The Case for (or Against) Jebel Musa

It is not entirely clear why the traditional site of Mt. Sinai in the south-central Sinai that rises above St. Catherine’s Monastery was first identified as the place where Moses received the Tablets of the Law. No objective reason can be given. There are neither archaeological nor historical reasons for the identification.^a The mountain so sanctified by tradition is not even the highest peak in the region.¹

In the mid-third century, early Christian hermits like St. Anthony sought spiritual refuge in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. From there, the practice of monasticism spread eastward into the Sinai Peninsula in the early Byzantine period. Some of these sites in the Sinai associated with monks and monasteries developed traditions regarding the location of Mt. Sinai. One of them was Jebel Musa, the Mountain of Moses in Arabic. Another was Jebel Serbal, also in the southern Sinai, with the well-watered Wadi Feiran at its base.²