Page 25 - BV17

Is Mt. Sinai the Mountain of YEHOVAH? 25

So far as I am aware the existence of THIS HILL IN MIDIAN HAD NEVER BEEN
NOTED BEFORE; and naturally I was anxious to explore it and its surroundings....A
couple of miles brought us to the edge of a wide chasm, with forty-foot cliffs of sandstone
and silt along the left bank, and an easier rise on our side, strewn liberally with large granite
and basalt boulders from the steep flank of HURAB just ahead of us. The Land-Rover could
go no farther, and I made my inspection of the VALLEY and the edge of the mountain on
foot. The massif is granite, with dykes of basalt at intervals, running from south-west to
north-east at an angle of thirty degrees. I did not attempt to emulate Moses' feat of climbing
it, if indeed he did; but I made a careful search in the valley and its sandstone cliffs in the
hope of finding a few Badawin wasms, but the channel itself, 100 yards wide and thickly
covered with Acacia bushes and trees, and the deep gorge
of the mountain from which it emerges, were quite impres-
sive... According to Hasballah, THE NAME OF HURAB
APPLIES PRIMARILY TO THE WADI, while he called
THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF AL MANIFA (which simply
means 'the lofty') (The Land of Midian. Ernest Benn Ltd.,
London. 1957. Pp. 222-224).

Philby was not the first to explore WADI HROB --
Alois Musil himself camped there during his exploration of
Midian; and he specifically IDENTIFIED HROB WITH
HOREB.

If you examine a detailed map of this area, the WADI
HOREB can be seen to run into the foothills of one of the
MOST IMPRESSIVE PEAKS OF MIDIAN, and also the
HIGHEST -- JABEL EL LAWZ (LAUZ)!

Jabel el Lawz is indeed impressive. Those who have looked up at its massive granite slopes
are awed by its sheer ruggedness and size. It continually impressed H. St. John Philby as he wan-
dered through the mountains and wadis of Midian. "...I took advantage of our long halt to inspect
the country from the top of a charming 100-foot hillock of rhyolite and andosite on the very edge of
the Afal channel. It was a nice fine morning with a coldish breeze blowing from the north. The
MAIN PEAK OF LAUZ, partly in cloud, rose to the south-east of our position....The upper part of
the valley varied from 500 to 1,500 yards in width, with occasional wider basins allowing of splen-
did views of the great mountains, INCLUDING THE LAUZ SUMMIT on which there seemed to
be a patch of snow. the guide confirmed that it was snow: and, if so, it was the first and only time
that I have ever seen snow in Sa'udi Arabia...."

Philby notes that Burton never explored the gullies of Lauz: "Burton had never examined
the gullies of Lauz or the other mountains of the Midian chain; and it is not unlikely that they may
contain minerals of various kinds. The basalt pyramid of Maqla' looked climbable, but THE
SHEER GRANITE OF THE LAUZ PEAKS would have needed more time and energy than I had at
my disposal. So far as I know they [the PEAKS OF LAUZ] HAVE NEVER BEEN CLIMBED BY
ANY HUMAN BEING."

The Berean Voice September-October 2002