Elijah was determined to reach Mount Sinai, a journey of about 200 miles. This trip did not need to take forty days and nights. Elijah might have traveled at a symbolic pace, reflecting Israel's history. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, and Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33–34; Deuteronomy 1:2–3). The number forty sometimes symbolized a complete period of testing (Genesis 7:4; Psalm 95:10; Jonah 3:4; Matthew 4:1–2).