Note 141 — LETTER XXXIII.

St. Jerome already says expressly the same thing, in adding to the words of Eusebius, s.v. Choreb:—“Mihi autem videtur, quod duplici nomine idem mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb vocetur.” Josephus already evidently took both mountains to be one, as he everywhere substitutes Sinai where Choreb occurs in the Bible; so also does the author of Acts (vii. 80); and likewise Syncellus (Chron. p. 190), who says of Elias:—ἐπορεύετο ἐν Χωρὴβ τῷ ὄρει ἤτοι Σιναίῳ. [The adjective termination of Σιναίῳ shows that Syncellus meant that Choreb was part of the Sinaitic range. Otherwise, he would have employed the Hebraic termination:—K. R. H. M.] Of late scholars, Ewald presents the same opinion concerning the identity of the two mounts. He says, (Gesch. des V. Isr., vol. ii. p. 84):—“The two names Sinai and Horeb do not change, because they denoted two peaks of the same mountain, lying close together, but the name Sinai is plainly older, which is also used by Deborah, (Judges v. 5), while the name Horeb is not to be found previous to the time of Numbers (cf. Exod. iii. 1, xvii. 6, xxxiii. 6), but then becomes very frequent, as is proved by Deuteronomy, and the passages, 1 Kings viii. 9, xix. 8, Mal. xii. 22, Psalm cvi. 19, while it does not mean anything to the contrary, when quite recent writers, for the sake of showing their acquaintance with ancient literature, re-introduce the original name of Sinai!”