S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Where is the real Mount Sinai? For centuries, scholars, explorers and pilgrims have sought the location of the real Mount Sinai-the mountain of God from the biblical story of Moses and the Exodus. ...

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July 01 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Doreen Lovell Supporter Evangelist and Prayer Intercessor

In addition to the 1st answer given the term HOREB is often used to refer to Mt. Sinai (Ex. 3:1).Since Horeb means waste or wilderness it seems best to think of Horeb as the general term for the area and Sinai as the specific peak where God manifested Himself to Moses.

The modern name for the site of Mount Sinai is JEBEL MUSA (the mount of Moses). Jebel is Arabic for hill and is sometimes written as Jabal or Gabel.

April 24 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

John Appelt Supporter

The location of the real Mount Sinai might be debated for a long, long time. However, there seems to be one place that seems to fit every Scriptural detail. It is Jebel Yi’allaq, a mountain west of the middle of the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. Here are some reasons:

It had to be a 3-days’ journey from Egypt, Exodus 8:27. That figures to be about 60 miles. This eliminates many places in the southern and eastern portions of the Sinai and beyond. When it says Moses led the flock to the back of the desert, Exodus 3:1, this would be coming from Midian into the Sinai desert. After this, Moses went back to Midian, after which he left for Egypt, Exodus 4:18, 19. On the way, Moses met Aaron at the mountain of God, Exodus 4:27. Jebel Yi’allaq would be conveniently on the way. 

It had to be an 11-day’s journey from Kadesh Barnea, Deuteronomy 1:2, which likely locates Mount Sinai in the northern part of the central deserts. The ‘way of Seir’ is the road from Egypt to Edom at the south end of the Dead Sea. It lines up.

It had to have the Amalekite connection. In Exodus 17:8, the Amalekites at Rephidim attacked Israel, recently come out of Egypt. The Amalekites had to be from nearby. Numbers 13:29 relates that, “The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South.” In Numbers 14:45, when Israel presumed to enter the land after the Lord forbade them, the Canaanites and the Amalekites attacked them. Israel would have been trespassing right into their territory in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. The name Yi’allaq or Yalek is close to the name of Amalek, the prefix ‘Am’ meaning ‘country of,’ suggesting a connection there. 

During the 1960s and 70s, Bir Gifgafa Airfield, a strategic place militarily, came under Israeli control and was called Rephidim Airbase. It is reasonable to think that Israel named it that because the ancient site was there or very close by. 

After Rephidim, Israel came to the Wilderness of Sinai, Exodus 19:2. Mount Yi’allaq is east of where the Rephidim may have been. Horeb or Mount Sinai would fit here geographically and chronologically. 

Jebel Yi’allaq is the highest mountain in its region and certain features of the limestone mountain make it very conspicuous, said by some to seem majestic as it stands alone. This would be the feature that was needed to prohibit anyone from approaching this holy ground under the penalty of death, Exodus 19:12.

Near Jebel Yi’allaq is a well or spring, Bir Abu Qurun, which may be the source of a river that may fit Deuteronomy 9:21, “a brook that descended from the mountain.”

Jebel Yi’allaq lines up with the major journeys of the Israelites. The trajectory from the Red Sea to Elim to Rephidim to Jebel Yi’allaq to Kadesh Barnea, make a straight line. 

Although not written in stone, Jebel Yi’allaq is a good possibility for being the Mount Sinai.

December 20 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report