The Real Mt Sinai
We’ve been fortunate to travel on several “mission trips,” and all have been memorable. One stands out because of where we went and what we experienced that relates to the Bible. We traveled to the country of Jordan, just to the east of Israel. While there we had the privilege of taking a bus (an experience in itself) down to Petra. As you probably know, Petra is a canyon fortress in the southern part of the country that has many Nabataean carvings on the canyon walls, appearing to look like the front of buildings, a few have carved out rooms inside. The one called The Treasury was made famous in the movie Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade.
The Nabataean’s were there in late BC centuries, possibly into the years following Christ’s time on earth. But when we were there in 2018 and read information from Bedouin’s, we discovered that through the ages they have passed down the tradition that Moses and the Israelites camped here for an extended period as they wandered in the wilderness. In fact, they have a stone from which a spring flows that they believe is the one Moses struck without giving God credit, losing his ability to enter the Promised Land. The area beside this canyon is called Wadi Musa (the Valley of Moses). Not far to the south is a mountain where they believe Aaron is buried. Even further south is a mountain called Jebel al-Lawz, and many scholars agree that this, in fact, is the real Mt Sinai.
Isn’t Mt Sinai at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, you may ask? The location I’m talking about for Jebel al-Lawz is east of there, across the Gulf of Aqaba. Why does this matter? For the person who is already a committed follower of Christ, maybe not much, but for the unbeliever, it can be important. The reason is because many critics look at the traditional sight and say it just doesn’t jive with the biblical account. There is no evidence around it to confirm it is Mt Sinai, and maybe more important, it requires a crossing of the Red Sea that doesn’t make sense. The path from northern Egypt where the Israelites were located into the Sinai Peninsula does not cross the Red Sea (which is some distance south). It has required Bible scholars to assume the crossing was just some lake or marsh, and not truly the Red Sea. And nothing has been found at this location to indicate such a crossing.
All of that changes when you accept Jebel al-Lawz as the true Mt Sinai. To get there the crossing of the Red Sea would be through what we today call the Gulf of Aqaba, on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula. Keep in mind, we only call the triangular shaped peninsula “Sinai” because Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother made an assumption about the location of Mt Sinai in the 300’sAD, naming the mountain on the southern tip of this peninsula where Monks lived. A monastery was later built, and many then accepted it as the true Mt Sinai without any real proof. The peninsula was named after this. All conjecture. But if the Israelites moved at about 10 miles a day, they could have reached the Gulf of Aqaba in the time the Bible indicates, and there have been found at the gulf’s bottom remnants of chariots and other materials, with topography that matches what the Bible describes.
Once you cross the Gulf of Aqaba, there is an oasis at the base of a mountain range that contains two mountain peaks, one thought to be Mt Horeb, the other Mt Sinai (modern Jebel al-Lawz). There are caves thought to be of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. There is a cave on the east side of Jebel al-Lawz thought to be where Elijah went (I Kings 19:8, 9). There is a split rock with evidence of water erosion, thought to be the first rock Moses struck to provide water, in a place that gets almost no rain, with no reason for such water erosion otherwise. The list of evidence goes on, very compelling. Because it is in Saudi Arabia, access has been limited over the years.
The small book “Mount Sinai in Arabia” by Joel Richardson contains intriguing evidence and is a good read. Even the Apostle Paul talked about going to Arabia after his conversion, for God to reveal things to him (Galatians 1:17), and many believe this is where he went. Why? God had revealed himself to Moses there, and to Elijah there, and Paul as a good Jew could think of no better place to seek God’s revelation. The name Jebel al-Lawz means “Mountain of Almonds.” An interesting verse from Numbers 7, “Moses went into the tent of testimony and behold, the staff of Aaron had sprouted and put forth buds and bore ripe almonds.” (See map below.)
Cross Point: This mountain is also in Midian (in Arabia) where the Bible indicates, the traditional Mt Sinai is not. “There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. All the people trembled.”
The Nabataean’s were there in late BC centuries, possibly into the years following Christ’s time on earth. But when we were there in 2018 and read information from Bedouin’s, we discovered that through the ages they have passed down the tradition that Moses and the Israelites camped here for an extended period as they wandered in the wilderness. In fact, they have a stone from which a spring flows that they believe is the one Moses struck without giving God credit, losing his ability to enter the Promised Land. The area beside this canyon is called Wadi Musa (the Valley of Moses). Not far to the south is a mountain where they believe Aaron is buried. Even further south is a mountain called Jebel al-Lawz, and many scholars agree that this, in fact, is the real Mt Sinai.
Isn’t Mt Sinai at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, you may ask? The location I’m talking about for Jebel al-Lawz is east of there, across the Gulf of Aqaba. Why does this matter? For the person who is already a committed follower of Christ, maybe not much, but for the unbeliever, it can be important. The reason is because many critics look at the traditional sight and say it just doesn’t jive with the biblical account. There is no evidence around it to confirm it is Mt Sinai, and maybe more important, it requires a crossing of the Red Sea that doesn’t make sense. The path from northern Egypt where the Israelites were located into the Sinai Peninsula does not cross the Red Sea (which is some distance south). It has required Bible scholars to assume the crossing was just some lake or marsh, and not truly the Red Sea. And nothing has been found at this location to indicate such a crossing.
All of that changes when you accept Jebel al-Lawz as the true Mt Sinai. To get there the crossing of the Red Sea would be through what we today call the Gulf of Aqaba, on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula. Keep in mind, we only call the triangular shaped peninsula “Sinai” because Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother made an assumption about the location of Mt Sinai in the 300’sAD, naming the mountain on the southern tip of this peninsula where Monks lived. A monastery was later built, and many then accepted it as the true Mt Sinai without any real proof. The peninsula was named after this. All conjecture. But if the Israelites moved at about 10 miles a day, they could have reached the Gulf of Aqaba in the time the Bible indicates, and there have been found at the gulf’s bottom remnants of chariots and other materials, with topography that matches what the Bible describes.
Once you cross the Gulf of Aqaba, there is an oasis at the base of a mountain range that contains two mountain peaks, one thought to be Mt Horeb, the other Mt Sinai (modern Jebel al-Lawz). There are caves thought to be of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. There is a cave on the east side of Jebel al-Lawz thought to be where Elijah went (I Kings 19:8, 9). There is a split rock with evidence of water erosion, thought to be the first rock Moses struck to provide water, in a place that gets almost no rain, with no reason for such water erosion otherwise. The list of evidence goes on, very compelling. Because it is in Saudi Arabia, access has been limited over the years.
The small book “Mount Sinai in Arabia” by Joel Richardson contains intriguing evidence and is a good read. Even the Apostle Paul talked about going to Arabia after his conversion, for God to reveal things to him (Galatians 1:17), and many believe this is where he went. Why? God had revealed himself to Moses there, and to Elijah there, and Paul as a good Jew could think of no better place to seek God’s revelation. The name Jebel al-Lawz means “Mountain of Almonds.” An interesting verse from Numbers 7, “Moses went into the tent of testimony and behold, the staff of Aaron had sprouted and put forth buds and bore ripe almonds.” (See map below.)
Cross Point: This mountain is also in Midian (in Arabia) where the Bible indicates, the traditional Mt Sinai is not. “There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. All the people trembled.”
