Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Giuseppe
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Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

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But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem...
(Galatians 1:15-17)

The suggestion is born when I was reading that enigmatic passage of Hebrews 9:16:
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Basically, the idea is that if you want to find the place of the death of Jesus, you have to localize where Jesus did the testament.

In virtue of the same reason, the Latin term for ''head'' - testa - may well be the allegorical allusion behind the Gospel translation of Golgotha as ''place of the skull''.

We already know that the first testament was done on Mount Sinai, in Arabia.

Was the Arabia the same place where Jesus was cruficied (by making so the second ''testament'') ?

Was the Transfiguration Episode an anti-pauline episode meant to make the point that also the Pillars went to the Mount (of Sinai) to hallucinate Jesus in the glory?

And what about the memory of a ''battle'' happened on that mount, between Jesus and angels?
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Giuseppe wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:49 am...the Latin term for ''head'' - testa ....
What?
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Giuseppe
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

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Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:58 am What?
From the same link given kindly by you, Ben:
c. The skull: “testa hominis, nudum jam cute calvitium,” Aus. Epigr. 72; Prud. στεφ. 10, 761; Cael. Aur. Tard. 1, 1; 2, 1 fin. (hence, Ital. testa and Fr. tēte).—
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

Post by Ben C. Smith »

The Latin word for head is caput. The Latin word for skull is cranium. Testa can sometimes mean skull, but that is an extended meaning. Nobody looks/looked at testamentum and thinks/thought, "Oh! Skull!"
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Giuseppe
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

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Nobody among the outsiders, I agree.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Giuseppe
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

Post by Giuseppe »

Note that I see another translation of Hebrews 9:16 :
For where a testament is, there must be also witnessed of necessity the death of the testator.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Ethan
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Re: Why did Paul go to Arabia (Sinai)?

Post by Ethan »

Studying the Old Testament i encountered similar problem, but the clue is " but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus " , which would conclude Arabia and Damascus are in close proximity with each other. I studied all references to Arabia in the Old Testament and debunked them all and are instead referring to Ancient Lebanon.

The most common reference too Arabia is Frankincense, the Hebrew for which is לְבוֹנָה which means Lebanon, in other words the white resin of the Cedar tree ( Cedrus Libani ) only grown in Lebanon , indeed the three gifts, Myrrh, Frankincense and Gold are all references
to Lebanon ( not Arabia) see Songs of Solomon 3:6.
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