3:1 wilderness. An uncultivated area but capable of sustaining grazing. According to 34:3 and Num. 10:11, the wilderness of Sinai sustained Israel’s flocks for a year. Horeb and Sinai are terms that possibly distinguish Horeb as an entire range from Mt. Sinai (19:18, 20; cf. Deut. 4:15).

mountain of God. This term describes the mountain as a sanctuary, a designation that anticipates ch. 19. Moses is now eighty years old (7:7) and has been in Midian forty years.