The Better Candidate? [Mt. Sinai II]
Some people are wondering, “Why does it matter which is the real Mountain or not?” The existence of a mountain from the Bible, a mountain which has such historical significance, can do wonders to help or hurt the Bible. If we find real places mentioned in Biblical history, it adds credibility to our cause. As long as people still claim “the Bible isn’t historically accurate,” we will continue to categorically prove them wrong.
As I showed in the first part (Link), the traditional site of Mt. Sinai, Jabal Musa, isn’t that great. Not to worry though, I think I have a pretty good candidate for the real Mt. Sinai: Jabal al-Lawz. Let’s do a comparison between the traditional site (Musa) and this candidate (al-Lawz):
| Mountain | Mount Sinai | Jabal Musa | Jabal al-Lawz |
| Outside Egypt? | Yes | Possibly? | Yes |
| In a wilderness? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sheep friendly? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Near Midian? | Yes | No | Yes |
| East of the Crossing Point? | Yes | Probably | Yes |
| Cave for Elijah? | Yes | Maybe? | Yes |
| In Arabia? | Yes | No | Yes |
Remember Jabal Musa’s 5 main problems? This new candidate fixes all of these…
And More?!
This candidate also has some interesting side evidence:
>The black peak. The top of the mountain is covered in char (See picture left). No, it’s not volcanic. The outside of the rock is charred while the inside isn’t. (cf. Exodus 19:18; 24:17; Deut. 5:22-24) (Pictured Left)
>Boundary Markers. There are still large piles of rock at the base of the mountain. (cf. Exodus 19:23)
>Two Altars, one with cow-like drawings. The Golden Calf probably rested on an altar (cf. Exodus 32). It’s possible that the second altar was erected by Moses himself (cf. Exodus 20:25) (For drawings, see picture below)
>There are also some misc. drawings about food (Corn grinders) and a long journey (foot outlines).
>Like Jabal Musa, quail also land in the area, exhausted from their flight.
>A grove of Acacia trees are nearby (cf. Ex 25:10) and kilns for making pottery have been unearthed.
>Possible evidence of a battlefield.
>The Rock. On two occasions, Moses struck a rock, in which water came out (Ex. 17, Num. 20). Near Jabal al-Lawz, there is a large rock, split down the middle. Oh yeah, it’s been eroded from the bottom up-water being the likely culprit. It’s possible that this water went down to what might be an ancient pond. (pictured right)
>12 Stone Pillars still visible. (cf. Exodus 24:4) (pictured left)
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Acknowledgments:
Darren Hardeman: Your research paper was most helpful.
Charles Wittaker: Your 200+ page dissertation was very useful as well.
iLumina Gold Premium: The basis and template for a lot of the maps I created/used
According To the Scriptures.org for their calf montage picture.
B.A.S.E. Institute: Your DVD sparked the initial interest in the subject.
[...] (For a better possibility of Mt. Sinai, see Part 2) [...]
Mt. Sinai I: Problems « treason said this on May 13, 2008 at 9:03 pm
It’s so cool to see markings of Biblical settings. Too bad the Turkish government won’t let archaeologists in to check out the “mountains of Ararat” where the ark rested.
Yeah I personally prefer to do pieces like these. I think they make the Bible come alive a lot more.
Jabel al Laws does not fit the biblical clues in the bible. Most people only look at the clues that fit; not all the clues. There are way more than 5-6 clues in the bible. There are over 30 clues.
There is one particular clue that eliminates 20 of the 29 proposed mountains. Must be in Edom territory. Of the remaining 9, all but 4 are eliminated from the clue of Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir. Of the remaining 4 sites, 3 do not fit the wilderness clue.
I won’t say that the only proposed mountain that fits the clues is the correct mountain, but certainly it must be close to the real mountain. It may be a fact that the real mount Sinai has not yet been proposed. However, the bibilical clues limit the location to an area around Route 12 in Southern Israel.
If you would like more info, please email me. I have been working on an article having all the clues identified and working through all proposed sites.
I would be happy to have anyone’s thoughts on my article.
There may be more than 7 clues about the real Mt. Sinai, but I tried to address the major ones.
The problem with trying to find a mountain that fits every single clue is that much has changed in the last 3400 years.
On top of this, not every Candidate is readily accessible by archaeologists.
This is why I focused on several of the main, very large evidences. Most of these evidences are more geographical than topographical. Furthermore, these 7 clues alone rule out most alleged candidates. Once again, this is why I had concentration on the other evidences.