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[ This Yitm, which Burckhardt first wrote El-Ithem, unfortunately gave Dr. Beke an opportunity of finding, in his "Wady el-Ithem," the "Etham of the Exodus." (See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 359—361). The latter has been conclusively shown by Brugsch-Bey in his lecture, "La Sortie des Hébreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mourès, 1874), p. 31, to be the great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" () signify to seal up, close; and thus Khatom in Egyptian, as Atham, Etham in Hebrew, means a closed place, a fortress. Wallin calls the "Yitm," which he never visited, "Wâdî Lithm, a cross valley opening through the chain at about eight hours (twenty-four miles) north of 'Akaba'"—possibly Lithm is a misprint, but it is repeated in more than one page.]
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[ Dr. Beke, who afterwards changed his mind, would identify Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, with Horeb of the Rock ("Orig. Biblicae," 195). He then adopted ("Sinai in Arabia," p. 77) the opinion of St. Jerome ("De Situ," etc., p. 191), "Mihi autem videtur quod duplice nomine mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb vocatur." Wellsted (ii. 103) also makes Horeb synonymous with "Wilderness of Sinai." Professor Palmer (118) translates Horeb by "ground that has been drained and left dry:" he would include in it the whole Desert of Sinai, together with "the Mountain;" whilst he warns us that the monks call the whole southern portion of their mountain "Horeb." Others confine "Horeb" to Jebel Musá, and even to its eastern shoulder.]
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[ For the Mount or Mountain see Exodus xix. 2, 12, 20, 23; also xxxii. 19; Deut. iv. II, and v. 23; Heb. xii. 18. Josephus ("Antiq.," II. ii. I) speaks of it similarly as a "mountain," and describes it with all the apparatus of fable; while his compatriot and contemporary, St. Paul (Epist. to the Galatians iv. 25), calls it only "Mount Sinai in Arabia," i.e. east of Jordan.]
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[ See Athenaeum, February 8th and 15th, 1873.]
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[ They were heard of by Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510).]