Tag: Sinai

A 3-Days’ Journey to Mt. Sinai

yahweh sinaiTo help us discover the location of Mount Sinai, we must return to our earliest sources and follow the instructions which provide the distance from the eastern border of Egypt, as defined in the days of Moses, to Mount Sinai.

This evidence will begin to answer the question of whether or not the mountain of the eloahim could be as far away as the southern regions of the Sinai Peninsula, let alone somewhere in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or Jordan.

3-Days’ Journey
According to our earliest sources, Mount Sinai was only a 3 days’ journey from the border of Egypt. For example, when Moses first met Yahweh at Mount Sinai, he was ordered to bring the Israelites “out of Mizraim (Egypt)” and bring them to this very mountain. At this point, Moses quotes Yahweh as having told him:

When you have brought forth the people (of Israel) out of Mizraim, you shall serve eloahim על ההר הזה (al ha-har hazah; upon this mountain). (Exod. 3:12)

This statement is our first indication that Mount Sinai was somewhere beyond the borders of Egypt, for it is only after Moses brings the Israelites “out of Mizraim” that they would “serve eloahim upon this mountain.” Continue reading “A 3-Days’ Journey to Mt. Sinai” →

18. Passover – Pentecost Clarity II

In our last post titled 17. Passover – Pentecost Clarity I we addressed the four approaches for keeping Pentecost. Of these four systems the oldest is the Aristocratic, which counted the 50 days from the day after the weekly Sabbath following Passover, Sunday to Sunday.

Its antiquity is demonstrated by the fact that both the ancient conservative Samaritan and Sadducean (Boethusian) priesthoods practiced the identical Pentecost system—this despite their loathing for each other.

This common approach among competing branches of the Zadokite priests reflects a common history, indicating that this system was used by the Zadokite priests prior to the fourth century B.C.E. (the time when the Samaritan schism took place).1

Aristocratic System
These Aristocratic priests were “heirs to the old Zadokite tradition in Jerusalem.”2 This Aristocratic system was later followed by the early Christian assemblies,3 demonstrating their belief in its antiquity as well.

Continue reading “18. Passover – Pentecost Clarity II” →