DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4643#0038
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Wady-el-Leja is a narrow Valley running up into the Mountains, and containing the deserted Convent
of El-Arbain. It lies parallel to the valley containing tie Convent of St. Catherine, and is West of
Horeb. The view from the entrance gives one of the finest aspects of the granite range, the front of
Horeb rising perpendicularly to the height of nearly fifteen hundred feet.1
The " Rock of Moses" is, from its size, a remarkable object: it rests isolated where it has fallen
from the eastern Mountain above. It is of red granite, hard enough to account for the expression, " a
rock of flint."2 According to recent measurement, it is fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twelve feet
high.3 Down the front of this Rock, in an oblique direction, runs a seam, twelve or fourteen inches
broad, of apparently a softer material; the Rock also has ten or twelve deep horizontal crevices, at
nearly equal distances from each other. " On close examination," says the Artist, " I felt convinced that
they were not artificial, from the nature of the Rock. I think it must have formed the vault of a cave
or recess, through which water had oozed for ages, and left the present appearance."4
The reverence with which every object associated with Scripture is regarded in these regions by
pilgrims and travellers, is strikingly observable here. This mass of stone is believed to be the actual
Rock which was struck by Moses at the command of the Lord, when water gushed forth to supply the
Israelites in the Desert. " Behold I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb; and thou
shaft smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel."5 The Arabs also call it the Rock of Moses; and the reverence
of the Bedouins for the relic is scarcely less than that of the Christians.
1 Bibl. Res. i. 130. 2 Carne's Travels. 3 Deut. viii. 15. * Roberts's Journal. 5 Exodus xvii. 6.
\>VA\V ^^XVa . X • X
i
IK ©W MI1
^2
AWW°m%*°$*m3 &« Ki
^
»IE 31!
Wady-el-Leja is a narrow Valley running up into the Mountains, and containing the deserted Convent
of El-Arbain. It lies parallel to the valley containing tie Convent of St. Catherine, and is West of
Horeb. The view from the entrance gives one of the finest aspects of the granite range, the front of
Horeb rising perpendicularly to the height of nearly fifteen hundred feet.1
The " Rock of Moses" is, from its size, a remarkable object: it rests isolated where it has fallen
from the eastern Mountain above. It is of red granite, hard enough to account for the expression, " a
rock of flint."2 According to recent measurement, it is fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twelve feet
high.3 Down the front of this Rock, in an oblique direction, runs a seam, twelve or fourteen inches
broad, of apparently a softer material; the Rock also has ten or twelve deep horizontal crevices, at
nearly equal distances from each other. " On close examination," says the Artist, " I felt convinced that
they were not artificial, from the nature of the Rock. I think it must have formed the vault of a cave
or recess, through which water had oozed for ages, and left the present appearance."4
The reverence with which every object associated with Scripture is regarded in these regions by
pilgrims and travellers, is strikingly observable here. This mass of stone is believed to be the actual
Rock which was struck by Moses at the command of the Lord, when water gushed forth to supply the
Israelites in the Desert. " Behold I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb; and thou
shaft smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel."5 The Arabs also call it the Rock of Moses; and the reverence
of the Bedouins for the relic is scarcely less than that of the Christians.
1 Bibl. Res. i. 130. 2 Carne's Travels. 3 Deut. viii. 15. * Roberts's Journal. 5 Exodus xvii. 6.