The Saudi Sinai: More of the “Evidence”

A topic that comes up over and over again on social media archaeology groups is the contention that the real Biblical Mount Sanai is the mountain Jabal al-Lawz in northwest Saudi Arabia. This is one of around a hundred astounding finds claimed by the late Ron Wyatt, who left his job as a medical technologist in Tennessee to chase his dreams as an amateur archaeologist. I don’t think that even a single one of his claims is valid. What he did was travel around the Middle East searching for things that superficially looked like something described in the Bible. A real archaeologist would produce tangible evidence for the find. Wyatt usually claimed to have found such evidence, but if so, only his own eyes ever saw it.

I previously disputed the contention by Wyatt’s many supporters that the traditional site of Mt. Horeb/Sinai, Jebel Musa, on the Sinai Peninsula, cannot be correct because that area was part of Egypt, not Arabia as Galatians 4:25 seems to require. My purpose here is to offer a more sensible explanation of two of the main talking points used to justify the Saudi Sinai claims—the black mountaintop and the split rock. I offer no proof of my own contentions. I’ve never been on that site, so all I can provide is sound principles and other folks’ photographs and research.

The “Burnt Mountain” and Geological Interpretations

The most striking feature of the Saudi Mountain is the black summit, which is claimed, based on a superficial visual impression only, to have resulted from God’s appearance over the mountain. Exodus 19:16–19 describes the event: “On the morning of the third day, there was thunder, lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain... Mount Sinai was enveloped in smoke, because ADONAI descended onto it in fire — its smoke went up like the smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.”

There is some confusion as to the proper name of the mountain in question. Ron Wyatt, Bob Cornuke and others Applied the name Jabal al-Lawz to the mountain, but it is correctly called Jabal Maqla, meaning “Burnt Mountain”. Is that, as claimed by Wyatt and his followers, a remnant of scorching by God’s presence? My interpretation is that the fire and smoke were simply God’s sh’kinah glory, the same phenomena as the pillar of fire and smoke that led the Israelites for 40 years and that is never recorded to have damaged anything. Furthermore, the contention that the mountainside was burned and that the burned area would still be visible after 3500 years, is beyond implausible.

Comparison of Evidence and Geological Origins

Based on the provided material, the following points summarize the investigation into the Saudi Sinai claims:

• Jabal Maqla (Burnt Mountain): Claims suggest a summit scorched by fire; however, evidence points to a geological origin or a superficial visual impression rather than a miraculous event.
• The “Split Rock”: While some claim the split is miraculous, geological perspectives suggest a glacial origin or erosion in and around the megalith.
• Mount Sinai Location: Supporters favor Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia, while traditional archaeology identifies Jebel Musa on the Sinai Peninsula.

To further illustrate the lack of physical evidence, compare the fire on Mt. Carmel when Elija confronted the priests of Ba’al some 600 years later; no trace of that remains, and Mt. Carmel is a known location. I should state at this point that it is difficult to disprove something that cannot be proved in the first place.