‘washes away’ the stain that makes them unholy. (Isa. 1:18; Acts 22:16) The means by which God can thus express his tender mercy and loving-kindness while yet maintaining his perfect justice and righteousness is considered under RANSOM; RECONCILIATION; REPENTANCE and related articles.

AVOIDANCE OF SIN

Love of God and love of neighbor is a principal means for avoiding sin, which is lawlessness, for love is an outstanding quality of God; he made love the foundation of his Law to Israel. (Matt. 22:37-40; Rom. 13:8-11) In this way the Christian can be, not alienated from God, but in joyful union with him and his Son. (1 John 1:3; 3:1-11, 24; 4:16) Such are open to the guidance of God’s holy spirit and can “live as to the spirit from the standpoint of God,” desisting from sins (1 Pet. 4:1-6) and producing the righteous fruitage of God’s spirit in place of the wicked fruitage of the sinful flesh. (Gal. 5:16-26) They can thus gain freedom from sin’s mastery.—Rom. 6:12-22.

Having faith in God’s sure reward for righteousness (Heb. 11:1, 6), one can resist the call of sin to share its temporary enjoyment. (Heb. 11:24-26) Knowing the inescapability of the rule that “whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap,” since “God is not one to be mocked,” the person is protected against the deceitfulness of sin. (Gal. 6:7, 8) He realizes that sins cannot remain forever hid (1 Tim. 5:24) and that “although a sinner may be doing bad a hundred times and continuing a long time as he pleases,” yet it will “turn out well with those fearing the true God,” but not with the wicked one who is not in fear of God. (Eccl. 8:11-13; compare Numbers 32:23; Proverbs 23:17, 18.) Any material riches the wicked have gained will buy them no protection from God (Zeph. 1:17, 18), and, indeed, in time the sinner’s wealth will prove to be “something treasured up for the righteous one.” (Prov. 13:21, 22; Eccl. 2:26) Those who pursue righteousness by faith can avoid carrying the “heavy load,” the loss of peace of mind and heart, the weakness of spiritual sickness, that sin brings.—Ps. 38:3-6, 18; 41:4.

Knowledge of God’s word is the basis for such faith and the means of fortifying it. (Ps. 119:11; compare 106:7.) The person who moves hastily without first seeking knowledge as to his path will ‘miss the mark,’ sinning. (Prov. 19:2) Realizing that “one sinner can destroy much good” causes the righteous person to seek to act with genuine wisdom. (Compare Ecclesiastes 9:18; 10:1-4.) It is the wise course to avoid bad associations with those practicing false worship or immorally inclined persons, for these entrap one in sin and spoil useful habits.—Ex. 23:33; Neh. 13:25, 26; Ps. 26:9-11; Prov. 1:10-19; Eccl. 7:26; 1 Cor. 15:33, 34.

There are, of course, many things that can be done or not done, or that can be done one way or another, without any condemnation of sin. (Compare 1 Corinthians 7:27, 28.) God did not hem man in with multitudinous instructions governing minute details as to how things were to be done. Clearly, man was to use his intelligence and also had ample latitude to display his individual personality and preferences. The Law covenant contained many statutes; yet even this did not rob men of their freedom of personal expression. Christianity, with its strong emphasis on love of God and neighbor as the guiding rule, similarly allows men the widest possible freedom that the righteous-hearted person could desire.—Compare Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 8:21; see FREEDOM; JEHOVAH (A God of moral standards), page 890.

SIN, II

The name of a wilderness on the Sinai Peninsula and of an Egyptian city.

1. A wilderness region to which the Israelite camp, approximately one month after their exodus from Egypt, transferred after leaving Elim and a campsite by the Red Sea. After this wilderness there were several more camping sites, including Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim, before coming to Sinai. (Ex. 16:1; 17:1; Num. 33:9-15) It was in the wilderness of Sin that murmuring and complaints arose in the camp because of the lack of meat. Here Jehovah caused a flock of quail to “cover the camp,” and here the Israelites ate manna for the first time. It was also at this point that the sabbath law was put into effect.—Ex. 16:2-30.

The exact location of the wilderness of Sin is uncertain, though it is obviously along the southwestern border of the Sinai Peninsula. Geographers generally favor the sandy tract known as Debbet er-Ramleh, lying along the foot of the Sinai plateau. This desert plain is also near the suggested site of Dophkah.

2. Sin was among the cities of Egypt due to feel the sword brought on that land by the hand of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. (Ezek. 30:6, 10, 15, 16) It is called the “fortress of Egypt.” Some connect the name with the Egyptian sinw, or swn, meaning “fortress,” while others relate it to a similar-sounding word (sin), meaning “mud” or “clay.” Most authorities today accept the identification found in the Latin Vulgate, namely, Pelusium (meaning “mudcity”). Pelusium was an ancient fortress city situated in a key defense position against invasion from the Asiatic continent. Its location is generally accepted to coincide with present-day Tell el Farama, a site about twenty miles (c. 32 kilometers) SE of Port Said on the Mediterranean seacoast. Caravans or armies coming down the Philistine coast thus found this fortress guarding the entrance to Egypt. Assyrian King Ashurbanipal refers to it in his annals. Today the ancient site is surrounded by sand and marshes.

SIN

or Shin [ש].

The twenty-first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, later, outside the Hebrew Scriptures, used also as a number to denote three hundred.

This letter was used to represent two sounds, and, in later periods, these were distinguished by the use of a diacritical mark. A dot placed over the left-hand “horn” [שׂ] gave the pronunciation of “s,” while a dot placed over the right-hand “horn” [שׁ] gave the pronunciation of “sh.”

In the Hebrew, each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:161-168 begins with this letter.

SINAI

(Siʹnai).

1. A mountain in Arabia (Gal. 4:25), apparently also called Horeb. (Compare Exodus 3:2, 12; 19:1, 2, 10, 11; see HOREB.) In the vicinity of Mount Sinai the Israelites and a vast mixed company, with numerous flocks and herds, encamped for nearly a year. (Ex. 12:37, 38; 19:1; Num. 10:11, 12) Besides accommodating so great a camp, numbering perhaps over three million persons, the area around Mount Sinai also furnished sufficient water and pasturage for the domestic animals. At least one torrent descended from the mountain. (Deut. 9:21) Evidently at the base of Mount Sinai there was an area large enough for the Israelites to assemble and to observe the phenomena on the mountaintop. In fact, they could withdraw and stand at a distance. Even from the camp itself the top of Mount Sinai was visible. (Ex. 19:17, 18; 20:18; 24:17; compare Deuteronomy 5:30.) Bounds set around the mountain served to prevent both the people and their animals from touching the mountain.—Ex. 19:12, 13; compare Exodus 34:3.

IDENTIFICATION

The exact location of Mount Sinai or Horeb is uncertain. Tradition links it with a red granite ridge centrally situated in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula between the two northern arms of the Red Sea. This ridge measures approximately two miles (3 kilometers) from NW to SE and has two peaks, Ras es-Safsaf and Jebel Musa. The area in which this ridge lies is well watered by several streams. In front of the northern peak (Ras es-Safsaf) lies the plain of er-Raha, having an approximate length of two miles (3 kilometers) and extending from one-third to two-thirds of a mile (.5 to 1 kilometer) in width.

Based on his observations at the site in the nineteenth century, A. P. Stanley writes: “That such a plain should exist at all in front of such a cliff is so remarkable a coincidence with the sacred narrative, as to furnish a strong internal argument, not merely of its identity with the scene, but of the scene itself having been described by an eyewitness.” Commenting on the descent of Moses and Joshua from Mount Sinai, he states: “Any one coming down from one of the secluded basins behind the Ras Sasafeh, through the oblique gullies which flank it on the north and south, would hear the sounds borne through the silence from the plain, but would not see the plain itself till he emerged from the Wady El-Deir or the Wady Leja; and when he did so, he would be immediately under the precipitous cliff of Sasafeh.” Stanley further observes that Moses’ throwing the dust of the golden calf into the “torrent that was descending from the mountain” would also fit this area, saying: “This would be perfectly possible in the Wady Er-Raheh, into which issues the brook of the Wady Leja, descending, it is true, from Mount St. Catherine, but still in sufficiently close connection with the Gebel Mousa to justify the expression, ‘coming down out of the mount.’”—Sinai and Palestine, 1885, pp. 107-109.

The traditional view is that Mount Sinai may be identified with the loftier southern peak (Jebel Musa, meaning “mountain of Moses”). However, numerous scholars concur with Stanley’s view that the northern peak, Ras es-Safsaf, is more likely, there being no extensive plain in front of Jebel Musa.

EVENTS

Near Mount Sinai or Horeb, Jehovah’s angel appeared to Moses in the burning thornbush and commissioned him to lead the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt. (Ex. 3:1-10; Acts 7:30) Probably about a year later the liberated nation arrived at Mount Sinai. (Ex. 19:2) Here Moses ascended the mountain, evidently to receive further instruction from Jehovah, since it had already been revealed to him at the burning thornbush that ‘on this mountain they would serve the true God.’—Ex. 3:12; 19:3.

Moses was then directed to tell the people that their strict obedience to Jehovah’s word and covenant would result in their becoming a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Ex. 19:5, 6) The older men, as representatives of the entire nation, agreed to do this. Jehovah then instructed Moses to sanctify the people so that they might meet him on the third day thereafter. Bounds were set round about the mountain, for anyone touching it, whether man or beast, was to die.—Ex. 19:10-15.

On the morning of the third day, “thunders and lightnings began occurring, and a heavy cloud upon the mountain and a very loud sound of a horn.” The people in the camp trembled. Moses then brought them from the camp to the base of the mountain to meet the true God. Mount Sinai rocked and smoked all over. (Ex. 19:16-19; Ps. 68:8) At God’s invitation Moses went up the mountain and again was instructed to impress upon the people that they must not try to ascend. Even the “priests” (not the Levites, but apparently Israelite males who, like the patriarchs, served in priestly capacity for their households according to natural right and custom) could not go beyond the set bounds.—Ex. 19:20-24.

After Moses descended from Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the “Ten Words” from the midst of the fire and the cloud. (Ex. 19:19–20:18; Deut. 5:6-22) Jehovah here spoke to them through an angelic representative, as is made clear at Acts 7:38, Hebrews 2:2 and Galatians 3:19. Frightened by the awesome display of lightning and smoke, and the sound of the horn and thunders, the people, through their representatives, requested that God no longer speak with them in this manner, but that he do so through Moses. Jehovah then instructed Moses to tell them to return to their tents. The spectacle at Mount Sinai was intended to instill in the Israelites a wholesome fear for God so that they might continue observing his commandments. (Ex. 20:19, 20; Deut. 5:23-30) After this, Moses, perhaps accompanied by Aaron (compare Exodus 19:24), went near the dark cloud mass on Mount Sinai to hear Jehovah’s further commands and judicial decisions.—Ex. 20:21; 21:1.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai he related Jehovah’s words to the people and they again expressed their willingness to be obedient. Thereafter he wrote down the words of God and early the next morning built an altar and erected twelve pillars at the foot of the mountain. Burnt sacrifices and communion sacrifices were offered, and with the blood of the sacrificial victims the Law covenant was inaugurated.—Ex. 24:3-8; Heb. 9:16-22.

Having come into a covenant relationship with Jehovah, the Israelites, through their representatives, were able to draw near to Mount Sinai. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy of the older men of Israel approached the mountain and saw a magnificent vision of God’s glory. (Ex. 24:9-11) Afterward Moses, accompanied by Joshua, ascended the mountain, this time to receive further commands and the stone tablets containing the “Ten Words.” Not until the seventh day, however, was Moses invited to enter the cloud. It seems that Joshua continued to wait for Moses on the mountain, at a point where he could neither see nor hear anything that occurred in the Israelite camp. (Ex. 24:12-18) However, whether Joshua, like Moses, did not eat nor drink for the entire forty-day period is not stated. As Moses and Joshua at the end of this period descended Mount Sinai, they could hear the festive singing in the Israelite camp. From the foot of Mount Sinai Moses caught sight of the golden calf and the festivities. Immediately he threw down the two stone tablets, shattering them at the foot of the mountain.—Ex. 32:15-19; Heb. 12:18-21.

Later, Moses was instructed to make two stone tablets like those he had shattered and again ascend Mount Sinai, in order to have the “Ten Words” recorded thereon. (Ex. 34:1-3; Deut. 10:1-4) Moses spent another forty days on the mountain without eating or drinking. (Ex. 34:28; apparently this is the same forty-day period as that mentioned at Deuteronomy 9:18; compare Exodus 34:4, 5, 8; Deuteronomy 10:10.) From the time that the tabernacle or tent of meeting was erected and the cloud began to cover it, divine communication no longer came directly from Mount Sinai but from the tent of meeting set up in its vicinity.—Ex. 40:34, 35; Lev. 1:1; 25:1; Num. 1:1; 9:1.

Centuries later the prophet Elijah spent forty days at Horeb or Sinai, “the mountain of the true God.”—1 Ki. 19:8.

2. “Sinai” also designates the wilderness adjacent to the mountain by the same name. (Lev. 7:38) The exact geographical limits of the wilderness of Sinai cannot be determined from the Bible record. It was apparently located near Rephidim. (Ex. 19:2; compare Exodus 17:1-6.) To the wilderness of Sinai Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ wife Zipporah and his two sons Gershom and Eliezer, to be reunited with Moses. (Ex. 18:1-7) Among other noteworthy events occurring in the wilderness of Sinai were: Israel’s succumbing to calf worship during Moses’ absence (Ex. 32:1-8); the execution of 3,000 men who undoubtedly had a major part in calf worship (Ex. 32:26-28); Israel’s outward expression of repentance by stripping themselves of their ornaments