Mount Sinai

from the Itinerary of Peter the Deacon

(1107-1159)

The desert of the South is a solitary place of immense size, for as far as a man can see, and the area of this desert is infinite where they (the Israelites) wandered for three days without water. From the southern desert to Mara there is one way-station, going along the banks of the sea. In Mara there are very few palm trees. There are also two springs which the Blessed Moses sweetened.

After three days there was, toward the left, a desert without end, in the place called Elim. There runs a river there, which for a certain time was dry, but by crossing its bed or looking nearby people could find some water. There was a sufficient abundance of grass; the palm trees were many in that place. Of the journey to the Red Sea, that is to the South, one could not find another place so pleasant and with so much abundant water. From that place it was rather near the sea. At the end one sees two very tall mountains, and before arriving at these mountains one finds to the left a place where the Lord made manna to rain for the Israelites. These mountains are very high and steep. From the other part of the mountain there is a valley so level as to be an arcade two hundred steps wide. At two sides of the valley mountains rise up high and steep. But where the mountains are open, there is a valley six miles wide and much longer than that. All the mountains had hollows around the base. These caves were made in such a manner that if one wished to hang drapes, they made very nice habitations. Every habitation was signed with Hebrew letters. There, at the far end of the valley, there was abundant enough but it was not so good as at Elim. This place is called the desert of Faran; from here Moses sent the explorers to examine the Promised Land; that locale is surrounded by both parts of the mountain. That place produces neither grains nor vines, but only water and palm trees.
 

Close to the village of Faran, about 1500 feet, these mountains become less extended in such a way that the valley widens by scarcely thirty feet. This place is called Rephidim where the Amalekites battled the Israelites. There the people murmured about the water, and Jethro, father-in-law to Moses, went out to meet them. The place beyond where Moses prayed when Joshua vanquished the Amalekites is a mountain, very high and rugged, which dominated Faran. A church was built where Moses prayed. One can still see today the place that shows how he sat and how the cooking rocks were placed. There, also, Moses, conquering the Amelekites, built an altar to the Lord. Meanwhile the place rises up steeply 500 feet, as if one were to climb a wall to ascend. .
 

From Faran to the Holy Mountain of Sinai there are 1305 steps. Moreover, in Aserot one still sees the wall of stone where the Israelites lived when they returned from the Mountain of God. There are three thrones of stone in a place a little farther up: one for Moses, the other two for Aaron and Jethro. The cell where for seven days Mary, sister of Moses, stayed apart is still elevated above ground by two stones. From Aserot to the Sacred Mountain of Sinai the entire valley is full of tombs to the right and to the left. Near the Holy Mountain is the place called the "Tomb of the Concupiscence" and it is completely filled with tombs.
 

Before arriving at Mount Sinai, there are six mountains that form a very flat, beautiful valley. Beyond this valley appears the holy Mount Sinai. The place, where the mountains thin out, is next to that place where there are the Tombs of the Concupiscence. It is four miles distance from there to Mt. Sinai. This valley is vast and very level, lying at the feet of the Mountain of God. It is 16 miles long and 4 miles wide. Whoever wants to go to the Holy Mountain on the other side goes through the valley. This is the valley in which the Israelites, stayed for 40 days and 40 nights when Moses was on the mountain. The place where the calf was made is indicated yet to this day. A great stone is fixed here. This is, further, the valley at the beginning of which is the place where God spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush. From one side there is an optimal path up to the mountain and on the other side, that which descends. One crosses in the middle of the valley and arrives at the Mountain of God. This mountain seems from a distance to be one mountain standing alone, but actually there are many which together are called Mount Sinai. It is particularly this mountain which has at its top the place where the majesty of God came down and is much higher than all other groups. In fact, all other mountain groups appear so high but from Sinai itself they seem so low as if they are little foothills.

Upon the summit of Mount Sinai, where the Laws were given to Moses, there was built a church. No one lives on the top of this mountain so there is nothing other than that one church and the cave in which Moses lived. The whole mountain is of stone so that it doesn't have even thickets. From the top of this central mountain one views those other mountains with deep awareness of God's creativity.

Translated by Sabino De Sandoli

By courtesy of the Holy Land Magazine