Mount Horeb - Occurrences

Occurrences

According to the researchers of the Documentary hypothesis, the name Sinai is only used in the Torah by the Jahwist and Priestly Source, whereas Horeb is only used by the Elohist and Deuteronomist.

The name Horeb first occurs at Exodus 3:1, with the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. According to Exodus 3:5, the ground of the mountain was considered holy, and Moses was commanded by God to remove his shoes.

Exodus 17:6 describes the incident when the Israelites were in the wilderness without water. Moses was upon the rock at Horeb, where he struck the rock (defying God's instruction Numbers 20:1-13) and obtained drinking water from the cracking rock. The only other use of the name in Exodus is at Exodus 33:6, where Horeb is the location where the Israelites stripped off their ornaments.

In Deuteronomy, Horeb is mentioned several times in the account of the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, Deuteronomy 1:2, 1:6, 1:19. The account of the delivery to Moses of the Ten Commandments, and references back to it, include mentions of Horeb at Deuteronomy 4:10, 4:15, 5:2,9:8, 18:16, 28:69. There are similar references back at Psalms 106:19 and Malachi 3:22.

At 1 Kings 8:9 2 Chronicles 5:10 it is stated that the Ark of the Covenant contained only the tablets delivered to Moses at Horeb.

At 1 Kings 19:8, Elijah visits Horeb the mount of God.

There are no occurrences of Horeb under that name in the New Testament. At Galatians 4:24-25, in the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians, Mount Sinai is mentioned: " ... One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children."