Word: mount
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...Egypt, only to throw in his lot with slaves. He would lead his oppressed people safely through a valley of watery death that had been cleft from the sea. A pillar of smoke guided them by day, a pillar of fire by night. And on the heights of Mount Sinai, above a world filled with idols, Moses walked into the terrifying presence of the divine and declared that...
...speculation and literary intuition. But it must also acknowledge him as an irresistible personality, a man both weak and strong, a savior rejected, a brother reproved, a prophet both happily and unhappily caught up in the whirlwind of God. The modern search for Moses is like a climb up Mount Sinai. It is a bracing ascent over starkly arid terrain, the ancient volcanic rock giving way to deep chasms, full of darkness and danger. But the view can be spectacular: the light splaying in many hues at sunrise as the visitor reaches the spot where the Bible says Moses received...
...then the visitor stops and remembers that there is more than one Mount Sinai; indeed, there are at least eight spots that could have inspired the tale that grips us all. In spite of the solidity of the rock and the exultation of the climb, the questions arise: Did the Exodus happen? Can the words of the Bible be matched with evidence of deeds? Did Moses even exist...
...Like Mount Sinai, the Sea of Reeds (mistranslated as the Red Sea) has been located at various sites all over the Middle East. A current scholarly favorite is Lake Sirbonis (now called Sabkhet el Bardowil), a Mediterranean lagoon on the northeastern shore of the Sinai separated from the sea by a narrow land barrier. Critics claim to discern several different accounts within the Bible, depending on which of four ancient versions of the story has been woven into the existing Scripture text. A fragment attributed to the writer called E notes a fairly minor miracle, the providential bogging down...
...Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently... As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder...