THE ETERNAL OUR G-D SPOKE UNTO US IN HOREB, SAYING. In my opinion Horeb was the name of a place near Mount Sinai¹ where Israel dwelled in the year [of the exodus]. The wilderness was large and therein was the mountain which G-d hath desired;² its name was Sinai and it is for this reason that the entire wilderness is called the wilderness of Sinai,⁠³ as it were, "the wilderness of Mount Sinai.⁠" Thus Scripture states, and they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped opposite the mount,⁠⁴ meaning that they encamped in the wilderness in a place called Horeb, this being opposite the mountain. It is possible that both the mountain and the wilderness were called "Sinai" because many sneh (thorn-bush) trees were there, and near that mountain was a locality or an inhabited city called Horeb, and there they stopped. And the verse which states, and he [Moses] came to the mountain of G-d, unto Horeb⁵ [which might indicate that the name of the mountain itself was really Horeb or, perhaps, that the mountain was in the region called Horeb], means that he came to Horeb where the mountain of G-d was. Now the sneh (thorn-bush) [out of the midst of which the angel appeared to Moses] was on that mountain. Moses [at that moment] was in Horeb, the place before it, nearby, where the camp of Israel stood for [close to] a year [after the exodus]. Therefore Moses said, I will turn aside now and see [this great sight, why is the bush not consumed],⁠⁶ meaning that he will turn aside from Horeb [and walk] up to the mountain. At times Scripture calls the mountain itself [Horeb], as it is said, And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb,⁠⁷ that is to say "from the mountain which was in the area of Horeb, in its vicinity or before it.⁠" Or it may be that Horeb was the name of the entire region and the mountain was within it. Similarly, Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances,⁠⁸ alludes to all that he was commanded on the mountain, and in the Tent of Meeting which was there in Horeb.
Now I have seen a Midrash in Yelamdeinu Rabbeinu:⁠⁹ "Yea, thou knewest not¹⁰ — at Sinai; yea, thou heardest not — at Horeb; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened — in the plains of Moab.⁠" The Midrash thus intimates that Horeb is the place where the Tent of Meeting was, [thus confirming the view that Sinai and Horeb are different places]. However, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra states¹¹ that Horeb is Mount Sinai, for, because of its desolation and dryness, the sneh (thorn-bush) grows there, so the mountain is known by two names [Horeb and Sinai], both being similar in meaning ["Horeb" referring to its desolate nature, and "Sinai" indicating the thorn-bushes that are products of the dryness].