Mt. Sinai

Mount Sinai is where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, according to scripture sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The mountain's identification with this event has drawn pilgrims for at least seventeen centuries.

The Torah records the theophany at Sinai in detail. After the Israelites escaped Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to this mountain. God descended upon it in fire and smoke. The mountain trembled. God spoke the Ten Commandments to the entire assembled people, then called Moses to ascend alone. Moses remained forty days and nights, receiving the stone tablets inscribed by God's hand. When he descended to find the people worshipping a golden calf, he broke the tablets in anger. He later returned to the mountain and received a second set.

Before this, Moses had encountered God at the same mountain in the burning bush. While tending sheep near Mount Horeb, he saw a bush that burned without being consumed. From within it, God spoke, revealing the divine name YHWH and commissioning Moses to free the Israelites. The location where Moses stood was declared holy ground.

Elijah's encounter added another story to the mountain's significance. Fleeing Queen Jezebel's wrath, the prophet traveled forty days and nights to reach Mount Horeb. He sheltered in a cave. God sent wind, earthquake, and fire, but was not present in these dramatic manifestations. After them came 'a still small voice,' and in that silence Elijah encountered the divine.