HOREB (Hebrew Hörébh, “drought,” “desolation”). — Another biblical name for Mount Sinai (v.). At Horeb and at Sinai are common the vision of the burning bush, the divine command to Moses to return there after the exodus (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 Kgs. 8:9; 1 Chr. 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 after leaving 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 Kgs. 19:8).
In this duplication of names, the Wellhausen school sees an indication of a diversity of sources (H.: E; Sinai: J-P). Catholic scholars offer various explanations: Horeb would be a Midianite name, Sinai a canonical one for the same mountain. More commonly it is held that Horeb is the primitive name of the mountain range, Sinai of the surrounding desert, which would have prevailed over the other; or else Horeb is the name of the entire range, Sinai of a peak of the same; Horeb of the northern peak (Rās es-Safṣāf, 1,214 m.), Sinai of the southern one (Jebel Mūsā, 2,240 m.). In Deuteronomy, instead of Sinai, Horeb is always used (except in 33:2), perhaps because Sinai is connected with the moon-god Sin.