Searching for Sinai

The Bible tells us that after the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea,1 yam-sûp,2 they camped 10 times before arriving at Mount Sinai (see Numbers 33:5–15).3 The Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai “on the third new moon” (ESV) or “in the third month” (NKJV) (Exodus 19:1; cf. Numbers 33:3), around two months after they departed from Egypt.4 The Israelites left Mount Sinai in the second month in the second year of the exodus (Numbers 10:11), which is a stay of just over 11 months. About half of the book of Exodus describes the events that took place at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1–40:38), with a few chapters focusing on the journey to Mount Sinai (Exodus 15:22–18:27). It was at Mount Sinai that God revealed himself to Israel, made a covenant with them (fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham), and gave them the Ten Commandments (or “Ten Words” thus Decalogue; Exodus 20:1–18; Deuteronomy 4:13).

Although the location of Mount Sinai is not a vital part of the Christian faith, it does hold historical and theological importance as it is the place where God revealed himself to his people, Israel.

The Bible presents Mount Sinai as a real location, and later in biblical history it took Elijah 40 days to get from Beersheba to Mount Sinai (1 Kings 19:3–8). The question is: where is Mount Sinai?5 Because of the lack of clear knowledge of some of the locations mentioned in Exodus, opinions of archaeologists and biblical scholars differ widely on its exact location.6 But can we determine its general location from data given in the Bible? According to the biblical text, the location of Mount Sinai should at least meet certain criteria: it should be an 11-day journey from Kadesh-barnea (Deuteronomy 1:2)7 and within grazing distance of the “land of Midian” (Exodus 2:15, 3:1).8 In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul compares Hagar to “Mount Sinai in Arabia” (Galatians 4:25). But where is the Arabia he was referring to (see below)? Although the location of Mount Sinai is not a vital part of the Christian faith, it does hold historical and theological importance as it is the place where God revealed himself to his people, Israel. This article will evaluate six popular sites that have been suggested as the possible location for Mount Sinai.9

Jebel Musa (South Sinai Peninsula)

The most popular location today for Mount Sinai is in the southern Sinai Peninsula.10 This is based upon Christian tradition, originating in the fourth century AD (Egeria’s Peregrinatio—AD 383/4). The mountain of Jebel Musa (Arabic for “the mountain of Moses”) rises to 7,498 feet in elevation (2,285 meters) above sea level. The Bible neither expresses how high nor how low Mount Sinai was. We do know Moses (80 years old) climbed the mountain several times (see Exodus 19:3, 19:20, 24:13, 34:4). Distinguished Egyptologist James Hoffmeier advocates the traditional southern Sinai view.11 Hoffmeier believes the yam-sûp the Israelites crossed was the Ballah Lakes in the north-eastern delta.12 This requires that the Israelites, after crossing the yam-sûp, would have then journeyed south and followed the “Mining Route” (the route used by the Egyptians for mining turquoise and copper from the Sinai mountains) along the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez. There is a plain on the north side of Jebel Musa, Er-Rahah, about a mile and a half long by half a mile wide that would have been a suitable place for the Israelites to camp.

There are, however, several problems with Jebel Musa as the location of Mount Sinai. It would seem too far from the “land of Midian” (Arabia)13 where Moses fled, for him to have been pasturing Jethro’s flock there (Exodus 2:15, 3:1).14 The one-way journey from Midian to Jebel Musa is around 225 miles (a round trip of 450 miles!). It would also seem too far from Kadesh-barnea (c. 160 miles) for the Israelites to have made the journey in 11 days (Deuteronomy 1:2).15 It is also nowhere near the road from Egypt to Midian (Exodus 4:18–27). When Moses fled from Egypt to go to Midian (Exodus 2:15), he most probably traveled along a well-established route, “the Way of the Wilderness” (Exodus 13:18), a road that goes directly from the north of the Gulf of Suez to the north tip of the Gulf of Aqaba (c. 150 miles). It would seem the main reason to believe Jebel Musa is Mount Sinai is Christian tradition from the fourth century AD, a tradition far removed from the fifteenth century BC (1446–1406 BC), the time when Moses wrote down the texts describing the revelation at Mount Sinai.

Proposed locations for Mount Sinai: Image courtesy of biblemapper.com

Jebel Sin Bishar (North Sinai Peninsula)

Jebel Sin Bishar is a mountain located in northwest Sinai and was suggested to be the biblical Mount Sinai by Menashe Har-El, a biblical geographer at Tel Aviv University.16 Har-El argues that Jebel Sin Bishar is the only mountain in the Sinai Peninsula that conserves the toponym “Sinai” in the word “Sin.”17 Har-El also claims that “the meaning of Sin Bisher is the reporting of the Law, or Laws of man. This name hints at the Giving of the Law.”18 The height of “Jebel sin Bishar is only 618 meters [2027 feet] above sea level, it is the most prominent of its surrounding.”19 Jebel Sin Bishar was favored by Har-El because it was assumed that Moses’ request to Pharoah for a three-day journey into the wilderness was to Mount Sinai (Exodus 5:3). However, Exodus 5:3 never suggests that this three-day journey was to Mount Sinai but was only to be outside of Egypt into the wilderness because the Israelites’ sacrifices were abominable to the Egyptians (Exodus 8:25–27; cf. Genesis 46:34). Jebel Sin Bishar would also be too far from the land of Midian (Arabia) for Moses to have been pasturing Jethro’s flock in that proximity (Exodus 3:1). Identifying Jebel Sin Bishar as Mount Sinai raises another question. Jebel Sin Bishar is around 30 miles from where Har-El places the crossing of the yam-sûp (Great Bitter Lake in the southern Isthmus of Suez).20 So, why did the Israelites take so long to make such a short journey? It is hard to believe that the Israelites, who came out of Egypt in haste and were able to travel by day and night (Exodus 13:21; Deuteronomy 16:3; Nehemiah 9:12, 19), took around a month to travel about 30 miles (Exodus 16:1, 19:1).

Har Karkom (North Sinai Peninsula)

Har Karkom is a mountain in the north Sinai Peninsula and is almost halfway between Gebel Khashm et-Tarif and Kadesh-barnea. The mountain and its surroundings are 1968–2788 feet above sea level. Italian archaeologist Emmanuel Anati excavated at the mountain and believed it to be Mount Sinai based upon shrines, altars, stone circles, and stone pillars. According to Anati, the height of religious activity at Har Karkom dates to the third millennium BC. Based upon a revised biblical chronology, Anati places the events of the exodus (which he believes are mythical history) around this time (c. 2200–2000 BC).21 The plateau and the valleys around Har Karkom were abandoned from 1950 BC to 1050 BC.22 Anati’s date for the exodus is hundreds of years before the biblical date for the exodus, which occurred in 1446 BC (see 1 Kings 6:1; cf. Judges 11:26).23 Therefore, Mount Har Karkom cannot be Mount Sinai.

Gebel Khashm et-Tarif (Hashem El Tarif) (North Sinai Peninsula)

Archaeologist Bryant Wood believes Gebel Khashm et-Tarif, 22 miles west-northwest of the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, is the most probable location for Mount Sinai.24 Following Hoffmeier, Wood places the crossing of the yam-sûp at the Ballah Lakes.25 Wood identifies several biblical requirements for the location of Mount Sinai:

1. It is located at the eastern end of the Trans-Sinai Highway (Exodus 4:20, 27).
2. It is located near Midian. Moses pastured the flock of Jethro at Sinai (Exodus 3:1), and Jethro and Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, both visited Moses while he was at Mount Sinai with the Israelites (Exodus 18:5; Numbers 10:29–30).
3. It is in the right location, approximately two months’ journey from Rameses (Exodus 19:1; Numbers 33:3) and 11 days’ journey from Kadesh-barnea (Deuteronomy 1:2).
4. It is in the territory of Edom (Deuteronomy 33:2; Judges 5:4; Habakkuk 3:3).

Gebel Khashm et-Tarif is at the intersection of the Trans-Sinai Highway and the Mount Seir road. If this is Mount Sinai, then the Israelites would have traveled east across the Sinai Peninsula on the Trans-Sinai Highway which runs directly across central Sinai and connects the northern end of the Gulf of Suez to the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba (see Exodus 13:18). The travel distance from Rameses (Exodus 12:37) to Gebel Khashm et-Tarif is around 290 miles.26 From Gebel Khashm et-Tarif to Kadesh-barnea (by the Mount Seir road) is around 75 miles. Wood believes with the Israelites traveling just over seven miles a day, it is possible to achieve this journey in 11 days (Deuteronomy 1:2). Gebel Khashm et-Tarif is a relatively low mountain (2,870 feet), and Wood believes this is in accordance with certain Jewish traditions (Babylonian Talmud and Bamidbar Rabbah).27 Archaeological exploration carried out at Gebel Khashm et-Tarif has revealed 33 rectangular structures east and south of the mountain that indicates it was a holy mountain in antiquity (cf. Exodus 19:10, 12).28

Jabal al-Lawz (Arabian Peninsula)

In recent years there has been a lot of attention given to Jabal al-Lawz as the location of Mount Sinai, although Mount Sinai in Arabia is not a modern view.29 Those who hold this view place the crossing of the yam-sûp somewhere on the Gulf of Aqaba, east of the Sinai Peninsula.30 Jabal al-Lawz is in northwest Saudi Arabia and is 8,464 feet (2,580 meters) above sea level. The most well-known advocates of this position are environmental geographer Dr. Glen Fritz31 and Christian author Joel Richardson.32 Fritz argues that it took the Israelites an estimated 18–20 days to reach the yam-sûp (mid Aqaba/Nuweiba beach),33 and once they had crossed, it was another 10 days to reach the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1). The exodus route (from Rameses to the yam-sûp) that Fritz follows is the low areas of the Sinai Peninsula (not the route between the heads of the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba), which is around 277 miles.

Both Fritz and Richardson point to ancient Jewish (LXX, Philo, Josephus) and early Christian witnesses (Eusebius and Jerome) that identify the location of Mount Sinai in Arabia (Madiam = Midian).34 Both men also note that the first century Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, described Mount Sinai as “the loftiest and most sacred mountain in that district . . . a mountain which was very difficult of access and very hard to ascend” (Moses 2.14.70). Likewise, the first century Jewish historian Josephus stated, “Mount Sinai . . . is the highest of all the mountains that are in that country” (Antiquities 3:1). Richardson makes the point that this fits the description of Jabal al-Lawz, but again the Bible does not specify how high or low Mount Sinai was. Richardson also highlights several archaeological sites around Jabal al-Lawz that he believes serve as confirmation that it is Mount Sinai: Moses’ altar (Exodus 20:24–26), 12 pillars (Exodus 24:4), the golden calf altar (Exodus 32:1–8), the graveyard (Exodus 32:25–28), and the split rock (Exodus 17:5–6).35 Although these finds are interesting and should not be dismissed out of hand, they have not been verified by trained archaeologists.

Some argue that Mount Sinai could not have been in Midian because when Jethro left Moses at Mount Sinai, “he went away to his own country” (Exodus 18:27; cf. Numbers 10:30). However, those who hold the view that Mount Sinai is in Midian argue that the Hebrew word for “country” (erets) has a wide range of meaning (i.e., earth, country, land, region, territory) and therefore Mount Sinai could still be in Midianite territory.36 Another reason some reject Jabal al-Lawz as Mount Sinai is that it seems too far for the Israelites to travel in 11 days to Kadesh-barnea (Deuteronomy 1:2).37 The straight-line distance from Jabal al-Lawz to Kadesh-barnea is approximately 150 miles.38

Hala-‘l Badr (Arabian Peninsula)

The argument for locating Mount Sinai in northwest Arabia comes from Colin Humphreys, a physicist from Cambridge University.39 Humphreys notes that when Moses fled from Egypt, he went to the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15) where he worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law (Exodus 3:1). Humphreys locates the land of Midian in north-western Arabia, in the low coastal area called the Tihama (a region that is extremely hot in the summer). East of Tihama is a desert band called the Shifa, and behind that is the Hisma. Shepherds keep their sheep in Tihama during the winter and then cross the desert and take them to Hisma during the summer. Humphreys argues that Moses guided his sheep from the Tihama, across the desert, and into the Hisma, and there encountered the burning bush.40 This would put Mount Sinai in north-western Arabia (27.25° N, 37°12 E). Another reason for this location, according to Humphreys, is the description of Mount Sinai. When God descended onto Mount Sinai in fire to give the Ten Commandments, there was thunder and lightning, and the mountain quaked greatly and was covered in smoke like a furnace (see Exodus 19:16, 18). Humphreys believes this description is associated with a volcanic eruption.41 Others believe the description is simply a theophany (an appearance of God).42 Humphreys identifies Mount Badr in the Hisma as Mount Sinai. The volcano is on a high plateau which is around 5,000 feet above sea level, and the cone of Mount Badr is around 500 feet above that. Humphreys believes when the Israelites left Egypt, they traveled across the Sinai Peninsula along the Way of the Wilderness to the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba where they crossed at the head. The Israelites then went down the western side of the Arabian Peninsula (east of the Gulf of Aqaba) then moved inland toward Mount Sinai.

Several English translations (ESV, NASB) indicate that Moses took his father-in-law’s flock to the west side of the wilderness. Some believe this suggests that Mount Sinai is therefore west of Midian (Exodus 3:1). However, translating the Hebrew word ʾaḥar (אַחַר) as “west” is probably not correct, as it can mean “beyond” or “to the backside of” (see KJV, NIV, TNIV).43 This would refer to the area beyond the wilderness through which Moses was leading his flocks and places Mount Sinai somewhere within or near to the land of Midian. Some also argue that Mount Badr is too far from Kadesh-barnea to be Mount Sinai. Old Testament scholar Duane Garrett, who follows Humphreys’ identification of Mount Badr as Mount Sinai, responds that this assumes Deuteronomy 1:2 is stating it took Israel 11 days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. Garrett believes Deuteronomy 1:2 does not say it took Israel 11 days to make the journey but simply describes it as an 11-day journey to highlight Israel’s failure—that it took them 40 years to get to Kadesh-barnea (Deuteronomy 1:3). Because it took Elijah 40 days to get from Beersheba to Mount Sinai (1 King 19:3–8), Garret believes this suggests “the eleven-day journey mentioned in Deut. 1:2 may be the minimum amount of time a determined traveller might take in making the journey.”44 This interpretation may be reasonable but may not persuade everyone.

This map includes the location of Hala-‘l Bedr: Image courtesy of biblemapper.com

Mount Sinai in Arabia

The Bible presents Mount Sinai as a real historical location, but more study needs to be done to be able to verify which site is the precise location.

What about the Apostle Paul’s statement, “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia” (Galatians 4:25)? Does this mean that Mount Sinai is in the region we know today as Saudi Arabia? It is important to remember that the first century understanding of Arabia is different from that of our modern understanding (Saudi Arabia). James Hoffmeier, for example, states, “The term Arabia as used in Greco-Roman times included Sinai.”45 While this may be true, the term Arabia also included the Arabian Peninsula. In Roman times, the word Arabia was used in a very broad sense and could refer to Arabia Petra46 (south and east of the Dead Sea, i.e., Edom), Arabia Deserta (north Arabian Peninsula), and Arabia Felix (southwestern coast of Arabia but could refer to the whole Arabian Peninsula). After examining these three geographic descriptions of Arabia, Garrett concludes, “It is not impossible, one may say, that Paul’s ‘Arabia’ included the Sinai Peninsula, but it is more likely that, writing during the Roman period to a Gentile audience in Galatia, Paul used the standard Roman era meanings for ‘Arabia’ (referring to Arabia Petra or Arabia Felix). This places it either south of the Dead Sea or in the Arabian Peninsula.”47 The Arabian Peninsula view would fit with where Hagar and her son Ishmael’s descendants settled, east of Canaan, in northwest Arabia (Genesis 25:6, 18).

No doubt the debate over the location of Mount Sinai will continue. But in the end, several sites are clearly problematic for being identified as Mount Sinai while other sites have strengths and weaknesses. The Bible presents Mount Sinai as a real historical location, but more study needs to be done to be able to verify which site is the precise location.