The belching flame and quaking of the mountain described in the Sinai region confirms a volcano in eruption. Sinai is neither name of a mountain nor it is indicative of a region in this name. Name of Sinai is given to all mountains of a single region which are peculiarly connected with each other in a chain-like manner. Ptolemy’s maps present this picture very clearly.
The ancient geographer Ptolemy called this region Modiane. Commentators of the Bible call it Midian. Palestine was well acquainted with earthquakes in OT times.
Hebr olah is translated into English as Holocaust; in the Vg and LXX it signifies something that ascends or rises. Commentators of the Bible thought it to be either ascent of a victim to the altar, or from the altar to God, or a combination of both; thus meaning of Hebr olah like many other Hebr words remains undetermined to this day. That its meaning cannot be determined with certainty lies in the fact that scholars of Israel are hard bent to believe that ancient Israel’s geographical situation does not exist outside the present Israel. Olah is ‘loha’ which means ‘Iron’; anciently, volcano was identified with the mountain of ‘iron’, and ‘bronze’. Thus Sea of Bronze and Mountain of Bronze of biblical description finds the ancient volcano itself.
There are two other local name-forms for ‘olah’ ; it may be the name of a deity whose name locals love to called ‘Aloh-Maa-Lo’, means ‘O’ Mother Loh’; when in any difficulty people take the name of this deity immediately. The other local name for ‘olah’ may mean ‘luha’ means ‘tears’.
The Greek ‘olokautoma’ which means something that wholly destroyed by fire expresses the essential characteristic of a ‘volcano’; it never describes a sacrifice as suggested by biblical scholarship. To consider it as victim being placed on the altar and its complete consummation is not correct. Olokautoma or Oloka-u-toma is as same as ‘ulaka-pat’ which locally means ‘falling of stars’ or ‘falling of glazing matters’ from the sky and may mean today’s asteroids also. Greeks were worshippers of volcanoes in ancient times, and such worshipping by them puts a volcano in their region; it cannot be outside of their territory. The other meaning for ‘olokautoma’ may also mean local ‘alaukikata’ which means ‘mystery’, and ‘toma’ or ‘tama’ which accompanies this name at the end may mean ‘Darkness’ which is always associated with this eruption.
The shape of pyramids of ancient Egypt exactly depicts the shape of the volcano which was then at the border of their country itself.
After staying for eleven months in the Sinai region of their second year, Moses with his Israelite followers suddenly broke up their camps. The rising cloud was the cause of such immediate closing of the camps. This was the desert region of Paran; and Kadesh was to its southeast. What is important to observe here is that the tribes which were previously leading the group suddenly altered their scheme, and the Gershon and the Merari tribes took up the leadership. This is because this was their own region and they were acquainted with its route.
Desert of Zin is identified with the region of the naked ascetics of the Jainas of the ancient times. The Red Sea Road is exactly the region of the Erythrean Sea; there is a confusion of meaning between the Red and Reed also. Meaning of the the Reed Sea is derived from the Hebr yam sup ; and the latter is ‘Seat of Yam’ or the Seat of Worship of Yama’, the King of Death, which is as same as the ancient Jerusalem. Biblical scholarship extracted meanings of the Hebr words, which do not reveal their real meaning. Thus there was a volcano in the immediate vicinity of the ancient Jerusalem.
Dwelling of the ‘fiery cloud’ is described as ‘miscan’ in Hebr; unfortunately its meaning is taken to be a nomad’s tent. The original meaning of the word describes God’s presence on earth as well as in heaven. Miskan theology became later the theology of the Jewish tradition which is also called Shekinah. And the meaning behind this theology is that it refers to ‘a pillar of fire’ which glows from the evening until morning. The cloud directed the movement of the people, and the impression was that they are under the constant guidance of the God. (I will take up a separate post to explain the meaning of this miscan)