Does the Bible say Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia ?

 Many people believe the Bible indicates that Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.

 The main source of this idea is Galatians 4:25 "Now this Hagar is Mt. Sinai in Arabia,...".

 
Did the boundaries of Arabia in Paul's day correspond to the boundaries of modern Saudi Arabia?

 
Arabia at the time of Paul may have included a much larger area than it does today. At the time Paul wrote Galatians.

  

 

 The true border of Egypt ran from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, along the canal system and barrier lakes west of the Sinai wilderness.

 

An old map showing where Midian is located, in Saudi Arabia. Also showing where Egypt proper is shown in dark green. Light green is land patrolled by Egyptians. There is a difference between patrolled and proper Egypt. The Israelites left Egypt that very same day, it was talking about Egypt proper.

 

IF you look close there map dos not show what they are saying, about Mount Sinai being in Arabia.   There map is below   Egypt proper is shown in dark green  Light green is land patrolled by Egyptians   You can see that Egyptians did not patrol Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula.  Map on the right shows it more clearly

 

Out of Egypt

 (Exo 12:37, 39 KJV)  And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.

    

Jethro lived in Midian (Exodus 3:1).

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

  Jethro came to Sinai (Exodus 18:5).

And Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

 

Exodus 18:27

And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

 
 Jethro

 "went his way into his own land."  

Midian is the strip of land, which makes up the east coast of the Gulf of Aquabah, placing Midian in Arabia.

 

Hobab

  Numbers 10:29 and 30

When the Israelites were preparing to leave Sinai, Moses asked Hobab to stay with them. Moses said, "you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be as eyes for us" (Numbers 10:31).

  "I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives"

  

This indicates that Mt. Sinai was not located in the place where Moses' Midianite in-laws lived. Since Jethro reentered to Midian after leaving Mt. Sinai,  we must conclude that the Bible places Mt. Sinai outside Midian's borders.

 

 

From The Exodus Discovered! Egypt to Arabia      http://www.squidoo.com/theexodus

God led them by a pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They traveled day and night until they encamped in Etham. They carried enough water through this time, and enough unleaved bread for seven days. They encamped at Etham, the edge of the wilderness, before they turned to go to the next camp which would be "before Pihahiroth" (and between Migdol and the sea).

 

 From Succoth to Etham is 150 miles, they could of traveled this distains in 7 days, but travel this distains with out stopping, walking for 7 days and nights strait.

 

Underwater Land Bride

Red Sea Crossing Site Rediscovered www.arkofthecovenant.com.au
The Gulf of Aqaba is around 5,000 feet deep (1,500 m) for most of its length with a steep 45 degree slope to the bottom.   However, on the side where the Israelites were trapped was the canyon they had just come through.  Water rushing off the land soon after the flood had carried with it a tremendous amount of sand which had been deposited halfway out into the Gulf.  Miraculously, a similar canyon had produced a tremendous deposit of sand originating from the other side.  The location of both canyons was such that the sand reached each other and formed a land bridge of about 6/10ths of a mile wide (900 m) by  8 miles (13 km) long through the deep between the two sides.    The slope both up and down on this land bridge was a gentle 6 degrees.

 

The Illustrated Exodus www.specialtyinterests.net
As this depth chart shows, the submarine `landbridge' is today about 800 feet, ca. ½ mile deep. [See correlation with Indian landbridge story.] That doesn't mean it was that deep in the days of Moses.   Since the distance to the Saudi side is ca. 7 miles, that would make the incline just a little less than 9 degrees over a distance of 3.5 miles, assuming that the deepest part was in the middle between Sinai and Arabia and the angle smooth. However it appears that the deepest point is closer to the Arabian side. If the majority of Pharaoh's army drowned closer to the Arabian side, and depending how wide the `landbridge' was, many remains, in time, would probably have been swept into the very deep channels of Aqaba, especially if tectonic action caused any underwater landslides on the `landbridge'. But such factors depend also on the geological features of the `landbridge' none of which are known to us at this time. .

 

The Gulf of Aqaba is a trench/canyon

 5,000 feet deep.

  The shoreline drops steeply underwater

into this canyon

 at a slope of 45 degrees.

The land bridge is 800 feet deep and ½ mile,

“2640 feet deep”. 

 

The two graphics above are used by those who favor a Red Sea crossing at Nuweiba, but they misrepresent the actual contour of the land bridge.                          www.bible.ca

They claim: "Only here, on the shores of Nuweiba, does the 'pathway' drop off at a gradual slope of one in fourteen, to a depth of just over 850 meters “2,788 feet “. On the Saudi side the slope climbs again at a slope of one in ten." Of course the suggested slop is ridiculous since 1/12 is the building code for wheel chair ramps. To descend to the 765m level at 1/12 slope would take 9 km (765m x 12). But that only takes you to the bottom and the actual deep trough is only 5 km wide “ 3 miles”. The data to produce the above contour maps were obtained by using a small portable fish finder "Simrad CE32" that has a max depth of 800m according to the owners manual. According to the British admiralty nautical depth chart 12, the land bridge is not flat as misrepresented above.   In fact the depths, starting with the Egypt side, are 0m, 263m, 765m, 285m, 0m.               263 m = 862 feet        765m =  2509 feet  or  .5 miles   This means that as they started crossing, they were at sea level (0m) then had to drop down immediately to 263 m, then continue for 5 km. Next, as they pass the 5 km mark, they drop down to a valley that is 765 m deep.

This means that if we placed the CN tower at the deepest spot of 765m, the top of the CN tower would about even with the first 263 m shelf.   So they would have to climb down the height of the CN tower in 2.5km to the bottom, then back up the height of the tower again in 2.5 km.   That is quite an steep angle to walk down then back up again.   The actual slope is 2.5 km to reach a depth of 765m according to British admiralty nautical depth chart 12. 2500m/765 = 1/3.3 slope, which is a 17 degree incline. This assumes a perfect condition slope, when in fact there are likely huge drop off points.

 

Wilderness of Shur

They were entangled in the land because of the narrow Wadi Watir that leads into Nuweiba ( Gulf of Aqaba ). The Egyptian army was coming behind them and the Red Sea was before them. They were caught in the entangled mountains of Nuweiba Beach . http://www.squidoo.com/theexodus
From the Red Sea they traveled south for three days into the Wilderness of Shur (Etham). They did not find water for 3 days, but they found water at Marah. Marah waters have not been found.

 
Where is the Wilderness of Shur?

(Gen 20:1 NLT )  Now Abraham moved south to the Negev and settled for a while between Kadesh and Shur at a place called Gerar. (1 Sam 27:8 NLT )  David and his men spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites--people who had lived near Shur, along the road to Egypt , since ancient

 

Marah waters have not been found.   http://www.squidoo.com/theexodus

This rout is about 35 to 40 miles from the gulf of Aqaba.   Three Days No Watter   There for Marah would have to be around 30 mile mark.

Moses Altar

www.biblearchaeology.org    This complex has been identified as an “angular stone altar” (ibid), trenches where they held the animals for sacrifice (Cornuke and Halbrook 2000: plate 12 top), or a temple (Williams 1990: 208, 211; Fasold 1993a: 10).

  (Exo 20:24 - 26 KJV ) 

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

 

Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

 

Golden Calf Altar

From The Exodus Discovered! Egypt to Arabia  http://www.squidoo.com/theexodus Golden Calf Altar Before Mount Sinai , there is a very peculiar mound of rocks with engravings or petroglyphs of cattle.   This is quite peculiar indeed considering its location in the middle of the desert. This is indeed another evidence of perhaps the true location of Mount Sinai .   The Saudi government does not want any disclosure of this place and has set up a fence around the mountain with a guardhouse to watch for trespassers.

A pile of rocks, 30’ by 30’ by 20’ high, and flat on the top.

 

(Exo 32:4 KJV )  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

  (Exo 32:5 KJV )  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

 

Aaron built that altar?

He most of been one strong, real strong man!

 

  (Exo 32:20 KJV )  And Moses, took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strowed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

  (Exo 34:12 KJV )  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

  (Exo 34:13 KJV )  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

 

Moses, burnt the calf in fire and ground it to powder

 

(Exo 34:13 KJV )  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

 

If God commanded them to destroy the heathen altars, wont Moses destroy the altar of the golden calf
and the images?

 

YES He Would

The Exodus	Marah to Elim
Rameses to Succoth	Elim to Sea
Succoth to Etham	Wilderness of Sin
Etham to Migdol	Dophkah and Alush
Reed Sea	Rephidim
In to Shur	Sinai
What Sea?	Sinai to Kadesh
3 Days no water	Kadesh to Mount Nebo
Marah	Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia?