HOREB (ho'reb), (Heb. kho-rabe', desert).
1. A mountain or range frequently mentioned in Scripture. The special application of Horeb and Sinai in the Old Testament has been much dis cussed. Robinson and Hengstenherg think that Horeb is the name for the whole range, Sinai for a particular peak; Gesenius and others hold precisely the opposite view. Stanley suggests that were is more a distinction of usage than of place.
(0 In Leviticus and Numbers, Sinai is exclus ively used of the scene of the giving of the Law. (2) In Deuteronomy, Horeb is substituted for Sinai. (3) In the Psalms the two are used in differehtly. See Sinai and Palestine, p. 31. The Arabs now apply the name Jebel et-Tur to the whole central granite region, while tke peaks of which it is composed are called by variot.3 names. The mountain of Sinai and its wilderness are dis tinguished as the theater of events that took place in the district of Horeb, and the whole of Horeb is called "the mountain of God" (Exod. 12; iv :27 ; xvii :6 ; xviii :5 ; xxxiii :6. Hence, some times "Sinai" alone is spoken of (Exod. xix :It, 191 23; xxiv :n5; xxxi :18 ; xxxiv :29, 32; Lev. vii :38 ; xxv ; xxvi :46 ; xxvii :34 ; Num. i ; : I, 14; xxxiii :15. But frequently "Horeb" alone is named, and the same events are spoken of as occurring on Horeb which are described as tak ing place on Sinai (Deut. i :2, 6, 19; iv :to, 15; v:
2; ix :8; xviii :n5; xxix a). Later sacred writers employ both names; e. g., "Horeb" ( Kings viii: 9; XIX :8; 2 Chron. v:to; Ps. cvi:19; Mal, iv:4; 'Sinai," Judg. v:5; Ps. lxviii :8, 17).
2. In the New Testament, "Sinai" became a general name, as at the present day (Acts vii:3o, 38; Gal. iv:24, 20. In more modern times, and ever since the Crusades, the application of the names Sinai and Horeb to the particular moun tains or peaks has varied greatly among travelers. The range of Horeb spreads over an extensive field, and may be divided into two groups, exhibit ing rugged and venerable mountains of dark granite, stern, naked, splintered peaks and ridges, some of them of indescribable grandeur, rising in frowning majesty high above the general level of the range. The following heights of several peaks are given by the British Ordnance Survey : Jebel Musa, 7,375 feet ; Jebel Serbal, 6.735 feet; Jebel Katherin, 8,537 feet; Um Shaumer, 8,45o feet. (Schaff, Bib. Dict.) (See SmAt).