Horeb

HOREB (Hebrew Hōrēb, «Drought», «Desolation»). - Another biblical name for Mount Sinai (v.). In fact, Horeb and Sinai have in common the vision of the burning bush, the divine command to Moses to return there to offer sacrifice after the departure from Egypt (Ex. 3:2-12; Acts 7:30 ff.); the assembly of the people of Israel with the terrible theophany and the so-called Sinaitic covenant (Ex. 19:18 ff.; Deut. 4:10, 15; 5:20; 18:16); the delivery of the tablets of the Law and their placement in the Ark (Deut. 9:8 ff.; 1 Kings 8:9; 1 Chron. 5:10); the promulgation of the Law (Mal. 4:4); the worship of the golden calf (Ps. 105[106]:19; Deut. 9:8 ff.); the long sojourn of the Israelites just out of Egypt and the point of departure for Kadesh-barnea (Deut. 1:2, 19, etc.); there Moses made water gush from a rock (Ex. 17:6), and there the prophet Elijah took refuge (1 Kings 19:8).

In this duality of names, the school of Wellhausen sees an indication of a diversity of documents (H.: ED; Sinai: JP). Catholics give various explanations of it: H. would be a Midianite name, Sinai a Canaanite one, of the same mountain. More commonly H. is held to be the primitive name of the mountain range, Sinai that of the surrounding desert, which would have prevailed over the other; or else, H. is the name of the whole range, Sinai that of one of its peaks; H. of the northern peak (Rās es-Safāf, 1214 m), Sinai of the southern one (Gebel Mūsā, 2240 m). In Deuteronomy, instead of Sinai, H. is always used (except 33:2), perhaps because Sinai is connected with the moon god Sin.