SIN, WILDERNESS OF

Pelusium to keep open the gate of Egypt for the Assyrian king. F. Ll. Griffith.

SIN, WILDEKNESS OF (name probably derived from the moon-god Sin) . — A region on the route of the Hebrews from Egypt to Mt. Sinai. It is usually identi-fied with the plain lying S. of the Ras Abu Zenimeh. Upon the view held in many quarters that Mt. Sinai must be located somewhere in the Negeb, the wilderness of Sin was on the more direct route from Egypt to Kadesh, near to if not identical with the desert of Zin (Nu 13» 20' 27" 333= 34', Dt 325', jog 151-8). ct. Zin.

H. L. WiLLETT.

SDTAI (Mountain). — A holy moimtain In the Sinaitic peninsula (whose name is said to be derived from that of Sin, the moon-god). It is called Horeb by E and D, whereas J and P employ the name 'Sinai.' Here Moses was granted the vision of the burning bush (Ex 3'), whereby he first received a call to lead the Israelites to adopt Jahweh as their covenanted God; and here took place the tremendous theophany which is the central event of the Pentateuch, wherein the covenant was ratified.

The identification of Mt. Sinai is a matter of some difficulty, and various attempts to discover it have been made from time to time. The traditional site is Jebel Musa, "the mountain of Moses,' almost in the centre of the triangle; here there has been a convent ever since at least a.d. 385, about which date it was visited by St. Silvia of Aquitaine — whose account of her pilgrimage still survives in part. This identification has therefore the warrant of antiquity. It is not, however, wholly free from difficulty, principally connected with questions of the route of the Exodus; but it is possible that with further study and discovery these difBculties may be found to be evanescent.

In recent years the tradition has been questioned, and two suggestions have been made calling for notice. The first is that originally suggested by Lepsius, who would place Sinai at Mount Serbal, some distance north-west of Jebel MQsa. This theory has been championed, with a good deal of force, by the latest investigator. Professor Petrie's assistant, Mr. C. T. Currelly (see Petrie, Researches in Sinai, ch. xvii.). The region appears more suitable for the occupation of a large host than the neighbourhood of Jebel MQsa, and it accords better with the probable site of Rephidim.

The second view would place the mountain out of the peninsula altogether, unless it can be proved that the Land of Midian included that region. And, indeed, the close connexion evident between Sinai or Horeb and Midian, which appears, for example, in Ex 3, makes this a theory worth consideration. But we are still in the dark as to the limits of Midian: all we can say is that it is not known whether Midian extended west of the Gulf of 'Akabah, and that therefore it is not known whether Sinai was west of 'Akabah. It must, however, be freely granted that to place Sinai east or north of 'Akabah would entirely disjoint all identifications of places along the line of the itinerary of the Exodus.

For the allegorical use of 'Sinai' in Gal 4«, see art. Hagar. R. a. S. Macalisteh.

SINAI (Peninsula). — The triangular tongue of land intercepted between the limestone plateau of the Tih desert in the north, and the Gulfs of Suez and 'Akabah, at the head of the Red Sea, on the south-west and south-east. It is a rugged and waste region, little watered, and full of wild and impressive mountain scenery. Except at some places on the coast, such as Tor, there is but little of a settled population.

This region was always, and still is, under Egyptian infiuence, if not actually in Egyptian territory. From a very early period it was visited by emissaries from Egyptian kings in search of turquoise, which is yielded by the mines of the Wady Magharah. There sculptured

SISERA

steles were left, and scenes engraved in the rock, from the time of Semerkhet of the first dynasty, and Sneferu of the third— dated by Professor Petrie in the fifth and sixth millennia b.c. These sculptures remained almost intact till recent years; till a party of English speculators, who came to attempt to re-work the old mines, wantonly destroyed many of them (see Petrie, Researches in Sinai, p. 46). What these vandals left was cut from the rock andremovedforsafety, under Professor Petrle'sdirectlon, to the Cairo Museum. A remarkable temple, dedicated to Hathor, but adapted, it would appear, rather to Semitic forms of worship, exists at SerabU d-Khadem, not far from these mines. It was probably erected partly for the benefit of the parties who visited the mines from time to time.

Geologically, Sinai is composed of rocks of the oldest (Archaean) period. These rocks are granite of a red and grey colour, and gneiss, with schists of various kinds — hornblende, talcose, and chloritio — overlying them. Many later, but still ancient, dykes of diorite, basalt, etc., penetrate these primeval rocks. Vegetation is practically confined to the valleys, especially in the neighbourhood of water-springs.

R. A. S. Macalisteh.

SINCERE. — The Eng. word 'sincere,' as it occurs in 1 P 2^ 'the sincere milk of the word,' is used in its old sense of 'unmixed,' 'pure' (RV 'without guile').

SINEW (that shrank) .—See Gn 32'2 for the traditional origin of a special food-taboo (cf. Food, § 10), the result of which was that the Hebrews abstained from eating the sciatic muscle (RV ' the sinew of the hip ') of animals otherwise clean. The prohibition is not mentioned in any of the legislative codes of the Pentateuch.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

SINGERS. — See Priests and Levites, hi. 1. 2.

SINHH.— The 'land of Sinim ' (Is 49'^) must, from the context, have been in the extreme south or east of the known world. In the south. Sin (.Pelusium, Ezk 30'"-) and Syene (Ezk 29'» 30«) have been suggested. The latter is favoured by recent discoveries of papyri (cf. Seveneh). The LXX favours the view that a country in the east was intended, and some modern commentators have Identified Sinim with China, the land of the Sinae.

SINITES.— A Canaanlte people (Gn 10" = 1 Oh I's). Their identification is quite uncertain.

SIN-OFFERING.— SeeSACRIFICEANDOFFERINQ, §14.

SION. — 1. A name of Hermon, Dt 4". Sion is taken by some to be a textual error for Sirion (wh. see). 2. See Zion In art. Jerusalem, ii. 1.

SIPHMOTH. — One of the places to which a portion of the spoil of the Amalekites was sent after David's return to Ziklag (1 S 30^'). The site has not been recovered.

SIPPAI.— See Saph.

SIRACH.— See Apochtpha, 13.

SIRAH, THE WELL OF.— The place at which Joab's messengers overtook Abner (2 S 3"). It lay on the road from Hebron to Jerusalem, and is now probably 'Ain Sarah, near Hebron.

SIRION. — The name said to be given by the Zidonians to Mt. Hermon, Dt 3'. Like Senir, it may originally have been the designation of a particular part of the mountain. Cf. Sign, 1.

SISERA. — 1. In Jg 4»' SIsera is represented as captain of the host of Jabin, a Canaanlte king; his army is overcome by the Israelites under Barak. In his flight after the battle, Sisera, overcome by fatigue, seeks refuge in the tent of Jael, who treacherously kills him while asleep. In another account (Jg 5, the older account) Sisera appears as an independent ruler, and Jabin is not even mentioned; the two accounts differ in a number of subsidiary details, but in two salient points

863