The Exodus Revealed:
Searching for the Red Sea Crossing
King Solomon erected two pillars to mark the spot where the Hebrews crossed the Read Sea. Amazingly, for so long this has been keep hidden from the eyes of the world, and in many respects is still. People can see for themselves in they want the truth. However, the pillar that had the inscription stating the King Solomon was commemorating the crossing by erecting the pillars was on the Saudi Arabian side of the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aqaba) has been removed and a marker has been placed at its base after the authorities were notified by the discoverer Ron Wyatt.The film with all the underwater evidence for the Red Sea Crossing by Moses has been taken off the internet, below is a short trailer from another film of the same crossing.
Here is some modern evidence regarding the time of Moses and the Red Sea crossing at Nuweiba over a land bridge that stretches under water across the Gulf of Aqaba that has ravines of more that 3000ft on either side.
Is Jebel Musa the CORRECT Mt. Sinai?
When Queen Helena, mother of Constantine the "Great," chose Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula as the site of the Biblical Mt. Sinai, the Christian world blindly assumed this to be true! Every year excited tourists climb the slopes of the so-called Mountain of God, photographing Elijah's cave and the monastery of St. Catherine -- totally unaware that the REAL Mt. Sinai lies across the Gulf of Aqaba in the ancient land of Midian! How could this be?
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by John D. Keyser
It has become customary since the time of Constantine the Great for the majority of the Christian world to accept the area of the Sinai peninsula for the location of the biblical Mt. Sinai. Unknown to most, the REASON this location was selected rests solely with the opinions of one man -- the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (c. 280-337 A.D.)!
The question is, did Constantine select the correct spot? What prompted him to pick the rugged, mountainous region of south-central Sinai? The answers to these questions may surprise you!
The truth is, there was not the SLIGHTEST biblical or historical evidence to sustain the selection of this site as the proper place for the giving of the Law. In fact, just the OPPOSITE was the case, yet Constantine's opinion prevailed while he remained alive -- and is paramount to this present day.
What we must understand is that Mt. Sinai in the Sinai peninsula was selected exclusively through the agency of DREAMS AND VISIONS that Constantine experienced throughout his troubled life. Constantine had a LONG HISTORY of visionary experiences. From the year 312 A.D. they became a REGULAR part of the emperor's life; and throughout his career he was affected by FREQUENT SUPERNATURAL OCCURRENCES. And, according to Constantine himself, he never had a reversal in his affairs if he HEEDED these visions.
The beginning of his trust in the SUPERNATURAL occurred just before the battle at Milvian Bridge outside Rome, which gained for him the mastery of the western portion of the Roman Empire. As the story goes, he witnessed (along with his troops) a parhelion (a bright image appearing on a solar halo) of the sun which appeared to him as a CROSS in the heavens. With the cross he noticed the Greek letters Chi Rho accompanied with the words "by this sign conquer." The following evening he supposedly had a VISION of Christ who told him to adopt the sign of the "Chi Rho" as a symbol to protect him and his armies, and that he would ALWAYS be victorious. It was this so-called (by Constantine) "supernatural sign" that moved the emperor into thinking he had been DIVINELY SELECTED to bring about a UNIVERSAL KINGDOM that would usher in divine salvation and peace to the world.
According to Ernest L. Martin: "This visionary experience had a profound effect upon Constantine. In the following years he featured himself as the DIVINELY CHOSEN instrument of God to bring in the UNIVERSAL (CATHOLIC) KINGDOM TO THE TOTALITY OF THE WORLD. It gave Constantine great confidence that he was a special and elect vessel of God himself. And in all the battles that Constantine fought from A.D. 312 onward, with what he called the salutary sign of the "Chi Rho" in the advance of his armies, convinced him that he was indeed that special person selected by God to bring to pass the universal kingdom of Christ on earth" (Secrets of Golgotha. ASK Publications, CA, p. 99).
It appears that not long after his visionary experience at Milvian Bridge, Constantine began to think of himself as a NEW MOSES ordained by YEHOVAH God to lead the true people of YEHOVAH into a NEW WORLD ORDER with Constantine as its head. To reinforce this identification with Moses, Constantine had a SPECIAL TENT constructed in the form of a cross which he, LIKE MOSES, placed "outside the camp." (Ex. 33:7). It was into this tent that he and his trusted advisors would enter before any military action to seek "divine counsel" to direct them in the upcoming engagement.
Eusebius -- church historian and scholar of the third and fourth centuries -- noted what usually happened when Constantine entered this tent: "And making earnest supplications to God, he was always honored after a little while with a MANIFESTATION of His [God's ] presence. And then, AS IF MOVED BY A DIVINE IMPULSE, he would RUSH from the tent, and SUDDENLY give orders to his army to move at once without delay, and on the instant to draw their swords. On this they would immediately commence the attack, fight vigorously, so as with incredible celerity to secure the victory, and raise trophies of victory over their enemies" (Life of Constantine, II. 12).
These "divine impulses" ruled Constantine's life. Eusebius noted that Constantine's visions and supernatural encounters became such an ingrained part of his affairs that "a THOUSAND such acts as these were FAMILIARLY AND HABITUALLY done by the emperor" (Ibid., II, 12 & 14). Constantine's WHOLE LIFE was filled with visions, dreams and supernatural wonders; and they became FOREMOST in ALL his major decisions!
"This was," notes Michael Grant, "an epoch...in which VISIONS were frequently and continually seen, or imagined to be seen, by all and sundry, especially at decisive turning points of history, and it was natural enough for someone who had played such an important part as Constantine to believe, or require others to believe, that he, too, had seen a vision, which supported his [supposed] adherence to Christianity" (Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times. Charles Scribner's Sons, N.Y. 1994, p. 138).
"The ancient world," continues Grant, "and especially the world of Constantine's epoch, was as credulous of significant nocturnal DREAMS as it was of other kinds of VISIONS. 'It is to dreams,' wrote Tertullian, 'that the majority of humankind owe their knowledge of God.' Artemidorus of Ephesus devoted a study to the subject, theOneirocriticon. Divine powers were believed to visit people very often in their dreams and give them messages, and this was thought to apply particularly to great and powerful men. Thus an angel was said to have appeared in a dream to Licinius, and Constantine himself was said to have seen and talked with God in dreams, as part of his LIFELONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUPERNATURAL" (Ibid., p. 140).
And there was NO EXCEPTION TO THIS when Constantine selected Jebel Musa in the Sinai peninsula as the "true" site of the Mountain of YEHOVAH God. As we shall see, there was no biblical or historical teaching that prompted Constantine to pick the area in the wilderness of the Sinai. The Jews themselves had NO FIRM TRADITION regarding the location of Mt. Sinai.
Notice what the Jewish Encyclopedia says:
There is NO Jewish tradition of the GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION of Mt. Sinai; it seems that its exact location was OBSCURE already in the time of the monarchy....The Christian hermits and monks, mostly from Egypt, who settled in Southern Sinai from the second century C.E. on, MADE REPEATED EFFORTS to identify the locality of the Exodus with actual places to which the believers could make their way as pilgrims. The identification of Mt. Sinai either with Jebel Sirbal near the oasis of Firan (Paran; Nilus, Cosmos Indicopleustes), or with Jebel Musa, CAN BE TRACED BACK AS FAR AS THE FOURTH CENTURY C.E. [TO CONSTANTINE'S TIME]. (Vol. 14, p. 1599).
The selection of the Sinai peninsula for the site of Mt. Sinai probably occurred at the same time Constantine decided to build a church at the supposed place of the Messiah's resurrection in Jerusalem. The identification of "holy sites" in the Middle East was the result of an ATONING ACTION by Constantine for the deaths of his wife Fausta and his son Crispus -- executed at his own command. In a fit of depression Constantine sent his MOTHER HELENA to the Middle East to discover the spots he had "foreseen" in his visions.
The strange thing is that almost all of the spots that Helena "identified" as holy sites were previously occupied by some sort of PAGAN structure! "The very place where Jesus himself was believed [according to Constantine's "dreams"] to have met his death and to have received the burial that preceded his Resurrection: the Church of the Anastasis or the Holy Sepulchre on Mount Golgotha, [was built] upon the site of a Jewish burial chamber and beneath A TEMPLE OF APHRODITE" (Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times, by Michael Grant, p. 202).
Not only that, but while Helena was in Palestine she ordered a church to be built on the spot where the "cross of Christ" supposedly had been buried! In order to find the "cross," "she had made inquiries among the local people, who advised her to proceed to a place where 'ancient persecutors' had built A SHRINE OF THE PAGAN GODDESS APHRODITE. STIMULATED BY VISIONS, she ordered that the site should be excavated, whereupon, according to St. Ambrose's work On the Death of Theodosius (De Obitu Theodosii, 395), THREE crosses were disinterred..." (Ibid., p. 203). One of these three "crosses" was taken to be the "true" cross on which the Messiah had met his death and, records Michael Grant, "in consequence, Helena built a church on the spot."
In the town of Bethlehem a further great ecclesiastical building was constructed on Constantine's orders. "Its focal point," states Grant, "was the rock-cut grotto, which was supposed to be the birthplace of Jesus (and PAGAN WOMEN HAD COME THERE ON A FIXED DATE EVERY YEAR TO MOURN FOR THE DEATH OF ADONIS). Over this revered spot, surrounded by a railing, was constructed an octagonal martyrium" (Ibid., p. 206).
Grant goes on to show that "at Mambre, too (Ramath-el-Khalil, two miles north of Hebron), where Jesus had taught the disciples, a small church was built at the order of Constantine, shortly before 330. IT ADJOINED THE TEREBINTH OR OAK TREE (KNOWN AS OGYGES), VENERATED FROM VERY ANCIENT TIMES..." (Ibid., p. 206).
Helena's flurry of activity in Palestine was soon engulfed in myth; however, the essential truths of her building campaign have come down to us today. The local Jews, ever open to monetary rewards for their "service," helped Helena locate, to her own satisfaction, "all the spots where every important event in the recorded career of Jesus at Jerusalem [and outside the city] supposedly took place" (Ibid., p. 204). "She arranged," notes Grant, "for each of these places to be dug up, and promptly identified what was found there to her own satisfaction. The authenticity of these finds, dating back, as was alleged, TO A SO MUCH EARLIER TIME -- the tomb, Golgotha, the True Cross and the locations where Jesus was born and ascended to heaven -- has AROUSED SKEPTICISM, which is hardly surprising."
S. Runciman, in Byzantine Civilisation (1933) CRITICALLY NOTES that Helena's thrilling discoveries were made "with miraculous aid seldom now vouchsafed to archaeologists" (p. 26).
The Sinai peninsula was one such place she visited. "The origin of the present Monastery of Saint Catherine on the NW slope of Jebel Musa is traced back to A.D. 527, when Emperor Justinian established it on THE SITE WHERE HELENA, MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, HAD ERECTED A SMALL CHURCH two centuries earlier." (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Abingdon Press, N.Y. 1962, p. 376).
Eusebius and other religious authorities of the time saw NO OBVIOUS REASON why Constantine would have picked Jebel Musa as the site of Mt. Sinai! The selection of this spot came through SECRET VISIONS AND SUPERNATURAL REVELATIONS known only to Constantine himself and his mother Helena. As Ernest L. Martin points out, "The emperor's opinions, however, prevailed. He CLAIMED to possess divine knowledge, just like the apostles, and those VISIONARY EXPERIENCES gave him the essential teachings which he thought to have as their source his Saviour and which he considered necessary for all the Christian Church to follow" (Secrets of Golgotha, p. 107).
Visions, dreams and miracles -- when they are obviously NOT from YEHOVAH God -- are the most UNRELIABLE "proofs" for demonstrating historical, geographical and theological truths. Instead of relying on MANIFESTATIONS OF DEMONS, Constantine should have consulted the pages of the Bible for clues to determine the TRUE SITE of Mt. Sinai!
The Biblical Evidence
When Moses fled Egypt in fear for his life, he journeyed to the land of Midian in the Arabian peninsula -- now part of modern-day Saudi Arabia. Here he helped the seven daughters of Jethro, priest of Midian. As a result he was invited to Jethro's home and entered Jethro's employment as a shepherd for his flocks. Eventually he married Zipporah, one of Jethro's daughters, and was blessed with two children.
Toward the end of his 40-year sojourn in Midian, Moses was shepherding Jethro's flock near Mt. Horeb, where he came across a sight that was to change his life forever. Notice the account in Exodus 3: "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the PRIEST OF MIDIAN, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to HOREB, THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD." (Verse 1, RSV). Keep in mind the phrase, "MOUNTAIN OF GOD." "And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed." (Verse 2).
Later on, after leading the Israelites OUT OF EGYPT and crossing the Red Sea, Moses encamped near Mt. Sinai, which, in the biblical account, is termed the "MOUNTAIN OF GOD"! Shortly after arriving in the vicinity, "Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, together with Moses' sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was CAMPED NEAR THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD." (Ex. 18:5).
To further reinforce the identity of Mt. Sinai, the narrative in the Book of Exodus states: "So he [YEHOVAH God] said, 'I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: WHEN YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, YOU SHALL SERVE GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN' " (Exodus 3:12). This promise to Moses was made from the burning bush while he was tending Jethro's flock in MIDIAN! Clearly, the MOUNTAIN OF YEHOVAH GOD IN MIDIAN, where Moses lived for forty years, is the SAME MOUNTAIN OF YEHOVAH GOD he led the Israelites to AFTER the Exodus from Egypt!
This has not been lost on some researchers:
The location of Horeb, or Sinai, SOMEWHERE IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN is evidently well supported....Examination of the [biblical] narrative tends to confirm this view. "When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt ye shall serve God UPON THIS MOUNTAIN." This was spoken to Moses at Horeb, "the MOUNTAIN OF GOD," IN MIDIAN; and indicates that the Exodus would be completed on the arrival of the Israelites at HOREB, WHERE MOSES STOOD WHEN "THE ANGEL OF THE LORD" APPEARED TO HIM." (On the Track of the Exodus, by C.C. Robertson. Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA. 1990, p. 87).
Paul's Supporting Statement
Any doubt that might remain is dispelled by a statement of the apostle Paul found in Galatians 4: "For these are the two covenants: the one from MOUNT SINAI which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar -- for this Hagar is MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children..." (Verses 24-25).
The reference to HAGAR also indicates WHERE the Mountain of YEHOVAH God is situated. Peake's Commentary on the Bible explains: "Their mothers likewise represent the TWO dispensations. Hagar represents that given on Mt. Sinai, and, PAUL NOTES IN PASSING THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE FACT THAT MT. SINAI IS IN ARABIA, the land to which HAGAR was exiled (p. 977).
James A. Montgomery, in his book Arabia and the Bible, takes this a step further:
This experience of St. Paul with the Nabataean government of Damascus was preceded by his RETIREMENT INTO ARABIA immediately after his conversion, as he briefly relates in Gal. 1:17. The region no doubt was what the Romans came to call Arabia Petraea, Trans-Jordan; he returned thence to Damascus. There were 'desert' districts therein plenty to gratify his desire for solitude; again one of the great souls of the True Religion started his career from the desert. THAT THIS ARABIAN EXPERIENCE OF THE APOSTLE BROUGHT HIM ACTUALLY TO SINAI, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MOSES AND ELIJAH, has been advanced by some scholars, in view of his subsequent reference, in the same epistle, to SINAI AND HAGAR, 4:24, 25.
Montgomery now looks at the Textus Receptus --
The textus receptus of the Greek is represented by the American Standard Version: "Which things contain an ALLEGORY; for these women are two covenants; one from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. NOW THIS HAGAR IS MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA and answereth to the Jerusalem that is now." But the second 'Hagar' is now generally admitted to be a gloss, and there remains the question how to interpret the sentence with the excision. I suggest the meaning is: "THIS IS MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA (then the gloss) THAT IS HAGAR," i.e. THE LAND OF THE HAGARENES; and so the gloss is interpretatively correct, although out of place.
Montgomery now shows where the "Sons of Hagar" were located --
THE ARABIANS ARE CALLED 'SONS OF HAGAR' in Baruch 3:23, WHILE THE HAGARENES (OR HAGARITES -- both in AV) ARE FREQUENTLY MENTIONED IN CONNECTION WITH THE ARAB PEOPLES TO THE EAST AND SOUTH OF PALESTINE.E.g., Ps. 83:6,7, "Edom and Israel, Moab and the HAGARENES, Gebal [= the Arabic plural jibal, 'mountains,' still the name of the mountainous region south of the Dead Sea], and Ammon and Amalek." 'Hagarene may have served as a general name of the Arabs for the Jews with reminiscence of the concubine HAGAR....IDENTIFICATION OF HAGAR AND HAGARENES HAS BEEN MADE WITH THE AGRAIOI OF PTOLEMY, OF STRABO, ETC., IN NW ARABIA; but this important people MUST BE CONNECTED WITH AL-HIJR IN THE THAMUDENE COUNTRY [OF NW ARABIA], THE REGION OF EL-ULA....(University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. 1934, pp. 34-35).
The Land of Midian
Some "authorities" have claimed that the land of Midian included the Sinai peninsula and the area of the TRADITIONAL Mt. Sinai. Can this be true? Just WHERE was the geographical area called Midian?
Werner Keller makes the location clear:
Moses does what Sinuhe had done before him. He flees EASTWARD to get OUT of Egyptian territory. Since Canaan is occupied by Egypt, Moses chooses for his exile THE MOUNTAINS OF MIDIAN EAST OF THE GULF OF AQABAH, with which he had a remote connection. Ketura had been Abraham's second wife, after Sarah's death (Gen.25:1). One of her sons was called MIDIAN. The TRIBE OF MIDIAN is often called KENITES in the Old Testament (Num.24:21). The name means "BELONGING TO THE COPPERSMITHS" -- QAIN in Arabic, QAINAYA in Aramaic = a SMITH. This designation connects up with the presence of METAL in the neighbourhood of the tribal territory. THE MOUNTAIN RANGES EAST OF THE GULF OF AQABAH are rich in copper, as the investigations of Nelson Glueck of America have indicated. -- The Bible as History. William Morrow & Co. Inc. New York. 1981, p. 123.
This location of Midian EAST of the Gulf of Aqaba is verified by many other scholars. "The Biblical references connecting SINAI with Mount Seir, Edom and the LAND OF MIDIAN seem clearly to indicate this region EAST OF THE AELANITIC GULF (g. of AKABA) as pointed out by Beke (1834), Wallhausen (1886), Sayce (1894), Moore (1895), Shede (1897), Gall (1898), Gunkel (1903), Edward Meyer (1906), Schmidt (1908), Gressmann (1913), Haupt (1914) and by Alois Musil in 'The Northern Hegaz' (1911)" (On the Track of the Exodus, p. 87).
Not only that, but the area WEST of the Gulf of Aqaba has ALWAYS been Egyptian territory -- even up to this present day! Author James Montgomery points out that "the land WEST OF A LINE FROM THE WADY OF EGYPT TO THE ELANITIC GULF [GULF OF AQABA] HAS ALWAYS BELONGED TO THE EGYPTIAN POLITICAL SPHERE, and actually that is the present BOUNDARY of Egypt....the SOUTH-ARABIANS called the SAME REGION MSR, i.e. MISRAIM, EGYPT" (Arabia and the Bible, p. 31).
Arab tradition likewise places Midian EAST of the Gulf of Aqaba. The famous British explorer Charles Doughty, whose travels in Arabia were legendary, tells of "a tradition amongst their ancestors [of Arabs Doughty met in Arabia Deserta] that 'very anciently they occupied all that country about MAAN, WHERE ALSO MOSES FED THE FLOCKS OF JETHRO THE PROPHET....' " (Travels in Arabia Deserta. Random House, New York. 1921, p. 130).
The fact that the territory WEST of the Gulf of Aqaba -- that is, the SINAI PENINSULA -- has always been Egyptian territory brings to mind another point: If Moses led the Children of Israel OUT OF EGYPT (see Ex. 12:39, 41; 12:18) then logic dictates they had to CROSS THE GULF OF AQABA INTO MIDIAN to "leave" the land or territory of Egypt! If Mt. Sinai was in the Sinai peninsula, the Israelites could never have left Egypt.
The Testimony of Josephus
Josephus, the first-century A.D. Jewish historian, upholds this concept that the Mountain of YEHOVAH God is located in Midian -- the NW corner of the present day Saudi Arabia. Notice what he PLAINLY says:
Now when Raguel [Jethro], Moses father-in-law, understood in what a prosperous condition his affairs were, he willingly came to meet him. And Moses took Zipporah, his wife, and his children, and pleased himself with his coming.And when he [Moses] had offered sacrifice, he made a feast for the multitude, NEAR THE BUSH HE HAD FORMERLY SEEN; which multitude, every one according to their families, partook of the feast. -- Antiquities of the Jews, bk.III, chapter III.
In chapter II of the same book Josephus notes that "going gradually on, he [Moses] came to MOUNT SINAI, in three months' time after they were removed OUT OF EGYPT; AT WHICH MOUNTAIN, as we have before related, THE VISION OF THE BUSH, AND THE OTHER WONDERFUL APPEARANCES, HAD HAPPENED" (Section 5).
Josephus understood, then, that the mountain of the burning bush in Midian was the SAME MOUNTAIN from which the Law was delivered to the Israelites by YEHOVAH God.
Further on, in chapter XI, Josephus states the following: "....and when he [Moses] CAME TO THE CITY MIDIAN, which lay upon the Red Sea...he sat upon a certain well....It was not far from the city....These virgins [Jethro's daughters], who took care of their father's flocks, which sort of work it was customary and very familiar for women to do IN THE COUNTRY OF THE TROGLODYTES...." (Book II, section 1 & 2).
This land of the TROGLODYTES was visited by Charles Doughty when he passed through an area of northwestern Arabia called the MEDAIN. In his book he explains that the MEDAIN is the "Syrian caravaners' name for the hewn monuments in the CRAGS OF EL-HEJR on the Haj road, SIX REMOVES NORTH OF MEDINA." The publisher of Doughty's book notes that "Mr. Doughty found the TROGLODYTE CITIES to be sandstone cliffs with the funeral monuments sculptured in them of an antique town, and like those which are seen in the 'Valley of Moses' or Petra" (Travels in Arabia Deserta, pp. 136-137).
Josephus reveals another clue in book III, chapter I, verse 5:
So he [Moses] placed himself in the midst of them, and told them he came to bring them from God a deliverance from their present distress. Accordingly a little after came a vast number of QUAILS which is a bird more plentiful IN THIS ARABIAN GULF than anywhere else, flying over the sea, and hovered over them, till werried with their laborious flight, and, indeed, as usual, flying very near to the earth, they fell down upon the Hebrews, who caught them and satisfied their hunger with them, and supposed that this was the method whereby God meant to supply them with food. -- Antiquities of the Jews.
This incident, recorded by Josephus, is that of Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 -- occurring AFTER the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. "THIS ARABIAN GULF" can be none other than the Gulf of Aqaba! Therefore, the Mountain of YEHOVAH God, or Mt. Sinai, was EAST of the Arabian Gulf -- in the land of Midian.
Other Sources
Over the years many historians and scholars have realized the TRADITIONAL site of Mt. Sinai in the peninsula between the two gulfs of the Red Sea is MISPLACED and UNTENABLE. Sir Richard Burton, writing in 1883, summed up the various sites supposed to be Mount Sinai as follows: "....the SO-CALLED SINAI (JEBEL MUSA) is simply a MODERN FORGERY, dating probably from the 2nd century A.D.;...the first mount Sinai (Jebel Serbal) was INVENTED by the Copts, the second (Jebel Musa) by the Greeks, the third (Jebel Musa) by the Moslems, and the fourth (Jebel Susafeh) by Dr. Robinson...."
The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 DOUBTED that the traditional Mt. Sinai was correctly identified. Von Haven, a member of the expedition, quickly realized the IMPOSSIBILITY of the site:
I have observed earlier that we could not possibly be at Mount Sinai. The monastery [of St. Catherine] was situated in a NARROW VALLEY, which was NOT EVEN LARGE ENOUGH FOR A MEDIUM-SIZED ARMY to be able to camp in, LET ALONE THE 600,000 MEN THAT MOSES HAD WITH HIM, who, together with their wives and children, must have come to OVER 3,000,000." -- Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767, by Thorkild Hansen. Harper and Row, New York. 1964, p. 181.
James Hastings, prolific author of Bible dictionaries and other study aids, also saw the absurdity of the Sinai peninsula location. In an excellent critique he lays down the following points:
IF the Israelites really went into the Sinai peninsula, the route and goal of their wanderings have probably been correctly identified. We have shown that the tradition in favour of Jebel Musa is earlier and more constant than has generally been recognized. BUT THE REAL DIFFICULTY begins with the question WHETHER THE BIBLICAL MT. SINAI WAS IN THE PENINSULA [OF SINAI], AFTER ALL. Objection after objection has been raised under this head, and some of them ARE NOT EASY TO REFUTE. (1) The biblical references to Mt. Sinai DO NOT seem to warrant an identification in the limits of the peninsula. Dt. 1:2 gives a distance of 11 days from Horeb to the mountains of Seir, and this would agree well enough with the distance from Jebel Musa. BUT in other passages, such as Dt. 33:2, Hab. 3:8, THE CONTIGUITY BETWEEN SINAI AND EDOM SEEMS TO BE MORE PRONOUNCED: even if we grant a certain freedom of expression to poetical passages, still such language as Dt. 33:2 --
I came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir unto them,
And rose from Seir unto them,
might, in view of Hebrew parallelism of the members, IMPLY MORE than that Sinai was in the direction of Seir. It might be urged in reply that the passage continues --
He shined forth from Mt.
Paran,
And came from Meribah
Kadesh,
Paran,
And came from Meribah
Kadesh,
and Paran has been commonly identified with Feiran in the peninsula [of Sinai]. BUT THIS IDENTIFICATION HAS ALSO BEEN QUESTIONED ON ACCOUNT OF THE PARALLELISM WITH KADESH AND OTHER REFERENCES. (2) Some of the places in the itinerary of Exodus have apparently BEEN FOUND OUTSIDE THE LIMITS OF THE PENINSULA, AS ELIM IN ELATH-ELOTH, AND THE ENCAMPMENT BY THE SEA IN THE GULF OF AKABA. (3) MT. SINAI IS SUSPICIOUSLY CONNECTED WITH THE LAND OF MIDIAN, and it HAS TO BE SHOWN that the Sinaitic peninsula could be thus described. AT THE TIME OF THE EXODUS IT [SINAI PENINSULA] WAS AN EGYPTIAN PROVINCE.These and OTHER OBJECTIONS have been raised against the TRADITIONAL THEORY; their resolution depends upon the final discrimination of the documents underlying the Pent. and upon the results of further archaeological investigations, not only in the peninsula of Sinai but TO THE N. AND E. OF IT.Dictionary of the Bible. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1947. Vol. IV, p. 538.
On page 536 of this same volume, Hastings makes further observations:
The real problem lies in the IDENTIFICATION of the mountain described in the Pent., ESPECIALLY IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT THE WHOLE OF THE [SINAI] PENINSULA IS A MASS OF MOUNTAINS, many of which are conspicuous objects in the landscape, and certain to have EARLY ATTRACTED ATTENTION AND INVITED NOMENCLATURE. We are ASSUMING that Mt. Sinai is somewhere in the tongue of land at the head of the Red Sea, between the two arms of that sea which constitute respectively the GULF OF AKABA and the Gulf of Suez. It should, however, be remembered that Sayce thinks he has grounds for LOCATING MT. SINAI OUTSIDE THE PENINSULA AND IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN ITSELF. In this he is following in some points as earlier...suggestion of Beke.
Hastings points out the main advantages in Sayce's theory:
The ADVANTAGE of such a theory lies in the FACT (1) that MT. SINAI IS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH THE LAND OF MIDIAN in the biblical account. Thither Moses escapes from the wrath of Pharaoh, and while engaged in pastoral occupations IN THAT LAND [MIDIAN] he sees the theophany of the BURNING BUSH. Moreover, HIS WIFE AND HER RELATIONS ARE MIDIANITE. The general opinion is THAT MIDIAN IS ON THE FARTHER SIDE OF AKABA TO THE EAST AND NORTH, and that SPECIAL EVIDENCE is needed if we would include in it the surroundings of the traditional Mt. Sinai. (2) The theory furnishes a new explanation of the encampment of the Israelites by the sea, which on this theory IS THE GULF OF AKABA; (3) it FINDS A SITE FOR THE MUCH-DISPUTED ELIM IN THE MODERN AILEH (ANCIENT ELOTH); (4) it EXPLAINS WHY NOTHING IS SAID about the exquisite VALLEY OF FEIRAN [in the western side of the Sinai peninsula] by a writer [Moses] who is so careful to record the palm-trees and springs (certainly of a much inferior quality) AT ELIM; the identification of Rephidim with Feiran is, on this hypothesis, INCORRECTLY MADE.
Captain Haynes of the Palmer Search Expedition of 1882 has a comment in his notes about the location of Sinai. It reads as follows: "From the account in Ex.3,1, the mount of God considered WITH RESPECT TO CANAAN -- for Exodus was written after the Israelites reached the Holy Land -- was at the 'BACK [SIDE] OF THE DESERT,' and also WITH RESPECT TO EGYPT IN FRONT OF MIDIAN, for we read that Moses returned unto Jethro from SINAI to get leave to go back to Egypt (Ex. 4, 18)."
C. C. Robertson comments on this in his book On the Track of the Exodus:
In Ex.16,1, Sinai is sited on the farther side of the wilderness of Sin from ELIM.
Moses was therefore SOMEWHERE ON THE BORDER OF MIDIAN; in well-watered pasture country; in the vicinity of the mount or hill Horeb, or Sinai, from which the wilderness of Sinai took its name. In patriarchal times the ruling prince of a tribe was also the CHIEF PRIEST. The "flock of Jethro" signifies the entire wealth of the Midianites in their camels, cattle and sheep. We must imagine the wilderness of Sinai AS A WIDE AREA OF GRAZING COUNTRY, with thousands of tribesmen encamped under the orders of Moses for the care and protection of their property. This security could be maintained only so long as they were WITHIN the limits of their tribal territory, and well armed against any cattle-raiding incursions from their neighbours.Now the TRADITIONAL SITE of the wilderness of Sinai is in the HEART OF THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION OF THE SINAI PENINSULA, with Mount Sinai (7,450 feet) representing the "mount of the law" Horeb or Sinai.This traditional site is more than a hundred miles from the head of the Gulf of Akaba, the nearest MIDIANITE country. IT IS QUITE CERTAIN that Moses DID NOT conduct the Midianite flocks over A HUNDRED MILES OF RUGGED, MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY, to make a present of them to the Amalekites in Feiran!
Robertson goes on to present FURTHER PROOF for the Midian location of the Mountain of God:
The location of Sinai IN MIDIAN is confirmed by the incident recorded in Num.10:29, when Moses required Midianite scouts WHO KNEW THE COUNTRY to lead the march out of the wilderness of Sinai to the wilderness of Paran, on the west of the Wadi Araba.Before leaving Sinai for Paran, Moses told his father-in-law that he was about to undertake the conquest of Canaan.Hobab appears to have been the same individual as Jethro who welcomed Moses on ARRIVAL OF THE ISRAELITES IN MIDIAN. Now he came the second time to visit Moses before their departure. Moses asked Hobab to accompany him on the march to Paran, as he knew the country. Hobab declined, not being willing to LEAVE HIS COUNTRY AND KINDRED. [WHERE WAS HIS COUNTRY? MIDIAN, OF COURSE!!]In Ferrar Fenton's translation: "I WILL NOT GO FROM MY COUNTRY and from my children with you." Whether he returned to Modiana or was persuaded by Moses is not recorded, but the incident SHOWS THAT THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI WERE WITHIN THE MIDIAN BORDERS. -- Pp. 88-89.
Alois Musil sums up the arguments in favor of the Midian location of Mt. Sinai in his work The Northern Hegaz, in the following manner:
When the Israelites fled from Egypt they endeavoured as soon as possible to escape from the reach of EGYPTIAN POLITICAL INFLUENCE. They found a refuge in a country which afforded them not only safety but also the necessary food supplies. This country must have had an abundance of water with rich pastures, and must have been situated near large transport routes so that they could purchase what they needed from the trade caravans.Moses knew such a country, THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he himself had found a refuge, and where in the person of his father-in-law THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN, he had a powerful protector not only for himself but also for his kindred of Israel. He therefore led the Israelites DIRECT FROM EGYPT INTO MIDIAN TO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD, where Jehovah appeared to him. -- Appendix VI.
Volcanic Origins?
In the last century an Englishman named Charles Beke published a controversial pamphlet entitled Mount Sinai a Volcano. While he was studying the biblical description of the day of the lawgiving, Beke came to the startling conclusion expressed in the title of his pamphlet. The day of the lawgiving at Mt. Sinai is described in Exodus 19 in these words:
Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were THUNDERINGS AND LIGHTNINGS, and a THICK CLOUD on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was COMPLETELY IN SMOKE, because the Lord descended upon it IN FIRE. Its [Sinai's] SMOKE ASCENDED like the smoke of a furnace, and the WHOLE MOUNTAIN QUAKED GREATLY.... Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the MOUNTAIN SMOKING; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. -- Verses 16-18; 20:18.
Beke explained the pillar of smoke and fire as the ignited column of ashes and vapors ERUPTED BY A VOLCANO!
Other passages in the Bible tend to support Beke's viewpoint. The book of Judges in particular shows an ACTIVE volcano: "Lord, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens poured, the clouds also poured water; THE MOUNTAINS GUSHED [FLOWED] BEFORE THE LORD, THIS SINAI, before the Lord God of Israel. (Verses 4-5, NKJV).
Notice, now, the book of Psalms: "O god, when You went out before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, THE EARTH SHOOK; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; SINAI ITSELF WAS MOVED at the presence of God, the God of Israel." (Verse 7-8).
If we take all these verses together it becomes obvious that tremendous forces of nature were unleashed during the time of the Exodus and the giving of the law at Sinai!
Immanuel Velikovsky, in his revolutionary work entitled Ages in Chaos, CLEARLY saw this discovery of Beke's in the pages of the Bible:
If we do not limit ourselves to the few passages from the Book of Exodus cited in support of the idea that MOUNT SINAI WAS A VOLCANO, the activity of which impressed the Israelites, but turn our attention to the MANY OTHER PASSAGES in the various books of the Scriptures referring to the Exodus, we soon feel bound to make the unusual admission that, if the words MEAN WHAT THEY SAY, the scope of the catastrophe must have exceeded by far the extent of the disturbance that could be caused by ONE ACTIVE VOLCANO [SINAI]. Volcanic activity spread far and wide, and MOUNT SINAI WAS BUT ONE FURNACE in a great plain of smoking furnaces.Earth, sea, and sky participated in the upheaval. -- Vol. I. Sidgwick and Jackson, London. 1977, p. 19.
Beke, therefore, was not at all unreasonable when he deduced that Mount Sinai must have been a VOLCANO. To prove his theory, Beke set out for the Sinai region in an attempt to identify the PRECISE PEAK that might have been responsible. But he returned to England disappointed after learning that there is NOTHING CONCEIVABLY VOLCANIC about south Sinai's JEBEL MUSA -- the TRADITIONAL Mount Sinai of the Bible! Not only that, but Beke discovered the OTHER MOUNTAINS in the Sinai peninsula are also NON-VOLCANIC!! With this in mind, Beke opted instead for ARABIA as being the location of Mt. Sinai.
All down the western side of the Arabian peninsula are vast lava and ash fields known as "HARRAS" -- evidence of massive volcanic activity in the past.
Notes James Montgomery:
"In the LAND OF MIDIAN there are extensive HARRA-DISTRICTS, and to the northeast of Medina lies that of Khaibar, famous as an oasis in pre-Muslim times....These volcanic deposits raise the question whether the biblical language has not been inspired in some of its descriptions by actual VOLCANIC OUTBURSTS."
Montgomery goes on to relate:
"Moritz records (p.13) the account of such phenomena by the Arabic historians, occurring near Medina in the time of the Caliph Omar, again in 1256, and in the same century similar OUTBURSTS near Aden and on the margin of North Syria; and he would illustrate from Is.34:9-10, IN THE JUDGMENT UPON EDOM, WHOSE SOUTHERN BOUNDS RAN INTO THE LAVA-REGION OF MIDIAN: 'The streams thereof shall be turned into PITCH, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become BURNING PITCH.' These VOLCANIC PHENOMENA have indeed induced some scholars to place the FIERY AND SMOKING SINAI of biblical legend IN THE HARRAS OF MIDIAN" (Arabia and the Bible, pp. 84-85).
Alois Musil, in his Topographical Itineraries, certainly believed this. He found CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE that Mt. Sinai is located in the VOLCANIC HARRA OF MIDIAN, east of the Red Sea.
John M. Allegro, of Dead sea Scroll fame, was also convinced of a volcanic Mt. Sinai:
"When, at Horeb/Sinai, Jehovah appeared before his people to reveal to them the Law through Moses, he SHOWED HIMSELF IN VOLCANIC FIRE:And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain BURNED WITH FIRE to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of THE MIDST OF THE FIRE; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Dt. 4: 11-12).Some scholars have identified the Mountain of God with the volcano Hala El-Bedr, which rises on the eastern slope of a range called Tadras in Northwest Arabia; others argue for the plateau of Petra in Mt. Seir, for Serbal, and even for Serabit el-Khadim" (The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth. Westbridge Books, Devon, England. 1979, p. 170).
Peake's Commentary on the Bible notes that the reason for these choices lies in the paucity of evidence for the TRADITIONAL SITE in the Sinai peninsula. "The chief reasons for discounting the traditional identification are (a) that the description of the mountain in Exodus 19 is widely thought to point to a VOLCANO, BUT THERE ARE NO VOLCANOES IN THE SINAI PENINSULA; (b) that THE SINAI PENINSULA LAY WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE PHARAOH, and that therefore the fugitive Israelites would AVOID it; (c) that JETHRO'S CLAN OF THE MIDIANITES LIVED EAST OF THE GULF OF AQABA, and NOT in the south of the Sinai peninsula" (pp. 211-212).
The Mountain Of God
Even the Arab traditions favor a volcanic origin for the mountain of Moses: "....it is said that when the Lord conversed with Moses on Sinai, THE MOUNTAIN BURST INTO SIX PIECES, three of which flew to AL-MADINAH [modern Medina], OHOD, WARKAN and RADHWAH, and three to MECCAH, HIRA (now popularly called Jabal Nur), SABIR (the old name for Jabal Muna), and SAUR." (Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, by Captain Sir Richard F. Burton. Vol. I. Dover Publications, N.Y. 1964. Footnote p. 422).
The Sacred Mountain of Midian
Traditions abound of a SACRED MOUNTAIN in the land of Midian. These traditions -- stretching back into dim antiquity -- all converge on the same theme. Charles Doughty relates one such tradition he heard during his travels in Arabia:
Aad [ancient tribe of Arabia] defeated Thamud (ancient peoples in el-Yemen or Arabia Felix). Thamud emigrated NORTHWARDS alighted upon the plain of EL-HEJR [area where Midian was located] UNDER MOUNT ETHLIB. In later generations GOD'S WARNING is come to these sinners, which of a vain confidence had hewed them dwellings in the rocks, by the mouth of Salih, a prince of their own nation. The idolatrous Thamudites required of him a sign: 'Let THE MOUNTAIN, they said, bring forth a she-camel ten months gone with young, and they would believe him! Then THE MOUNTAIN wailed, as in pangs to be delivered, and there issued from the rocky womb that she-camel or naga which they had desired of God's prophet....The days ended there fell a fearful wind, sarsar, the EARTH SHOOK, a VOICE WAS HEARD from heaven, and on the morrow the idolatrous people were found lying upon their faces (as the nomads used to slumber) all dead corpses, and the land was empty of them as it had never been inhabited. A like evil ending is told of Aad, and of the Midianites. The Syrian Moslems show a MOUNTAINOUS CRAG (el-Howwara) IN THIS PLAIN, which opened her bosom and received the orphan calf again. -- Travels in Arabia Deserta. Random House, N.Y., pp. 136-137.
The Jewish historian Josephus was aware of the Arabian traditions regarding a SACRED MOUNTAIN. In book II of the Antiquities of the Jews, he equates this mountain WITH THAT OF SINAI.
Notice!
Now Moses, when he had obtained the favour of Jethro, for that was one of the names of Raguel, stayed there [IN MIDIAN] and fed his flock; but some time afterward, taking his station at the MOUNTAIN CALLED SINAI, he drove his flocks thither to feed them. Now this is the HIGHEST of all the mountains there about, and the best for pasturage, the herbage being there good; and it had not been before fed upon, because of the opinion men had THAT GOD DWELT THERE, the shepherds NOT DARING TO ASCEND UP TO IT; and here it was that a wonderful prodigy happened to Moses; for a fire fed upon a thorn-bush, yet did the green leaves and the flowers continue untouched, and the fire did not at all consume the fruit-branches, although the flame was great and fierce. -- Chapter XII, verse 1.
Further on, in book III, Josephus narrates the account of Moses climbing up the mountain to commune with YEHOVAH God, once again showing the SACRED NATURE of Sinai:
When he [Moses] had said this, he ascended up to mount Sinai, which is the HIGHEST OF ALL THE MOUNTAINS THAT ARE IN THAT COUNTRY, and is not only very difficult to be ascended by men, on account of its VAST ALTITUDE, but because of the sharpness of its precipices; nay, indeed, it cannot be looked at without pain of the eyes: and BESIDES THIS, it was terrible and INACCESSIBLE, on account of the rumour that passed about, THAT GOD DWELT THERE. -- Chapter 5, section 1.
Peake's Commentary states that "at the beginning of the summer, the grass in the lower pastures begins to be burnt up, and THE BEDOUIN go to the mountain slopes. 'THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD,' that is, THE SACRED MOUNTAIN, was so called...because the MIDIANITES already regarded it as sacred, as the dwelling-place of deity...." (p. 211).
Locating Horeb
Can we now pinpoint the Mountain of YEHOVAH God -- the REAL Mt. Sinai -- with exactitude? We have seen all the EVIDENCE plainly pointing our gaze to the ancient and fabled land of Midian. Are there any clues that will lead us right to the very slopes of the mountain of the lawgiving? Keep reading, for there certainly are!
Returning to Peake's Commentary once again, we learn the following: "It [Mt. Sinai] is sometimes called HOREB (E, D), sometimes SINAI (J, P), the names appearing to be interchangeable. Some think that Horeb refers to the RANGE and Sinai to the PEAK; others the opposite. Heinisch holds that there is much to be said for the conjecture of Sandra (Moses und der Pentateuch (1924), 37, 359) that Horeb represents the MIDIANITE NAME for the mountain and Sinai the one used by the CANAANITES and the Amorite population of the peninsula. IT IS THUS CALLED HOREB HERE, SINCE MOSES IS AMONG THE MIDIANITES...." (p. 212).
This explanation is CLOSE, but not one-hundred percent correct! The British author and archaeologist H. St. John Philby spent a significant portion of his life exploring the wadis and mountains of northwest Arabia -- the biblical land of Midian. In the book he wrote following his exploration of Midian, Philby outlines his adventures in that mountainous land:
From here my guide and I climbed up the cliff to visit THE 'CIRCLES' OF JETHRO on the summit of Musalla ridge, from which we climbed down quite easily to our camp on the far side. [Alois] Musil tells us that he had to fetch a circuit of two kilometres to approach the ridge from the north; but the more direct approach presented no difficulty. A cairn marked the spot where JETHRO IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE PRAYED, and all round it are numerous circles, the significance of which is difficult to guess: presumably some stance marked out for the benefit of pilgrims visiting the scene of Jethro's argument with the Midianites. from here I had a magnificent view of the WHOLE OF THE MIDIAN MOUNTAIN RANGE: with LAUZ and its sister peaks in the northeast and Maqla' a very little north of east, with the valley of al-Numair separating the latter from the long low RIDGE OF ALL MARRA, extending from east to south-east, where the TWO PEAKS OF HURAB stood out in front of the great range of Zuhd, which runs down to a point not far from the sea to our southward...the spot that held my imagination was the smooth, double-headed, granite boss of HURAB (pronounced HRUB by 'Id), AN OBVIOUS CANDIDATE FOR IDENTIFICATION WITH THE MOUNT HOREB OF THE EXODUS, with the burning bush and the tablets of the Law: THE ONLY CANDIDATE FOR THE HONOUR WHICH CAN CLAIM TO HAVE PRESERVED THE NAME.
Philby goes on to explore the area --
So far as I am aware the existence of THIS HILL IN MIDIAN HAD NEVER BEEN NOTED BEFORE; and naturally I was anxious to explore it and its surroundings....A couple of miles brought us to the edge of a wide chasm, with forty-foot cliffs of sandstone and silt along the left bank, and an easier rise on our side, strewn liberally with large granite and basalt boulders from the steep flank of HURAB just ahead of us. The Land-Rover could go no farther, and I made my inspection of the VALLEY and the edge of the mountain on foot. The massif is granite, with dykes of basalt at intervals, running from south-west to north-east at an angle of thirty degrees. I did not attempt to emulate Moses' feat of climbing it, if indeed he did; but I made a CAREFUL SEARCH IN THE VALLEY and its sandstone cliffs in the hope of finding a few Badawin wasms, BUT THE CHANNEL ITSELF, 100 YARDS WIDE AND THICKLY COVERED WITH ACACIA BUSHES AND TREES, AND THE DEEP GORGE OF THE MOUNTAIN FROM WHICH IT EMERGES, WERE QUITE IMPRESSIVE....According to Hasballah, THE NAME OF HURAB APPLIES PRIMARILY TO THE WADI, while he called THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF AL MANIFA (which simply means 'the lofty'). -- The Land of Midian. Ernest Benn Ltd., London. 1957, pp. 222-224.
Philby was not the first to explore WADI HROB -- Alois Musil himself camped there during his exploration of Midian; and he specifically IDENTIFIED HROB WITH HOREB.
If you examine a detailed map of this area, the WADI HOREB can be seen to run into the foothills of one of the MOST IMPRESSIVE PEAKS OF MIDIAN, and also the HIGHEST -- JABEL EL LAWZ (LAUZ)!
THE SPLIT ROCK FROM WHICH CAME THE WATER
Jabel el Lawz is indeed impressive. Those who have looked up at its massive granite slopes are awed by its sheer ruggedness and size. It continually impressed H. St. John Philby as he wandered through the mountains and wadis of Midian. "...I took advantage of our long halt to inspect the country from the top of a charming 100-foot hillock of rhyolite and andesite on the very edge of the Afal channel. It was a nice fine morning with a coldish breeze blowing from the north. The MAIN PEAK OF LAUZ, partly in cloud, rose to the south-east of our position....The upper part of the valley varied from 500 to 1,500 yards in width, with occasional wider basins allowing of splendid views of THE GREAT MOUNTAINS, INCLUDING THE LAUZ SUMMIT on which there seemed to be a patch of snow. the guide confirmed that it was snow: and, if so, it was the first and only time that I have ever seen snow in Sa'udi Arabia...."
Philby notes that Burton never explored the gullies of Lauz: "Burton had never examined the gullies of Lauz or the other mountains of the Midian chain; and it is not unlikely that they may contain minerals of various kinds. The basalt pyramid of Maqla' looked climbable, but THE SHEER GRANITE OF THE LAUZ PEAKS would have needed more time and energy than I had at my disposal. SO FAR AS I KNOW THEY [THE PEAKS OF LAUZ] HAVE NEVER BEEN CLIMBED BY ANY HUMAN BEING."
Philby punctuates his book with superlatives such as "the GREAT MASSIF of Jabal Lauz," "Lauz and the other GREAT GIANTS of Midian," "the GREAT PEAK of Lauz," and "the Lauz MASSIF." Is THIS peak that so impressed Philby and Musil the REAL Mt. Sinai of the Bible?
The Real Mt. Sinai Discovered?
In July 1988 a report came out in the High Flight Foundation Newsletter that startled its curious readers:
Great news! We strongly feel that the REAL Mt. Sinai has been discovered. Since February, we have been searching in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in an attempt to find the real Mt. Sinai, currently believed to be in Egypt. The Bible, however, is quite clear that Mt. Sinai is IN ARABIA (Galatians 4:25). We have found an UNDERWATER LAND BRIDGE IN THE RED SEA in the area of the tip of the Sinai peninsula. This land bridge was photographed and found to be a perfect underwater bridge to Arabia.Larry Williams and I [Bob Cornuke] have taken two trips to SAUDI ARABIA and traveled to JABEL AL LAWZ. This mountain is believed by some Biblical scholars to possibly be the REAL Mt. Sinai. JABEL AL LAWZ is an 8,000 ft. mountain with a HUGE VALLEY at its base. In this VALLEY we found an ANCIENT ALTAR with petroglyphs of the Egyptian bullgod, Hathor, inscribed in the rocks. We feel this is the altar where Aaron made the Golden Calf. There were also very strong readings of the mineral gold registered at this site. -- Report by Bob Cornuke on Noah's Ark and Mt. Sinai.
In the book Treasures of the Lost Races, published in 1982, author Rene Noorbergen writes about the REASONS for identifying Jebel el Lauz with the Sinai of the Exodus:
The theory on which Ron Wyatt was basing his exploratory trip to the Middle East was founded on TWO VERY OBVIOUS POINTS made by Flavius Josephus and recorded in the Bible. Both mention that the Hebrew children went SOUTH FROM EGYPT, through the desert, ending at the shore of the Red Sea in an area where 'the mountains were closed with the sea.' That the Red Sea at that time EXTENDED, in name at least, AS FAR AS EILAT AT THE TOP OF THE GULF OF AQABA can be seen in I Kings 9:26, where it states that 'King Solomon made a navy of ships in EZION-GEBER, which is beside ELOTH, ON THE SHORE OF THE RED SEA, IN THE LAND OF EDOM.'Wyatt reasoned therefore that the Israelites had crossed the Sinai from west to east and had finally reached an area on the EASTERN COAST (GULF OF AQABA) where a mountain range met the sea. According to the record, the Egyptians had taken over the mountain peaks near the area to prevent the Hebrews from escaping. It also mentions that AFTER they had crossed the Red Sea, Moses took them to 'Mt. Sinai in order to offer sacrifices to God.'
Rene Noorbergen discusses Wyatt's exploration of the eastern shore of the Sinai peninsula:
A careful examination of the EASTERN SHORE OF THE SINAI PENINSULA allows for only one place where two million people and their flocks can be gathered. it is the wide expanse of beach near NUWEBA, the south end of which is closed off by steep mountains! Nearby is a wide and wild mountain gorge known as the WADI WATIR, AN ANCIENT DRIED-OUT RIVERBED that forms a NATURAL ROADWAY into the Sinai desert. What's more, the TRADITIONAL MT. SINAI is deep within the SINAI DESERT, while both the Bible and Josephus indicate that Moses took the Hebrews to Mt. Sinai after they crossed the Red Sea into what is now known as ARABIA. Interestingly, not far from the opposite shore is a MOUNTAIN KNOWN AS JABEL EL LAWZ, A STEEP, FORBIDDING PEAK. Is it perhaps that this is the Mt. Sinai that Moses speaks of? There are many different theories regarding the possible location of the real Mt. Sinai, and Ron Wyatt's location wasn't all that farfetched.
THE BEACH AT NEWEIBA
The route the Israelites took is related next --
He held that the Israelites, after leaving Egypt, went DOWN the western side of the Sinai along the Gulf of Suez and crossed the Sinai from west to east through its most rugged mountainous section by travelling over the dried-out riverbeds that run into each other. Their route, according to him, could well have gone via the Wadi Feiran, connecting with the Wadi El Akhdar, which in turn runs into the Wadi Salaqa, becomes the wadi Zaranek, and eventually meets the Gulf of Aqaba via the well-known Wadi Watir. The Wadi Watir is the only wadi that ends at a wide beach-like expanse whose southernmost end is cut off by steep mountains. An escaping horde of people arriving at the Red Sea via the Wadi Watir had ONLY TWO CHOICES: to be annihilated on the beach by the pursuing armies that could enclose it from the north, while it was hemmed in by mountains on the west and south; OR to go FORWARD INTO THE WATER. There simply could have been no other. -- Pp. 163-166.
Ronald E. Wyatt -- amateur archaeologist and theologian from Tennessee -- has long been interested in the location of Mt. Sinai. In 1978 he did some exploratory work in the Red Sea; and, in 1984, after spending 75 days in a Saudi Arabian jail, returned to the U.S. to be interviewed by the CBS MORNING NEWS on April 17. In the interview Mr. Wyatt explained the choice of Jabel El Lawz as the REAL Mt. Sinai:
We found some chariot parts that looked like the chariots found in King Tut's tomb in the Gulf of Aqaba, WEST OF THIS JABEL EL LAWZ. Now, we found these at depths from 60 feet out to 200 feet and over a stretch of about a mile and a half. And we believe that was the crossing site, so in the Biblical narrative, they arrived at Mt. Sinai after crossing the Red Sea. The language in the Bible indicated that they stayed 'IN' A MOUNTAIN; ENCLOSED IN A MOUNTAIN. So, an aerial map showed that this JABEL EL LAWZ HAD A LARGE VALLEY ENCLOSED IN THE RIM OF AN ANCIENT VOLCANO. There's about 5,000 acres in there. We felt this was the place. And, in Exodus 24:4 and Leviticus 6:28, 11:33 and 15:12, it tells of SOME ARTIFACTS that were to be found. There would be TWELVE PILLARS OF STONE AND AN ALTAR AND SOME POTTERY, and so this is why we looked at that particular mountain.
In the following year (1985) David Fasold of Port Salerno, Florida accompanied Ron Wyatt to Jabel El Lawz to carry out an archaeological survey. Mr. Fasold relates the events of that fruitful expedition:
On April 2, 3 and 4 of 1985, an archaeological survey was conducted by Mr. Ronald Wyatt of Madison, Tennessee, at JABEL EL LAWZ, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA. The molecular survey, leading to points of interest, was carried out by Mr. David Fasold of Port Salerno, Florida, who accompanied Mr. Wyatt and Samran Al-Moteiri, a prominent citizen of Tabuk [town in NW Saudi Arabia], who had gained permission to conduct the survey. The purpose of the investigation was that Mr. Wyatt's premise that the mountain, JABEL EL LAWZ, REPRESENTED THE TRUE MT. SINAI IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, which is, of course, IN NORTHERN ARABIA, and NOT in the Sinai Peninsula.THE SITE IS LOCATED SOME 144 KILOMETERS BY ROAD FROM TABUK TOWARDS HAGL. When soon after crossing a bridge, a dry wadi is followed west for a distance of 48.7 kilometers.
Questioning a Bedouin tribesman proved very fruitful --
Upon questioning a Bedouin in the area if this was indeed Jabel El Lawz, Ibrahim Salem Frich responded with "nahm, Jabel Musa henna!", which means "YES, THE MOUNTAIN OF MOSES IS HERE!"The Bedouin showed us the REMAINS OF A TEMPLE that, during the reign of Sulyimin, the Turkish " Sulyimin, the great," has been stripped of cut stone for building material for a mosque in Hagl. I would have liked to have seen this mosque to ascertain how many blocks were removed from the site, but time did not permit.25 rectangular blocks, 16 1/2" by 8 1/4," varying in length from 26 1/4" to 39", were scattered at the site below a RAISED PLATFORM, and 10 pillar sections are visible, varying in height from 10" to 26" with a 22 3/4" diameter. The TEMPLE PLATFORM represents 1/4 of a circle leading from a set of three pools joined to a large rock best described as the size of an "up-ended" car, which carries slightly incised, esoteric symbols. This site nestles between TWO MOUNTAINS.
The molecular survey uncovered some interesting remains:
Closer to the wadi, the molecular survey uncovered a line of 12 CIRCLES OF STONE with an outside diameter of 18 feet, consisting of three rows of stones in thickness. It would appear to this writer that the construction was not a "shaft grave" or walls for wells, but the REMAINS OF STANDING TOWERS. THE 12 were spaced five feet apart from one another in a straight line bearing 193 degrees magnetic. the elevation at this site is 4,050 feet, some 20 feet above the wadi, 70 feet below the TEMPLE REMAINS and less than 1/8 of a mile distance from THE TEMPLE; from tower number four, JABEL EL LAWZ bearing 216 degrees and the other mountain at 270 degrees.Directly across the wadi, a survey line was followed to a low grouping of stones that were COVERED WITH PETROGLYPHS in the following manner: an area of the stone was washed with a substance that was absorbed by the rock about 1/8 of an inch; a pointed tool was then employed that, when struck against the blackened rock to a depth of 1/4 of an inch, left a white mark. The artist thus portrayed images of Hathor and Apis, the Egyptian sacred cows, in dotted outline with their markings, in several cases, six figures apiece.When shown to an archaeologist sent from Riyad University to verify the site, Wyatt was congratulated on the discovery and the area promptly closed. All photographs were confiscated.
Later visits by Larry Williams finds the area fenced off --
Two visits to the site in the spring of 1988 by Larry Williams, an explorer from Rancho Sante Fe, California, verified by photograph that the petroglyph site was now enclosed by a 12 foot, chain link fence and barbed wire, with a large blue and white 4 foot by 8 foot sign in the Arabic and English that it was a protected site of historical importance. Two other sites, the TEMPLE and the towers, are protected by the same type fence, encircling TWO entire mountains.This writer feels that the cost involved in the fencing alone shows that the Saudis are taking this site very seriously....I can assure you that this was Wyatt's first trip to the site, but not his first attempt. I can personally verify that the discoveries were made in accordance with the theory formulated by Wyatt that the Exodus route from the Egyptians crossed the eastern arm of the Red Sea, INTO MIDIAN AND RETURNING TO MT. HOREB -- JABEL EL LAWZ. --Discovered: Noah's Ark, by Ronald E. Wyatt. World Bible Society, Tennessee. 1989, pp. 45-47.
All the evidence we have covered CLEARLY points to the land of Midian on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba as being the CORRECT LOCATION for Mt. Sinai -- the Mountain of YEHOVAH God.
Jebel el Lauz appears to be the REAL mountain of the lawgiving; and we wait with eager anticipation for further evidence to emerge from this site in Saudi Arabia and from the pen of Ronald Wyatt who made the startling disclosures we have just read about.
YEHOVAH God, in his good time, will reveal ALL TRUTH to those who serve and obey Him. (From the Hope of Israel Ministries).
The True Location of the Red Sea Crossing
Exodus 13:17-22, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go that God didn't lead them by the land of the Philistines, although it was the more direct route to Canaan; for He said, 'In case the people become discouraged when they have to fight, and they return to Egypt'. So He led the them by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt in ranks.
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him for Joseph had charged the children of Israel, saying, 'God will be with you; and you shall carry my bones away hence with you'. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, on the edge of the desert.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; so they might travel by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people".
Now I want you to compare the Bible text with the maps in the back of our Bibles. The map does not match God's Word. I've prepared my maps based on Bible text. You'll notice there were two highways that led from Egypt to the Promised Land. The shorter northern route, or "way of the Land of the Philistines", followed the Mediterranean Coast. The southern route, or "way of the wilderness by the Red Sea", described a huge loop through the Peninsula bound by the Red Sea and is about twice the distance.
They gathered to Succoth from their homes and farms in the land of Raameses which is the land of Goshen. Succoth was a military base on the eastern border of Egypt large enough for this great number of people and flocks to assemble in ranks to depart from Egypt in an orderly fashion by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea (Exodus 13:18).
Succoth was called variously "Tharu", T'aru", and "Takut."
Here is a quote from "Life in Ancient Egypt" by Adolf Erman (28, 537): "The isthmus of Suez was of the greatest consequence also from a military point of view - it was doubtless fortified in very early times. Probably here stood the great fortress of T'aru, often spoken of as the starting-point for the expeditions into Syria,.."
"The line of fortifications which was intended to keep back these Bedouins of the Delta, is met with as early as the Middle Empire, and is still standing. It consists of a wall strengthened by small towers... this formed an obstruction which the slaves who tried to escape from Egypt, and Bedouins who wanted to pasture their cattle on the fields of the Delta, found difficult to pass.
At this time we also meet with a defensive work of another kind, namely a broad canal, which presumably connected the lakes of the isthmus together. At the point where a bridge crossed this canal were strong fortresses on both sides... The great fortress which defended this bridge was the fortress of T'aru', which is so often mentioned as the starting point of the military expeditions."
In ancient Egypt, there was a line of guarded fortifications along the canal which connected the Gulf of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea. Satellite and infrared photos show the path of this ancient canal. At the point where one would leave Egypt proper and go into the Sinai desert, there was the fortress and a bridge of Tharu.
Here the Egyptian army assembled in preparation for their military expeditions to the north. Armies consisted of a immense numbers of men, horses and chariots which required a large area to assemble.
Here Moses organized Israel for their journey.
On Nisan 14, at about 3:00 in the afternoon they had killed the first Passover lamb, and celebrated the feast in haste their homes in Goshen, with their loins girt, standing with their shoes on their feet and their staff in their hand, ready for the first exodus. The Passover meal commenced the first of seven days of the feast of Unleavened Bread. Their day was reckoned from evening to evening. So before sundown on Nisan 15, they had departed from Rameses and assembled in Succoth which was OUT of Egypt proper, as the Lord had promised.
Exodus 12:17, 42, "You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. . . It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations" (also Exodus 13:3).
Nisan 16, which commenced after sundown on Nisan 15, was the start of the feast of Pentecost when Israel commenced their journey over the caravan route across the desert to Etham.
Exodus 13:18, "And the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt." Anywhere east of Succoth was"outside the land of Egypt" -- so Israel was out of Egypt before they arrived at the Red Sea.
Exodus 13:20, "They took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, on the edge of the desert". In other words, this highway led from Succoth through the "Wilderness of the Red Sea" along the caravan route through the mountainous land to Etham, the land that encircled the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba - " in the edge of the wilderness", or desert. We know Etham was not a town, because Israel were in Etham before they crossed the Red Sea and they were still in Etham on the eastern shore.
Numbers 33:8, "And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah."
That's according to the text. However the Bible map disagrees with the text, as it incorrectly shows Israel still in Egypt before the Red Sea crossing. Because of preconceived ideas, and because Egypt borders the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, theologians drew the crossing at the head of the Gulf. However, our Bible text says the Hebrews were out of the land of Egypt before they crossed the wilderness of the Peninsula, and that they turned off the highwaycrossing the desert, to travel to the Red Sea coast (Exodus 14:1). Clearly, Israel found the Sea not at the Gulf of Suez, but at the Gulf of Aqaba, on the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula (Exodus 14:1-2).
Concerning the route by which Moses led the children out of Egypt, Josephus writes, "That land was difficult to be traveled over, not only by armies, but by single persons. Now Moses led the Hebrews this way, that in case the Egyptians should repent and be desirous to pursue after them, they might undergo the punishment of their wickedness, and of the breach of those promises they had made to them.
As also he led them this way on account of the Philistines, who had quarreled with them, and hated them of old, that by all means they might not know of their departure, for their country is near to that of Egypt; and thence it was that Moses led them not along the road that tended to the land of the Philistines, but he was desirous that they should go through the desert, that so after a long journey, and after many afflictions, they might enter upon the land of Canaan. Another reason of this was, that God commanded him to bring the people to Mount Sinai, that there they might offer him sacrifices (Exodus 3:12)". Josephus also has the Israelites traveling by the southern road through the wilderness bound by the two gulfs of the Red Sea. When the road turned north toward Canaan, God told Moses to turn south into the road that led to Pi-hahiroth on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, opposite Baal-zephon in Arabia, not Suez in Egypt.
Baal means "Lord", and was the title of the supreme god of the Canaanites. Baal-zephon means "Lord of the North", a north-west Semitic "sea" or "storm" god. It seems unlikely this town would be inland in Egypt, where many theologians chose to locate it.
Theologians haven't found these cities because they have searched on the wrong coast. They plot them at locations varying hundreds of miles from map to map, placing a question mark by the city.
Exodus 14:1-4, "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea, you shall encamp by the sea opposite Baal-zephon. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, "They are entangled in the mountains, the wilderness has shut them in". And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord'. And they did so."
When God gave Moses these instructions it's evident that Moses was familiar with this territory.
Leaving the highway, the Hebrews traveled along the Wadi Watir, a natural road through the wide mountain gorge. The Israelites would have been traveling for close to one week because the journey from Succoth to the real Pi-hahiroth on the western coast of the Gulf of Aqaba was about 200 miles. Retreat was impossible. And together with their flocks and herds they were encompassed by the mountains and cut-off ahead by the sea.
Despite descriptions by some starry-eyed authors, the topography of areas identified with Pi-harhiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon on our Bible maps does not match the geography of Moses' account. A glance at the topographical map shows a continuous coastal plain, 200 to 500 feet above sea level, with sandy beaches extending down the western shore of the Gulf of Suez as far as Ethiopia.
Let's read a little more of Josephus, "Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a narrow place; for the number that pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, all armed. They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was on each side mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight; wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army, where the ridges of the mountains were closed with the sea; which army they placed at the gaps of the mountains, that so they might deprive them of any passage into the plain".
Later, as we'll calculate from the Bible text, Israel had traveled about six-days before crossing the Read Sea. Had they traveled for one week down the Gulf of Suez before crossing the Red Sea, Israel would be near to Ethiopia by the time the armies of Pharaoh caught them, and far from "the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea". But the Bible says they leftEgypt before the Red Sea crossing. When they found themselves trapped at the Red Sea, Israel complained to Moses: Why have you brought us out of Egypt?
Exodus 14:10-12, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the desert?
Didn't we tell you in Egypt, "Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?" For it would have been better to serve the Egyptians, than to die in the wilderness'."
According to the Bible maps, the children of Israel were still in Egypt, trapped by non-existent mountains at the head of the Gulf of Suez. But Israel didn't march around Egypt for a week to save Pharaoh's army a long chase across the desert in the event Pharaoh changed his mind. They were not IN Egypt. They traveled day and night to put as much distance between them as possible. They were not trapped at the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, but at the Gulf of Aqaba outside Egypt.
Now I want to mention Mount Sinai. When Moses fled from Egypt, he dwelt in the land of Midian. There he married Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of Reuel or Jethro who were descendants of Abraham and Keturah. And Moses worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law, Jethro, who was the priest and leader of Midian. He knew that land like the back of his hand. He knew where to find good pastures and water. And he knew how to get there from Egypt in a hurry. Moses was taking the Israelites to Midian by the shortest possible route - through the Red Sea. He wasn't marching around in circles at the Gulf of Suez. Moses had an appointment to meet God on Mount Horeb, in Midian.
Let's read Moses' Commission from God in Exodus 3:1-2. "Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed".
Where was Moses? He was in the land of Midian which is by the Gulf of Aqaba in Arabia. He was standing on Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai, with a flock of sheep on the backside of the desert. Mount Sinai is not in the Sinai Peninsula at all, but across the Red Sea in the land of Midian.
This is confirmed by the apostle Paul in Galatians 4:22-26, "It is written: Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. He who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which is an allegory: for these women type the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Agar.
For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and types Jerusalem which now is, and is enslaved to the Law with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all".
Did you hear what Paul said? "This Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia". If Exodus 3:1 and Galatians 4:25 place Mount Sinai in Arabia, it's probably still there. And the maps in our Bibles are wrong because they portray Mount Sinai in the Peninsula between the two gulfs.
It's like the godhead and other doctrines. The Bible says there is one God who is One Person. The denominations say, in a way there is one God, but He's three people. The Bible says we are to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church baptizes into three of His many Titles.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.
When Moses fled Egypt, he was in peril of his life. Pharaoh would have killed him (Exodus 2:15). We may be sure Moses didn't hang around in Pharaoh's backyard. And that's what the Sinai Peninsula was. According to the historian, James Montgomery, "the land west of the River of Egypt to the Gulf of Aqaba has always belonged to the Egyptian political sphere, and is the boundary of present-day Egypt" (Arabia and the Bible, 31).
Throughout the Sinai peninsula there is tremendous evidence of the ancient Egyptians having control of this area. Inscriptions tell of Egyptian mining operations; there are temples, as well as fortresses.
Had Moses led the people across the Gulf of Suez, they would have still been in Egyptian- controlled territory. But in Saudi Arabia, there is no evidence of Egyptian occupation.
Exodus 3:11-12, As he stood before the burning bush, "Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?' And God said, 'Certainly I will be with you; this shall be a Token or miraculous evidence, that I have sent you: When you have brought forth the people outof Egypt, you shall serve God upon yjis mountain'. "
Moses knew the way of escape to a place of safety in a land across the sea where he had friends and was respected. Although his in- laws probably didn't expect him to come with two to three million of his relatives the way he did. The true location of Mount Sinai is "out of Egypt", and not in the Sinai Peninsula.
Exodus 13:21, "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead hem the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to travel by day and night".
Earlier I said that the Hebrews traveled for about one week before crossing the Red Sea. 600,000 men, plus women, children, and old folk would have numbered some two to three million. With them they carried their clothing, bedding, food, and shelter, leading their flocks and their herds, fowls and whatever else they had. We may imagine they left behind a trail of discarded goods, traveling day and night. No obstacle prevented their direct passage to meet God in the holy mountain.
Exodus 19:4, God said, "You've seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you (swiftly) to Myself" (II Samuel 1:23).
In 1967, Moshe Dyan marched his troops from Nuweiba Beach crossing site to Suez City (near ancient Tharu/Succoth) in six days. Unlike Moses, who traveled both day and night, Moshe Dyan's troops camped at night.
The Israelites were told to eat only unleavened bread seven days - indicating they would be traveling constantly with no opportunity to bake bread.
Exodus 13:6, 8, "Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day, shall be a feast to the Lord. And you shall show your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt'."
We can estimate the duration of the journey to Pi-hahiroth if we calculate backwards from Exodus 19:16 and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. The Law was delivered on the day of Pentecost; that's 52-days after Israel had eaten the first Passover. It corresponds with the inauguration of the Church in the upper room, and to the coming translation of the Bride to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the Sky.
Working backwards to Exodus 19:1-2, we find that by the first day of Sivan, precisely forty-six days after their Passover in Egypt, Israel had reached the wilderness of the Sinai desert and camped before Mount Sinai. Not as it is portrayed on our Bible maps, but across the Red Sea in Arabia. On the fifteenth day of Iyyar, the second month after departing out of Egypt, Israel were thirty-days into their journey ready to break camp at Elim, near the coast of Midian (Exodus 16:1).
Retracing their steps after a time spent in Elim, we come to Marah where the water was bitter and could not be drunk until Moses cast in a particular tree "the Lord showed him", typing Jesus, the Tree of Life, and which healed the waters. From Marah we go back three days to the wilderness of Shur, on the Midian shore of the Red Sea by Baal-zephon where we can imagine Israel spent perhaps ten days, to the close of the feast of unleavened bread when they would have held "a feast unto the Lord" (Exodus 13:6) to sing God's praise in the defeat of Pharaoh's army. This would be their first chance to prepare a cooked meal, wash, pitch camp and rest, since the exodus from Succoth.
The Bible describes how Miriam the prophetess sang, and the women danced. There would have been great rejoicing. The men would have armed themselves with Egyptian weaponry, salvaging whatever washed up on the seashore.
Retracing their steps one more day through the sea to Pi-hahiroth, on the Sinai Peninsula, we find that the journey of the Israelites from celebrating Passover in Goshen to the shore of the Red Sea, occupied approximately six days.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the Gulf of Aqaba as a "pronounced cleft with hills rising abruptly from the shore, often over 2,000 feet. It is part of the Jordan-east African rift valley system, being a southward continuation of the Jordan-Araba depression. (King Solomon's fleet sailed from Elath (or Eloth) "on the shore of the Red Sea", at the top of the Gulf, to the land of Ophir for gold. I Kings 9:26)".
The Dead Sea is a part of this rift. So the topography of the real crossing-place is wholly unlike anything in the Gulf of Suez. It used to be said that Sodom and Gomorrah are beneath the Dead Sea, but Jonathan Gray and Ron Wyatt claim convincingly that they have found all five cities.
The whole area around the Jordan-Araba rift valley of the Dead Sea is oil-bearing. Geologists inform us that the southern Dead Sea is a burnt-out oil field. As the diagram indicates, an earthquake caused a section of earth's crust to slip along the fault. A drop of just one inch would wreck a large city. The tremendous pressure exerted by the dislodged mass forced the underlying oil and gas up along the fault lines into the atmosphere where they ignited to form a continuous liquid fire. According to Genesis 19:24, "the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven".Professor Kyle found "Pure sulfur in pieces as big as the end of my thumb. It is mixed with the rich soil of the mountains on the west side of the Sea and is now to be found scattered along the shore of the Sea to the east side..."
Genesis 19:27-28, "Abraham got up early in the morning to Hebron where he stood before the Lord: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the environs of the Jordan Valley, and beheld, and, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace".
From a map, we can see Abraham was thirty miles from Sodom as the crow flies. No doubt he climbed the highest vantage point, and he saw great black clouds of dense smoke from the burning oil.
Moses, writing 500 years after the destruction of the cities of the plain, tells us that the salt, the brimstone and the burning that took place in this area centuries before his time, had left very apparent evidence, and he was able to draw the attention of the people of his day to these tokens of judgment that could be observed by them whilst passing through that area.
Deuteronomy 29:23, "The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath".
Writing after the death of Christ, Josephus said, "The country of Sodom . . . was of old a most happy land, both for the fruits it bore and the riches of its cities (from bitumen deposits) although it be now all burnt up.
It is related how for the impiety of its inhabitants (Jude 1:7), it was burnt by lightning; in consequence of which there are still the remainders of that divine fire; and the traces or shadows of the five cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes. . ."
The ruins of these cities were extant in the days of Moses, Jesus and Josephus. And in 1991 Ron Wyatt discovered what he believed to be the cities of Sodom (behind Mount Sodom), Gomorrah, Zoar, Admah at the northern end of the Dead Sea, and Zeboim north of Jericho.
Within the perimeter of each site, everything has been turned to white ash in contrast with the brown stony desert.
Among the ashes at all five sites are countless pieces of brimstone, or sulfur, like bantam chicken eggs. I've actually held a piece in my hand.
There are no active or extinct volcanoes in the Dead Sea area. And nowhere else are balls of brimstone encased in burnt sulfur to be found. In cities such as Pompeii, which were destroyed by volcano, the people and artifacts which have been uncovered were turned to stone.
Here, although everything retains its original form, it has been turned to ash as II Peter 2:6 says. These points are submitted as an evidence that these are indeed the cities of the plain destroyed 3,900 years ago.As Sodom and Gomorrah may have looked before the destruction (below). The largest city, thought to be Sodom, stands next to Mount Sodom. Close by stands Zoar, the smallest of the five. Lot wanted to flee to Zoar which he called "a little city". The second largest and best preserved of the five sites is believed to be Gomorrah, and it lies to the north of Sodom, between Masada and the Dead Sea. After that tangent, let's take a look at the actual crossing-place at the Red Sea.
The Wadi Watir leads through the mountains, opening on the middle of a wide sandy beach on the Gulf of Aqaba. The beach at Nuweiba is large enough for Israel to "encamp by the sea" where the desert had "shut them in" (Exodus 14:2-3). The beach is 4.25 miles long by 2 miles wide. It appears clearly on satellite pictures, and is the only site that matches all points of the Bible account.
The only entrance to the beach at Nuweiba is by the Wadi Watir. On the northern end of the beach was an Egyptian fortress whose ruins still stand as evidence of Egyptian strategic interest. This would have prevented them from going north after they entered the beach. They were trapped "between Migdol and the sea". Migdol was perhaps a watchtower above the mountains from which the Egyptians observed shipping movements and other activities, relaying any intelligence from watch-tower to watch-tower by mirrors in the daytime and fires by night. Thus Pharaoh would have been constantly posted of Moses' progress.
Once Pharaoh's army had entered the gorge, Israel was "shut in" by the mountains. Pharaoh's army trapped Israel, but God had trapped Pharaoh's army. Exodus 14:3-4, "Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, 'They're entangled in the land, the desert has shut them in'. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he follows after them; and I will get honour over him, and all his host; so the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so".
Skeptics claim Israel didn't cross the Red Sea, but marshland near Succoth called the Sea of Reeds in the vicinity of the Suez Canal. I have a NASV Bible. That's what that map says. It might provide a plausible explanation as to how the Hebrews crossed but it doesn't explain how Pharaoh's chariots, his host and chosen captains were all drowned, or how the depths covered them so they sank to the bottom as a stone (Exodus 15:4-5). Let's see what God's Word says.
Exodus 15:19, "The horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea".
Isaiah 43:16-17, "Thus saith the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick".
Isaiah 51:10, "Are you not He Who dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?"
Isaiah 63:11-13, "Then his people remembered the days of Moses and his people, saying, 'Where is He that brought our fathers out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? where is He that put His Holy Spirit among them? That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting Name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble"?
I've studied the bathymetric chart, and the Gulf of Aqaba is over one mile (1,800 metres) deep. The western (Sinai) shoreline drops underwater at an angle of 45 degrees. However, from Nuweiba beach, a massive sandbar almost a mile wide at its summit, slopes gently at six degrees until midway across the Gulf its 900 feet below the sea, and rises to the eastern (Midian) shore at the same kindly angle.
The distance from Nuweiba to Baal-zephon on the opposite coast is eleven miles. Nature has formed this land bridge at the narrowest section of the Gulf by accumulating sediments washed from the mountains on either side when the wadis are in flood.
Isaiah 43:16-17 calls the great land bridge, "a path in the mighty waters". Psalm 77:19-20, "Your wayis in the sea, and Your path in the great waters and Your footsteps are not known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron". Isaiah 63:12, ". . dividing the water before them".
Moses and the Hebrew children were trapped. Exodus 14:19-22, "And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel moved behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left".
I'll wager that wind was cold. Soldiers would have no desire for war that night. Exodus 15:8, "The waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea". The divided sea became walls of solid ice, 1,000 feet high. And as the wind abated, the Hebrews walked unhindered for eight miles across the land bridge above the sea floor to Midian on the farther shore. All the while the Pillar of Fire and Cloud protected them.
This principle by which God froze the walled-up sea is not unknown to the desert-dwellers. Villagers in Iran erect parallel stone walls. Towards night, as temperatures fall, they pour water in the channel between the walls. Wind passing through the narrow space causes it to freeze. And south of Flagstaff, Arizona, wind blowing through ice caves freezes seepage producing natural refrigeration.
Exodus 14:23-28, "The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch (that's between 0300 and 0600 hours) the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, clogging their chariot wheels, that they drove heavily and broke: so that the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians'.
And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen'.
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea. And as day dawned; the ice began to thaw, and the Egyptians ran into it; and the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that pursued them; not so much as one of them remained".
It probably took until about one o'clock for the wind to divide and freeze the sea, five hours more for the Hebrews to cross with their animals and possessions, and by 0600, the first of Pharaoh's 600 chosen chariots would be nearing the eastern shore, followed by 251,000 foot soldiers -- all below the sea level.
The air was still. There was now no wind, and they must have been certain of apprehending their erstwhile slaves. Suddenly, like the roar of a volcano, the walls of ice split. In an instant a quarter of a million Egyptians were dead.
the number of spokes in a chariot wheel carved in a frieze. And only during the 18th Dynasty were four, six, and eight- spoked wheels used (see Observations on the Evolving Chariot Wheel in the 18th Dynasty, James K. Hoffmeier. JARCE, #13, 1976).
I've seen underwater slides and video film by Jonathan Gray, whose team found the site. They show the remains of Egyptian chariots, without wheels. Scripture explains how the thin rims sank into the mud formed by the melting ice, became clogged and broke from the axles. The four, six and eight-spoked chariot wheels were identified by the Department of Antiquities in Cairo as belonging to the 18th Dynasty. Apparently, monuments can actually be dated by
None of these artifacts had been discovered previously because the archaeologists had been searching for the Red Sea crossing in the wrong location. Recently, Ron Wyatt found a Phoenician column on the southern end of Nuweiba beach. Its inscriptions were defaced or eroded. Later an identical column was discovered at Baal-zephon on the opposite shore. Its inscriptions, which are intact, say it was erected by King Solomon in honor of Jehovah, and dedicated to the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and destruction of the Egyptian host.
We marvel at how the Lord has preserved these sites intact through the course of history. If their true locations had been known all along, there would be no evidence remaining today. We live in the days when even Bible cartographers and ministers don't believe the Red Sea crossing ever occurred.
Passing through the desert of Sin, Israel camped in Rephidim. See Exodus 17:3-6, "The people thirsted for water and murmured against Moses, saying, 'Did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst'?
And Moses cried to the Lord, 'What shall I do to this people? they are almost ready to stone me'.
And the Lord said to Moses, 'Go before them with some elders, and take your rod in your hand, with which you smote the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come water out of it, that the people may drink'. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel" (I Corinthians 10:4).
This rock is a prominent landmark that stands sixty feet above the western foothills of Mount Sinai. (The Sinai encampment was on the east). The rock has a split wide enough for a man to pass through. Erosion shows abundant water once flowed forth by channels to the plain below. Nearby to the south west, is the oasis and town of El Bad, where Moses' father-in-Law, Jethro, is said to have lived.
Separated by desert from the mountain range bordering the Red Sea, Jebel El Lawz is known to locals as "the mountain of Moses". At 8,000 feet, it is the tallest mountain in the region and forms a natural ampitheatre enclosing an area of 5,000 acres -- sufficient to accommodate two to three million people, with their flocks and herds. The name "Horeb" survives in the Wadi Hurab, which extends from Mount Horeb (Jebel El Lawz) to the foothills.
The entire summit of the mountain is blackened as if burned by intense heat. Exodus 19:18, "Mount Sinai was altogether covered in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire: its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly".
Moving to the eastern side where Israel camped are two peaks. Just below one peak is a cave. I Kings 19:8, "Elijah . . . went . . . unto Horeb, the mountain of God.
And he came hither unto a cave, and lodged there". Could this be Elijah's cave? On the peak above this cave are two huge boulders with a solitary tree growing between them. Mohammed knew these parts, and visited this mountain at least once in about AD 631 to sign peace treaties with the Christian chief of Aqaba and Jewish tribes in the oases of Maqna within walking distance of the Mount. There is reference to such a tree in the Koran. In Chapter Sura (paragraph 20), Allah is said to state, "We produced for you . . . a tree issuing from the Mount of Sinai that bears oil and seasoning".
Between these two peaks is a cleft in the rock. Perhaps it's the place where Moses saw the "back parts" of God (Exodus 33:22-23).
Here is the course of "the brook that came out of the mountain" into which Moses cast the gold dust ground from the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:21). From the Koran it is apparent the locals were familiar with Sinai and this brook. "The Story" (paragraph 29-30), says "Moses said . . . 'I observe a fire . . .' When he came to it, a voice came from the right bank of the watercourse, in the sacred hollow coming from the tree: 'Moses, I am God'." The "sacred hollow" describes the area at the foot of the blackened mountain I called an ampitheatre. And the "tree", that on the farthest peak to the right of the brook.
In paragraph 44 of the same book, the Koran states, "Thou wast not upon the western side when We decreed to Moses the Commandment nor wast thou of those witnessing".
This says that the local Arabian people being addressed weren't on the "western" or opposite side of the mountain when the Law was delivered to Moses, nor were they on the eastern side where "those witnessing" were located.
Exodus 19:12 tells how God instructed Moses to separate the people from the Mountain, that it may remain sanctified."You shall set bounds round the mountain, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death".
The accompanying diagram shows the location of masonry wells about 18-foot in diameter roughly parallel to the lines which would have cordoned off the mountain. These are not readily apparent as only the tops can be seen above ground. They commence by the dry water course of "the brook that descended out of the mount", rest on the bedrock and follow the broken line on the map across to the south-western part of the mountain.
Exodus 24:4, "And Moses . . . built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel". At the eastern foot of the mountain by the descent of the brook is such an altar of unhewn stones. And within the holy boundary is a semi-circle of twelve large white granite pillars.
Also found is the altar to the golden calf with twelve petroglyphs around it. The top of the rock is worn, perhaps by the golden calf when Moses "sacrificed" it upon its own altar, grinding it to dust before making Israel drink it (Exodus 32:20).
Exodus 33:7, "Moses took his tent and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting. And it came about that every one who sought the Lord went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp".
At the foot of the mountain adjacent to Moses' altar lies prepared ground which may be the place where the animals were corralled.
These artifacts have been reported by Jonathan Gray and Ron Wyatt who have been working this area in recent years. To me, the import of these discoveries is not that they confirm Bible facts for the benefit of skeptics. They'll never believe and Jesus didn't die to redeem the doubter and unbeliever. Moses brought two million such people with him on the Exodus, and Jesus said all of those adult Israelites with the exception of Joshua and Caleb are removed from the Book of Life (John 6:49).
All of these discoveries show us what God did yesterday. We must learn what He's doing now, and see that part of His Word living through us. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
It is clear that by comparing the Bible text which is supported by these discoveries with maps accepted by scholars since the days of Constantine, that we see we must go back to God's Word. Not man's maps, and prove all things, holding fast that which is good. Examine our selves, whether we be in the faith, or followers of Bible school curricula.
It is impossible to correlate the duration of certain legs of the exodus and the topography described by Moses with maps drawn by theologians based on the whims of the pagan emperor Constantine, and his mother, Helena, who identified a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula as Mount Sinai.
Von Haven, a member of the Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 wrote, "I have observed earlier that we could not possibly be at Mount Sinai. The monastery (of St. Catherine) was situated in a narrow valley, which was not even large enough for a medium-sized army to be able to camp in, let alone the 600,000 men that Moses had with him, who, together with their wives and children, must have come to over 3,000,000" (Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761- 1767, by Thorkild Hansen. Harper & Ross, NY., 1964, page 181).
So long as the Bible was sealed with seven Seals, and Christ was a Mediator, God "winked at this ignorance". He's not winking today. We must empty from the cupboard of our minds, all man-made ideas, which are stumbling stones in the pathway to faith.
God sent us a prophet whose ministry restored the apostolic faith, finished the mystery of God, and is calling God's people OUT from human reasoning into the unity of the one and only understanding or faith of His Word, for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the great translation.
The Spiritual significance of this lesson is to receive what I and other men preach, then search the Scriptures whether it is so. You must make sure what you receive into your soul is God's mind, not some story put together by a preacher.
The world's largest-selling book is still the Bible. Billions and millions of Korans have been printed over the centuries.Billions of Bibles with false information on their maps. Millions of Christians, and hundreds of thousands of ministers and theologians have studied the Scripture we read today, thousands of archaeologists and explorers have trekked and sought in vain, not recognizing the error in these maps by the truth of God's Word.
That's denominationalism and a second-hand religion. It's placing blind trust in the word of parents, teachers and preachers, not a personal faith in Jesus who is the Word. Its not relationship with Him as Husband. By this casual attitude to the Word men still hold Him to be some fraction of a trinity of Gods, and are baptized in three of His many Titles, not in the Name of those three Titles. There is no intimacy, no heart-desire to know Him, but a luke-warm Laodicean attitude of one who has gone through the outward form of being a wife. And the husband can take it or leave it.
This attitude will not get us to the Wedding Supper today. We live in the Age of perfection. We live in the day of Christ's parousia: the day of God's Judgment on all outside the fullness of His Word.
Exodus 32:25-28, "When Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies): He stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 'Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me'. And all the Levites gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Every man put his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor'.
And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men'."
We live in the end-time. Christ is again without the Camp, calling those who are His own to draw the Sword of the Word and separate from golden calf schemes. The Levites had no inheritance in this earth for the Lord was their portion. They type the Bride and lived by His Word. Like Abraham, they sought a City whose Builder and Maker is God.
Let us like Moses, commune with God without the camp, and like the Levites, separate from those who follow carnal reasoning against the revealed Will and Word of God.
(taken from Biblebelievers.org)
This page placed here for the continued preservation of this archaeological witness and is dedicated to our LORD JESUS CHRIST
in Whom Alone is true
salvation to be found.
Other WEB sites on this subject:
YouTube -Revealing God's Treasure
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
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