological investigations, not only in the peninsula of Sinai but to the N. and E. of it.
LiTERATtmi!.— Robinson, BRP^i. 9011., 119 ff.; Stanley, SP 42 f. ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, passim ; Hull, Mount Seir, Sinai, etc., 61 flf. [all these 8ul>port the identitication of Sinai with Jebel Musa); Lepsius, Brie/e, 345 ff., 41tj; Ebei-s, Dutch Gosen zum Sinai, 302 ff. (both advocate the claims of -Mt. Serbal] ; Sayce, liCM 203 ff. (his view is discussed above). There is a full account of the controversy as to the identity of Sinai in Dillm.- Rvssel on Ex 19*. For the sacred character of Mt. Sinai see W. R. Smith, RSi 117(.,and Smend, Alttest. Rtlinioruiges<J.:i,
82 ft. J. Rendel Harris.
SINCERE.— In 1 P 2^ 'sincere' is used in the sense of ' unmi.\ed,' ' pure ' : ' Desire the sincere mUk of the word ' (tA XoytKbv 45o\oy fiXa, Vulg. sine dolo, Wye. ' with out gile,' Tind. ' which is without corrupcion,' Cran. ' which is with out disceat*,' Gen. ' syncere,' Rhem. 'without guile'; BV goes back to Wye. and Rhem. ' which is
witliout ^uile'). For 'sincere' in this sense, cf. Khem. N 1', Preface, p. IG, 'We translate that text which is most sincere, and in our opinion, and as we have proved, incorruiit'; and Cranmer, Wor/c:, i. 134, 'If there be none otlier otieuce laid ay;ainst them than this one, it will be much more tor the conversion of all the fauters hereof, after mine opinion, that their consciences may be clearly averted from the same by communication of sincere doctrine . . . than by the justice of the law to suller in such ignorance. J. Hastings.