Where is the real Mt. Sinai?
Red Sea?
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This is an update on a small piece of research done by the writer using
the information provided by Ron Wyatt and Bob Cornuke,
both of whom make claims to finding the real Mt. Sinai and a location
where Moses crossed the Red Sea during the Exodus of The Children of
Israel from Egypt about 1462 B.C.
The background to this is that the traditional Mt. Sinai - the place
visited by pilgrims to historic sites - is in the Southern area of the
Sinai Peninsula, West of the Gulf of Aqabah
which forms a part of the Red Sea. In the late 1970's Ron Wyatt an
American explorer, apparently went to Arabia - which is East of the Gulf
of Aqabah - in Arabia - and noticed that the
mountain called Jabel El Lawz
had a number physical characteristics which were similar to that described
in the Bible as Mt. Sinai. The main feature was the blackened top of the
mountain, which he says aligns with Exodus where God came down to Moses to
give him the Ten Commandments in smoke and fire. The photos of this are
very impressive. Checking it out further he decided that this was the real
Mt.Sinai. For details of his findings go to Link
One below. Supporting the argument for the real Mt.
Sinai being in Arabia is
Galations 5:20 where Paul
points out that Mt. Sinai is in Arabia.
Last year Bob Cornuke and Larry
Williams "found" this same Mt.Sinai -
Jabel El Lawz -
in Arabia, where Paul says it was located.
Cornuke and Williams said they used the Bible
as a road map following the description given in Exodus,
travelling up from the Strait
of Tiran where they
believe the crossing was made from the Sinai Peninsula.
See details at Link Two below.
Whilst Cornuke and Williams say that
there is evidence for Moses crossing the Red Sea across the Strait of
Tiran, Wyatt has another location some miles
north, just above the middle of the Gulf of Aqabah
- at Nurweiba. . I
have been just told ( May 2001) that some of Ron Wyatt's maps were not
quite accurate, primarily in respect of the depth of the water at
Nuweiba where the crossing is said to have
taken place. Recent depth soundings suggest the water is deeper than
suggested by Wyatt. However there are still many artifacts on the sea
floor that would relate to the destruction of Pharoah's
chariots.
Because
I was interested in finding out which one may be correct, I did some
research of my own. This led me to a site where you can get your own map
drawn ( do it yourself style ) of the shape of
the sea floor anywhere around the world. All you do is plug the
coordinates into the data base and the map draws on the screen before your
eyes. The site is at Link Four
below. It takes a bit of time to learn but is easily possible.
The resultant map for the Gulf of Aqabah
is in the graphic shown here. Notice the pink area at 29 degrees,
which extends east to west across the Gulf. The scale at the RHS of the
graphic shows this pink area to be from 0 to 100 metres
deep.
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Wyatt's map shows the depths to be in this range. My investigation ( the above graphic ) therefore supports Wyatt's assertion that there is a sand bridge across the Gulf less than 100 metres deep. Notice also that the water depth in the Strait of Tiran at the southern end of the Gulf is nearer 600 metres deep, making it less likely that Moses crossed the Red Sea at this point, despite the projecting reefs which could could have linked linked Sinai with Arabia during the miracle of the Exodus crossing.
An
critique on the new Mt Sinai location is given at another site - see Link
five. I am more impressed by the evidence given by Wyatt and
Cornuke concerning Mt. Sinai,
although this critique makes interesting reading.
Both Wyatt and Cornuke have pictures of
all this on their sites. Notice the columns that Wyatt found on each side
the the Gulf at the Nurweiba
location. One of these columns had inscriptions mentioning Moses,
Midian, Egypt,
Pharoah and Yahweh ( God
).
Wyatt also claims to have discovered Noah's Ark in
Turkey. Cornukehas
just announced he has also found Noah's Ark, on the mountains of Ararat,
but not in Turkey.
He will reveal details at a conference in August. Stay tuned for an update
later in the year. Whilst you are visiting this site, take a look at some
other parts of it - see links below.
What is the relevance of all this?
Believers in Jesus Christ accept all the Bible says - by faith - without such proofs. However, it does help to find archaeological sites that are what the Bible says they are. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ and the Bible, it may help you to realise the truth of these parts of scripture and eventually Jesus Christ. For example, if it can be clearly demonstrated that Noah's ark has been found, it makes the rest of the Bible harder to refute.
Link One
- Wyatt's Site-
http://www.wyattmuseum.com/red-sea-crossing.htm
Link Two - Cornuke's site- http://www.baseinstitute.org/
Link 3 now not current
Link Four - Drawing a bathymetric map-
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/seltopo.html
Link Five - Critique of new Mt Sinai location- http://www.ldolphin.org/sinai.html