Scorpion
(Heb. ’akrab), a well known venomous insect of hot climates, shaped much like a lobster. It is usually not more than two or three inches long, but in tropical climates is sometimes six inches in length. The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being inhabited by scorpions at the time of the exodus, and to this day these animals are common in the same district, as well as in some parts of Palestine. Scorpions are generally found in dry and in dark places, under stones and in ruins. They are carnivorous in the habits, and move along in a threatening attitude, with the tail elevated. The sting, which is situated at the end of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes a poisonous fluid, which is discharged into the wound by two minute orifices at its extremity. In hot climates the sting often occasions much suffering, and sometimes alarming symptoms. The “scorpions” of ( 1 Kings 12:1 , 14 ; 2 Chronicles 10:11 , 14 ) have clearly no allusion whatever to the animal, but to some instrument of scourging—unless indeed the expression is a mere figure.
Shittah Tree, Shittim
(Heb. shittah, the thorny), is without doubt correctly referred to some species of Acacia, of which three or four kinds occur in the Bible lands. The woof of this tree—perhaps the Acacia seyal is more definitely signified—was extensively employed in the construction of the tabernacle. See Exod 25,26,36,37,38 . (This tree is sometimes three or four feet in diameter (Tristram). The wood is close-grained and hard, of a fine orange-brown color, and admirably adapted to cabinet work.—ED.) The A. seyal is very common in some parts of the peninsula of Sinai. It yields the well-known substance called gum arabic, which is obtained by incisions in the bark, but it is impossible to say whether the ancient Jews were acquainted with its use. From the tangled thicket into which the stem of this tree expands, Stanley well remarks that hence is to be traced the use of the plural form of the Heb. noun shittim, the singular number occurring once only in the Bible. This acacia must not be confounded with the tree (Robinia pseudo-acacia) popularly known by this name in England, which is a North American plant, and belongs to a different genus and suborder. The true acacias belong to the order Leguminosae, sub-order Mimoseae .
Simeon
(heard). The second of Jacob’s son by Leah. His birth is recorded in ( Genesis 29:33 ) The first group of Jacob’s children consists, besides Simeon, of the three other sons of Leah—Reuben, Levi, Judah. Besides the massacre of Shechem, ( Genesis 34:25 ) the only personal incident related of Simeon is the fact of his being selected by Joseph as the hostage for the appearance of Benjamin. ( Genesis 42:19 , 24 , 36 ; 43:23 ) The chief families of the tribe of Simeon are mentioned int he lists of ( Genesis 46:10 ) At the census of Sinai Simeon numbered 59,300 fighting men. ( Numbers 1:23 ) When the second census was taken, at Shittim, the numbers had fallen to 22,200, and it was the weakest of all the tribes. This was no doubt partly due to the recent mortality following the idolatry of Peor, but there must have been other causes which have escaped mention. To Simeon was allotted a portion of land out of the territory of Judah, on its southern frontier, which contained eighteen or nineteen cities, with their villages, spread round the venerable well of Beersheba. ( Joshua 19:1-8 ; 1 Chronicles 4:28-33 ) Of these places, with the help of Judah, the Simeonites possessed themselves, ( Judges 1:3 , 17 ) and there they were found, doubtless by Joab, residing in the reign of David. ( 1 Chronicles 4:31 ) What part of the tribe took at the time of the division of the kingdom we are not told. The only thing which can be interpreted into a trace of its having taken any part with the northern kingdom are the two casual notices of ( 2 Chronicles 15:9 ) and 2Chr 34:6 Which appear to imply the presence of Simeonites there in the reigns of Asa and Josiah. On the other hand the definite statement of ( 1 Chronicles 4:41-43 ) proves that at that time there were still some of them remaining in the original seat of the tribe, and actuated by all the warlike, lawless spirit of their progenitor. A devout Jew, inspired by the Holy Ghost, who met the parents of our Lord in the temple, took him in his arms, and gave thanks for what he saw and knew of Jesus. ( Luke 2:25-35 ) There was a Simeon who succeeded his father Hillel as president of the Sanhedrin about A.D. 13, and whose son Gamaliel was the Pharisee at whose feet St. Paul was brought up. ( Acts 22:3 ) It has been conjectured that he may be the Simeon of St. Luke.
Sin, Wilderness Of
a tract of the wilderness which the Israelites reached after leaving the encampment by the Red Sea. ( Numbers 33:11 , 23 ) Their next halting-place, ( Exodus 16:1 ; 17:1 ) was Rephidim, probably the Wady Feiran [ Rephidim ]; on which supposition it would follow that Sin must lie between that way and the coast of the Gulf of Suez, and of course west of Sinai. In the wilderness of Sin the manna was first gathered, and those who adopt the supposition that this was merely the natural product of the tarfa bush find from the abundance of that shrub in Wady es-Sheikh, southeast of Wady Ghurundel, a proof of local identity.
Sina, Mount
the Greek form of the well-known name Sinai. ( Acts 7:30 , 38 )
Sinai, Or Sinai
(thorny). Nearly in the centre of the peninsula which stretches between the horns of the Red Sea lies a wedge of granite, grunstein and porphyry rocks rising to between 8000 and 9000 feet above the sea. Its shape resembles st scalene triangle. These mountains may be divided into two great masses-that of Jebel Serbal (8759 feet high), in the northwest above Wady Feiran, and the central group, roughly denoted by the general name of Sinai. This group rises abruptly from the Wady es-Sheikh at its north foot, first to the cliffs of the Ras Sufsafeh, behind which towers the pinnacle of Jebel Musa (the Mount of Moses), and farther back to the right of it the summit of Jebel Katerin (Mount St. Catherine, 8705 feet) all being backed up and. overtopped by Um Shamer (the mother of fennel, 9300 feet), which is the highest point of the whole peninsula. Names .—These mountains are called Horeb, and sometimes Sinai. Some think that Horeb is the name of the whole range, and Sinai the name of a particular mountain; others, that Sinai is the range and Horeb the particular mountain; while Stanley suggests that the distinction is one of usage, and that both names are applied to the same place. The mountain from which the law was given .—Modern investigators have generally come to the conclusion that of the claimants Jebel Serba, Jebel Musa and Ras Sufsafeh, the last the modern Horeb of the monks—viz. the northwest and lower face of the Jebel Musa, crowned with a range of magnificent cliffs, the highest point called Ras Sufsafeh, as overlooking the plain er Rahah—is the scene of the giving of the law, and that peak the mountain into which Moses ascended. (But Jebel Musa and Ras Sufsafeh are really peaks of the Same mountain, and Moses may have received the law on Jebel Musa, but it must have been proclaimed from Ras Sufsafeh. Jebel Musa is the traditional mount where Moses received the law from God. It is a mountain mass two miles long and one mile broad, The southern peak is 7363 feet high; the northern peak, Ras Sufsafeh is 6830 feet high. It is in full view of the plain er Rahah, where the children of Israel were encamped. This plain is a smooth camping-ground, surrounded by mountains. It is about two miles long by half a mile broad, embracing 400 acres of available standing round made into a natural amphitheatre by a low semicircular mount about 300 yards from the foot of the mountain. By actual measurement it contains over 2,000,000 square yards, and with its branches over 4,000,000 square yards, so that the whole people of Israel, two million in number, would find ample accommodations for seeing and hearing. In addition to this, the air is wonderfully clear, both for seeing and hearing. Dean Stanley says that “from the highest point of Ras Sufsafeh to its lower peak, a distance of about 60 feet, the page of a book distinctly but not loudly read was perfectly audible.” It was the belief of the Arabs who conducted Niebuhr that they could make themselves heard across the Gulf of Akabah,—a belief fostered by the great distance to which the voice can actually be carried. There is no other place known among all these mountains so well adapted for the purpose of giving and receiving the law as this rocky pulpit of Ras Sufsafeh and the natural amphitheatre of er Rahah.