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20 Is Mt. Sinai the Mountain of YEHOVAH?

This land of the TROGLODYTES was visited by Charles Doughty when he passed through
an area of northwestern Arabia called the MEDAIN. In his book he explains that the Medain is the
"Syrian caravaners' name for the hewn monuments in the crags of El-Hejr on the Haj road, SIX
REMOVES NORTH OF MEDINA." The publisher of Doughty's book notes that "Mr. Doughty
found the Troglodyte cities to be sandstone cliffs with the funeral monuments sculptured in them of
an antique town, and like those which are seen in the 'Valley of Moses' or Petra" (Travels in Arabia
Deserta, pp.136-137).

Josephus reveals another clue in book III, chapter I, verse 5:

So he [Moses] placed himself in the midst of them, and told them he came to bring them
from God a deliverance from their present distress. Accordingly a little after came a vast
number of QUAILS which is a bird more plentiful IN THIS ARABIAN GULF than
anywhere else, flying over the sea, and hovered over them, till werried with their laborious
flight, and, indeed, as usual, flying very near to the earth, they fell down upon the Hebrews,
who caught them and satisfied their hunger with them, and supposed that this was the
method whereby God meant to supply them with food (Antiquities of the Jews).

This incident, recorded by Josephus, is that of Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 -- occurring
AFTER the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. "THIS ARABIAN GULF" can be none other than
the Gulf of Aqaba! Therefore, the Mountain of God, or Mt. Sinai, was EAST of the Arabian Gulf --
in the land of Midian.

Volcanic Origins?

In the last century an Englishman named Charles Beke published a controversial pamphlet
entitled Mount Sinai a Volcano. While he was studying the biblical description of the day of the
lawgiving, Beke came to the startling conclusion expressed in the title of his pamphlet. The day of
the lawgiving at Mt. Sinai is described in Exodus 19 in these words:

Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were THUNDERINGS
AND LIGHTNINGS, and a THICK CLOUD on the mountain; and the sound of the
trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses
brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the
mountain. Now Mount Sinai was COMPLETELY IN SMOKE, because the Lord de-
scended upon it IN FIRE. Its [Sinai's] SMOKE ASCENDED like the smoke of a furnace,
and the WHOLE MOUNTAIN QUAKED GREATLY.... Now all the people witnessed the
thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the MOUNTAIN
SMOKING; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off (Verses 16-18;
20:18).

Beke explained the pillar of smoke and fire as the ignited column of ashes and vapors
ERUPTED BY A VOLCANO!

Other passages in the Bible tend to support Beke's viewpoint. The book of Judges in particu-
lar shows an ACTIVE volcano: "Lord, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the

The Berean Voice September-October 2002