A New Suggestion for the Identification of Mount Sinai and its Implications for Understanding the Archaeology of the Negev: A Non-Peer Reviewed, Unreferenced, and Unpublished Parody

Abstract

In two midrashes (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Mekhilta de-Rashbi) dated roughly to the 1st through early 3rd centuries CE, God uprooted Mount Sinai from the earth, and the Israelites, standing beneath it, were threatened with burial should they choose not to accept the Decalogue/Torah. Based on the interpretation of Deuteronomy 4:11, and the meaning of the word תחתית) tachtit, at the base of) and its root, תחת) tachat, under), this account of the events at Mount Sinai has been ignored by historians and archaeologists, and even biblical commentators have tended to view it as allegorical. However, in the spirit of recent readings of the scripture by archaeologists, the midrash perhaps preserves that kernel of truth that is so often the focus of understanding the relationship between the physical remains recovered by archaeologists and the Torah and other biblical texts.