Mount Sinai

In 1877–1880 Mount Sinai was associated with Hagar, the Mosaic Law arrangement, and earthly Jerusalem in bondage. In 1885–1913 the Law covenant and the events at Sinai were explained as types of the New Covenant and its inauguration at antitypical Mount Zion. In 1907 Sinai itself was explicitly identified as a type of God's Kingdom, an identification repeated in 1924–1925. In 1918 the Sinai covenant ceremony was connected with the anticipated inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom. In 1928 Horeb represented heaven in a particular covenant scene, while the 1928–1929 Sinai–Zion comparison distinguished the beginning of Israel's journey from the place of settled government. In 1929–1930 Horeb was identified with God's organization. In 1932–1933 Sinai's terrifying manifestations prefigured greater events connected with the New Covenant. In 1934–1935 its shaking was interpreted more specifically as a judgment and refining process among consecrated people, said to have begun about 1918; in 1936 the New Covenant application was directed toward the anointed remnant. In 1942 the shaking was applied more broadly to Satan's world, with its modern commencement assigned to 1914. In 1944 Sinai was identified with the Hagar organization, the natural nation of Israel under the Law covenant. Explanations in 1955–1966 continued to associate Hagar, Sinai, the covenant arrangement, and earthly Jerusalem. The blood used at Sinai was also interpreted in 1956–1957 as picturing Jesus' sacrificial blood. In 1972 the comparison between Sinai's shaking and the removal of the present system was repeated. In 1985 a significant clarification explicitly denied that either Hagar or Mount Sinai represented the Mosaic Law covenant itself, identifying Sinai instead with earthly Jerusalem and the nation associated with that covenant. This distinction was retained in 1988, while explanations in 1992 and 2000 continued to connect Hagar and Sinai with earthly Jerusalem and bondage under the Law.