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Is Mt. Sinai the Mountain of YEHOVAH? 19

Arab tradition likewise places Midian EAST of the Gulf of Aqaba. The famous British ex-
plorer Charles Doughty, whose travels in Arabia were legendary, tells of "a tradition amongst their
ancestors [of Arabs Doughty met in Arabia Deserta] that 'very anciently they occupied all that
country about MAAN, WHERE ALSO
MOSES FED THE FLOCKS OF
JETHRO THE PROPHET....' " (Travels
in Arabia Deserta. Random House, New
York. 1921. P.130).

The fact that the territory WEST of
the Gulf of Aqaba -- that is, the SINAI
PENINSULA -- has always been Egyp-
tian territory brings to mind another
point: If Moses led the Children of Israel
OUT OF EGYPT (see Ex.12:39, 41;
12:18) then logic dictates they had to
CROSS THE GULF OF AQABA INTO
MIDIAN to "leave" the land or territory of Egypt! If Mt. Sinai was in the Sinai peninsula, the Israel-
ites could never have left Egypt.

The Testimony of Josephus

Josephus, the first-century A.D. Jewish historian, upholds this concept that the Mountain of
God is located in Midian -- the NW corner of the present day Saudi Arabia. Notice what he plainly
says:

Now when Raguel [Jethro], Moses father-in-law, understood in what a prosperous condit-
ion his affairs were, he willingly came to meet him. And Moses took Zipporah, his wife, and
his children, and pleased himself with his coming.

And when he [Moses] had offered sacrifice, he made a feast for the multitude, NEAR
THE BUSH HE HAD FORMERLY SEEN; which multitude, every one according to
their families, partook of the feast (Antiquities of the Jews, bk.III, chapter III).

In chapter II of the same book Josephus notes that "going gradually on, he [Moses] came to
Mount Sinai, in three months' time after they were removed out of Egypt; AT WHICH
MOUNTAIN, as we have before related, THE VISION OF THE BUSH, AND THE OTHER
WONDERFUL APPEARANCES, HAD HAPPENED" (Section 5). Josephus understood, then,
that the mountain of the burning bush in Midian was the same mountain from which the Law was
delivered to the Israelites by God.

Further on, in chapter XI, Josephus states the following: "....and when he [Moses] came to
the CITY MIDIAN, which lay upon the Red Sea...he sat upon a certain well....It was not far from
the city....These virgins [Jethro's daughters], who took care of their father's flocks, which sort of
work it was customary and very familiar for women to do IN THE COUNTRY OF THE
TROGLODYTES...." (Book II, section 1 & 2).

The Berean Voice September-October 2002