The Exodus Discovered in Midian

The Exodus Discovered in Midian

 

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

 

 

1. Today’s sermon will be a little different and more based on Biblical archaeology.

 

Today, we will look into a theory that states that Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa) on the Sinai Peninsula is in fact not the same mountain mentioned in the book of Exodus in the Bible. The peninsula lies between Israel and Egypt in the shape of a triangle, and at the southern-most tip is Mount Sinai. Yet if we take a look at ancient maps or Egypt’s power at the time, we can see that during the time of the exodus this Sinai Peninsula near Israel had a river flowing into the Mediterranean. This area, in the Bible, is said to be below Israel’s southern border, thus it is part of ancient Egypt.

 

Today, the theory that the mountain referred to as “Mount Sinai” (Mount Horeb) in the Bible is actually a mountain in the northwest of Saudi Arabia called “Jabal al-Lawz” is gaining more and more popularity. Let us look at the Biblical evidence:

 

From Exodus:

*Exodus 2:15 says that Moses, after killing the Egyptian, ran away to the land of Midian to avoid being killed. Midian is what we know today as Saudi Arabia.

*Exodus 3:1 says, “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” meaning that the home of Jethro and Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) were fairly close.

*In Exodus 3:12, the Lord says, “Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.” Because Sinai was under the control of the Egyptian armies, the peninsula cannot be considered foreign land.

*Exodus 4:18 says, “18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.”

*Exodus 18:3 says, “3 And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land”

 

 From Galatians:

In Galatians 4:24-26, the testimonies of the Apostle Paul also remain saying,

“24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

 

(Photo 1, 2)

 

From 1 Kings:

*1 Kings 9:26 says, “26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.” Thus, following the southern sea of Israel would lead you to the land of Midian.

 

These are some of the Biblical verse that give evidence to the theory that Mount Sinai was in the foreign land of Midian to the Egypt-born Moses.

 

A) Then, why is it that the mountain currently known as Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa) not the mountain mentioned in the Bible?

 

1. It is said that there is no place large enough for 2 million Israelites to camp around the area currently deemed to be Mount Sinai.

 

2. Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula after coming through victorious through 3 wars. Yet, no matter how thoroughly they searched, even after 15 years they could not find any evidence, remains or traces of their ancestors having been there. Hence, Israel made their public statement that the Mount Sinai mentioned in the Bible does not exist!

 

3. During the exodus, the Sinai Peninsula was part of Egypt. It would not have been possible for the Israelites to have traveled through and stayed in the Sinai Peninsula, an area that was not only Egyptian territory but also the Egyptian army’s base, for 11 months and 5 days until they received 10 Commandments.

 

4. The mountain currently known as “Mount Sinai” was named so 527 years after its beginning. The mountain was originally known as “Jebel Musa” but monks called the mountain, which was closest to the Catherine Cathedral, “Mount Sinai” in order to satisfy those making pilgrimage. It was not always called or known as “Mount Sinai”. Even today there are 6-7 mountains that claim to be and/or are presumed to possibly be the one “Mount Sinai”, but none of them are definite.

 

5. A river in Egypt is located at the northeast end of the Sinai Peninsula, and that region has been considered to be Egyptian territory since ancient times.

 

Numbers 34:2-5 and Joshua 15:1-4 describe how the western boundaries of Israel stretch from Azmon, to the river in Egypt, and to the Mediterranean Sea. These also became the boundaries of Judah and Simeon. Joshua 15:20-21,23, and 45-47 also describe the complete boundaries of the tribe of Judah, and here, too, we see that the river in Egypt is the boundary.

 

6. If we follow the route of the exodus presented in the Bible, there was no need for the Israelites to cross the Red Sea. (The land of Gosen is near the left of the Red Sea, so there would have been easy access and connection to land.)

 

(Photo 3)

 

B) How is it that Saudi Arabia’s “Jabal al-Lawz” (al=mountain; lawz=almond) “Mount Horeb”?

 

1. The Old Testament says that the top of Mount Sinai burned with flames and the Lord descended upon it. Jabal al-Lawz is a mountain with its peak blackened from fire.

 

Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb is the same mountain with just the mountain peaks being different! (Mount Sinai has a blackened mountaintop. The Bible says that the mountaintop was on fire and God descended upon it.)

 

Exodus 19:18-19

“18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”

 

How amazing is this! In addition, according to scholars, they say that the blackened area on the mountain is not from a volcanic eruption but the result of burning fire.

 

(Photo 4, 5)

 

2. There is a cave that is possibly the cave in Horeb where Elijah stayed.

1Kings 19:8-9

“8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

 

(Photo 6, 7)

 

3. There was a large rock that was split in half, just like the rock Moses struck with his staff to make water flow from it.

 

During the exodus, Moses struck a rock twice and made water flow from it.

There are still traces of a stream of great amounts of water that had flowed. Following these traces leads to a great rock that is split.

 

Exodus 17:6, “6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people (*over 2 million people!*) to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

 

4. Out of the 12 pillars that were set up after crossing the Red Sea for the 12 tribes of Israel, 10 of them were found.

 

Exodus 24:4, “4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.”

 

5. There are remains of an altar, presumably the altar Aaron built for his gold calf, beside the traces of the stream.

 

Exodus 32:4 says, “4 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.”

 

(Photo 8)

 

Then what happened next?

 

Deuteronomy 9:21 says, “21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.”

6. There is a place next to the mountain called “The Valley of Moses”.

 

The mountain has many almond trees. While the Sinai Peninsula has no almond trees, the Jabal al-Lawz of Midian still has many almond trees growing. It is said that the almond tree was what Aaron’s staff was made out of.

 

Numbers 17:8 says, “And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.”

 

7. Exodus 19:1 says, “In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.”

 

It took the Israelites 3 months to leave Egyptian land to finally reach Sinai. It takes less than 2 days to travel across Egypt by car; 3 months is more than enough time to travel by foot.

 

8. Many Egyptian chariot wheels were found in the Red Sea.

There is a place near the Red Sea known as Nuwayba al Muzayyinah (the place where Moses parted the sea). At this place, there is one area where it is only 120m deep, compared to everywhere else where it is at least a few kilometers deep.

 

(Photo 9)

 

Ron Wyatt, a Bible scholar, excavated this area and found Egyptian war chariots, wheels, and the remains of the Egyptian soldiers.

 

9. There is a place called “Wadi Musa” or “The Valley of Moses” next to Jabal al-Lawz.

 

10. There are many relics and artifacts believed to have belonged to the Jewish that were excavated.

 

(Photo 10)

 

Many many artifacts are found around Jabal al-Lawz. Thus, it can be concluded that Moses and the Israelites had in fact stayed there. The “Yahweh Stone” was also discovered there: a rock with the face of a man carved along with “Jehovah” in ancient Hebrew.

 

11. Near the mountain is a home in a cave called, “Jethro’s House”.

 

(Photo 11)

 

12. Beside the ocean is a large plain where the Israelites gathered and lived. Here, round stones needed to put up tents, stone mortars for manna, stone altars, etc. could be found all over.

 

13. A picture of a gold menorah of the tabernacle was found.

 

(Photo 12)

 

Near Jabal al-Lawz, the symbol of a gold menorah, a symbol still used by Israel, was discovered. The gold menorah is said to symbolize the flames Moses saw at Mount Horeb. The seven candles is also said to symbolize the 7 days the Lord took for the Creation.

 

(Photo 13)

 

14. Since ancient times, the northwestern lands of Saudi Arabia has been known as “Midian.”

 

15. It was clearly said that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, was Arabian and from Midian, not from the Sinai Peninsula.

 

16. After the Exodus the Israelites fought the Amalekites, and the Amalekites were Arabian people near Midian.

 

17. The Apostle Paul clearly recorded the location of Mount Sinai as being in Arabia.

Galatians 4:25, “25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.”

 

18. Israeli historian Josephus also stated that the real Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.

 

Conclusion)

 

Although the truth about where the real Mount Sinai is may not be important to us, the fact that countless artifacts and physical evidence supporting the exodus as a historical event that actually took place is of great importance.

Even Christians had often questioned the credibility of the exodus actually to have had occur saying, “How can such a huge event have taken place? There is no evidence. Is it not just a story or a legend in the Bible?”

Even I had once questioned how thousands of Egyptians had died in the Red Sea, yet no bodies or chariots were found.

 

But today, the mystery has been solved and with it God’s greatness is also revealed. The Bible is truth! Nothing in it is a lie. Our God is a living God. We must stand firm in our faith and readily take on the mission God had given us. Amen!