Page 8 - BV17

8 Is Mt. Sinai the Mountain of YEHOVAH?

winter and that it snows there, making passage very difficult, if not impossible. The higher peaks,
such as Musa and Katherine, remain snow covered for most of the winter months. The Israelites --
who had never seen snow in Egypt -- had stayed for almost a year in this area; yet there is absolutely
NO MENTION at all in the Bible of either snow or even cold weather.

While Captain Palmer (Sinai: Ancient History from the Monuments) provided data on the
archaeological and historical evidence uncovered (early habitations, Egyptian presence, inscrip-
tions on the first known alphabet), it was the task of Professor E.H. Palmer (The Desert of the Exo-
dus) to outline the group’s conclusions regarding the route and the mountain.

In spite of LINGERING DOUBTS, the group vetoed Serbal and voted for the Mt. Musa lo-
cation -- but with a twist. Since in front of Mt. Musa there was no valley wide enough where the Is-
raelites could set up camp and see YEHOVAH’s Shekinah Glory, Palmer offered an alternate
solution: The “correct” Mt. Sinai was not the southern peak of the massif (Jebel Musa), but its
northern peak, Ras-Sufsafeh, which faces “the spacious plain of Er-Rahah where no less than two
million Israelites could encamp.” In spite of the long-held tradition, he concluded, “we are com-
pelled to REJECT” Jebel Musa as the Mountain of God and of the Lawgiving.

As is wont to happen, the views of Professor Palmer were soon criticized, supported or
modified by other scholars. Before long, there were several southern peaks that were offered as the
true Mt. Sinai.

The Research of Charles Beke

Back in April of 1860, the Journal of Sacred Literature published a revolutionary idea that
the Mountain of God was not in southern Sinai at all, but should be looked for in the central plateau.
The anonymous contributor pointed out that its name, Badi-yeth el-Tih, was very significant: it
meant “the Wilderness of the Wandering,” and the local Bedouins explain that it was there that Mo-
ses and the Children of Israel wandered. The article suggested a certain peak of the el-Tih as the
proper Mt. Sinai.

So, in 1873, a geographer and linguist by the name of Charles T. Beke (who explored and
mapped the origins of the Nile) set out “in search of the true Mount Sinai.” His research established
the fact that Jebel Musa was so NAMED AFTER A FOURTH-CENTURY MONK CALLED
MUSA who was famous for his piety and miracles -- and NOT after the biblical Moses; and that the
claims for Jebel Musa were begun only circa 550 A.D. by the Roman emperor Constantine. Beke
also pointed out that the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius described Mt. Sinai as the HIGHEST in
its area -- which ruled out both Musa and Serbal.

Beke also asked the important question: How could the Israelites have gone south at all, past
the Egyptian garrisons in the mining areas and stayed for almost a year in Egyptian controlled terri-
tory? His question has remained one of the unanswered objections to a southern location of Mt. Si-
nai.

Charles Beke could be remembered as the man who finally found the general location of the
TRUE Mt. Sinai since his publication was entitled Discoveries of Sinai in Arabia and Midian.He

The Berean Voice September-October 2002