The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-04-02
The Dise6yert " Meant Sinai.


'fhe London Tunes of Febftnry 9th
cOntd,,iS letter from DR.. Bckc. giving ms
account of the isn'fug OF Mt. Sinai.
The mountain which rrf Bekc identifies
rs the Sinai of the Pentateucn y Mount
iafghir. one of the principal masses OF t''e
,lt1in df mountains bounding the valley Of
the Atsihti on the east. which are marked
on our maps = tits Mountains of Shera,
but Of which the Correct designation Is the
Mountains Of Shafeh; tho>t cf Shefs being
Il chain extending from chat of Snatch IN 4
direction from nUf,ffwesttO southeast. Dr.
Beke proceeds:
'' ~ establishment and gratfticdtlO'l MAY
be better imse.hAd than described when |
learnt that this Mount "''rpFlir is the same
rs mysterious JebeI-e-Nur, OF Mountain
flight of which had heard vaguely IN
Egypt rs being that whereon the Almighty
St'tte with Moses, and which, from its po-
sitiOn and otter circumstances, is without
doubt the Sinai of Stfipt're: although
itrt'rn its manifest physical clIafattef, u I'D
pears thai ..tv freOrite hypothesis that
Mount Sinai was 4 vUltano must be abJn-
doned as untenable We enc,i;:-"ed at the
foot of the Mountain of Light and ''rt-
Fii}q tiis ensuing night we experienced a
most tremeli'fh'ls storm, the thunder and
lightning being truly teftias, some of the
clapS being directly over our ie1:ss. The
rain fell in torrents during several hours
threatening to wash us away entirely.
do not remember to have ever witnessed
. fiit're tlOlent tempest, either in AbySSinia
or elsewhere; and rs eject on my mind
was thfs-that if the 4FOrds OF Scripture,
that at the time Of the delivery Of TIE lazy
on Sinai, the mountain burned with
fire into the midst of Heaven, With
darkness, clouds ana thick darkness
DeUit. u. III. with other texts which
| need not ,ierc refer to, are not,
as would now appear, to he understood
rs descriptive of volcanic eruption, still
less can they be held to describe mere
thunderstorm, however violent, rs is geu-
orally. but somewhat inrOnsiderately i'm
agined. As the climbing P2rt 9t my eX-
pedition necessarily devOlveS on my
young companion, Mr.. Milne, he, on the
following morning, ascended the noun
tain. On his return, shortly after four
O'rlCCz in the afternoon, he made me Il
most 3altlable report, Of which | now
gladly publish few heads. fiie -dy was
at first up narrow wady,. which grows
more and more narrow till it becomeS a
gorge. On the road they passed Il stone
been cut, but which are now all dcfaced,
with the exception of the words 'Ya Al
lah' ('Oh, God') in Cutie. or old Arabic
characters. Within the gorge itself they
stopped to inspect another large stone,
about four feet long and two feet square,
made of granite. 1t originally stood up
right, about two or three feet from the
side OF the gorge, on another stone, which
served as pedestal but 1t has now fallen
over, and rests between ssp"destal aud
the side of the gorge: Near the stone the
BedOuins come to pray and according to
the statement of Sheikh MOI'ammed, who
had heard it from his father. and lie from
his father. and so on, Sidi Ali ibn Elm.
Il noted MOhammedan saint, whose tomb
and mosque are between Jaiia and Haiia.
came here also to perform his devOtions.
What led him to do so my informant
could not say, unless he was commanded
by Allah. -
The following IRE further extracts from
DIR. BCkes letter
lon the ridge on the LEFT side Of the
gorge, about one hundred and fifty yards
distant from the well, is Il pile OF large
rounded bowltlrrS Of granite, consisting of
four stones Of the material of the noun
tain, three standing up fititS tho north
and one at the back to the south, ana Oiali
of them are cut inscriptions. The stones,
which are much WeatheT-wOrn, are eXtcr-
nally of dark brown color, against which
the Inscriptions make themselves visible |
from their being of a somewhat lighter .
color. The lines OftheSe Sinaitic insclip |
tions, are about three-quarters of an inch /
broad and Eery shallow, being not more !
than an eighth OF an inc't deep. The fig !
urcS on the stones IRE very rude and can (
hardly be phonetic: neither Is It easy 10 /
say what they are intended to represent. ,
On the very summit Of the mountain they /.
found numerous sheep skulls and horns, /
with few bones, it being the custom of f.
the B~dOuinS to come up here TO pray and /
sacrifice a lamb. which is eaten on the /
spot. But none of the remains appear to /
be very recent. Ii is here, as | was told, |
that the Almighty is said to have spoken .
with Moses.
'.On the side of the mountain are many /
large powders. several of which are so de /
On their under sides rs to form |
small tavefns. Unt Of tlese WAS rs much |
as twenty feet, of titeredbor't, oEch way |
across. with height of ten feet CF tNcIye |
feet at the entrance, slOping down towards /
the back. As the existence of a cave or I
caves on Mount Sinai is essential in order |
TO meet the requirements of the texts, /
Exodus xXxiii, -, and Kings xix, . the |
fact that such caves do actually exist OH !
the Mountain Of Light is most pertinent /
and important. Not less significant IS the |
fact that this majestic mountain is visible /
in all directions, and that round its base
towards the east and south there is camp |
ing ground for hundreds CT thousands of |
persons. 1t would be out ofplacc to dwell |
here on the Importance ef this discovery |
of the Mountain of Light as regards the |
eIucidatiOn Ofthe sacred history. Its iden- |
tification with the mountain on which the
law was delivered is scarcely open to a
doubt"