HOREB

(Hoʹreb) [drought, desert).

“The mountain of the true God,” apparently the same as Mount Sinai. (1 Ki. 19:8; Ex. 33:6) Generally, though, Horeb seems to designate the mountainous region around Mount Sinai, otherwise called the Wilderness of Sinai. (Deut. 1:6, 19; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 18:16; 29:1; 1 Ki. 8:9; 2 Chron. 5:10; Ps. 106:19; Mal. 4:4; compare Exodus 3:1, 2; Acts 7:30.) At Horeb, Jehovah’s angel appeared to Moses in the midst of the burning thornbush, commissioning him to lead Israel out of Egypt. (Ex. 3:1-15) Later, while at Rephidim, the liberated Israelites complained about having no water to drink. Thereupon, at Jehovah’s direction, Moses, accompanied by some of the older men of Israel, went to a rock in Horeb, evidently the mountainous region of Horeb, and struck the rock with his rod. Water miraculously began issuing forth from this rock. (Ex. 17:1-6; compare Psalm 105:41.) Centuries afterward, the prophet Elijah fled from vengeful Queen Jezebel to Horeb by way of Beer-sheba.—1 Ki. 19:2-8; see SINAI.