The peninsula between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akabah; also one of the high peaks there. The peninsula is usually called in Scripture ‘the desert (or wilderness) of Sinai.’ St. Stephen (Acts 7:30) recalls how an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses ‘in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.’ Mount Sinai was a sacred mountain from very early times, being possibly connected with the worship of the Babylonian moon-god Sin. In the Jewish tradition it was sacred to Jahweh, and was memorable as the place where God gave to Moses the ‘lively oracles’ (Acts 7:38). See, further, Mount, Mountain. For Galatians 4:24 f. see Hagar.
J. W. Duncan.